🌹🌷🌼"MAYBE YOU SHOULD PLANT FLOWERS TO HELP THE BEES DURING THE DEARTH." 🌺🌸🌼 This comment keeps coming up over and over. You're not the first one to think about it! In fact, the season before we got bees, we plowed, disced and tilled an acre of our field RIGHT NEXT TO THE BEE YARD and planted a full acre of bee-friendly wild flowers. We spent hundreds of dollars on seed. Unfortunately, we also had the driest summer in recent history that year so the flowers did not produce like we hoped. 2016 Record-breaking drought. (No water, no nectar) I'm sure what did come up helped, but it was not the success we had hoped for. Knowing we had a solid acre of wildflowers in the ground in 2016, we decided to plant a SECOND ACRE on the other side of the bee yard to add more flowers. So we plowed, disced and tilled a second acre and planted buckwheat, sweet clover and alfalfa. The buckwheat came up and produced a very thick stand of flowers all through June and a little into July. Unfortunately, the alfalfa did nothing. No germination. The clover germinated, but quickly was taken over by grass and sod that came right back up right after we seeded. To make things worse, the acre of field we had planted with wildflowers the previous summer (2016) reverted right back to exactly what it looked like before we started planting. So it was basically just a grassy meadow with native pasture flowers. The several hundred dollars of wildflower seed just disappeared and didn't come back the second season. That patch is where the majority of our goldenrod is, so I am hesitant to do too much to disturb it now. That goldenrod is right next to the bees and they really need it in September. We are going to try re-tilling the second acre and replanting buckwheat and some different types of clover this spring. It's a crap-ton of work, time and money. It is a little sad to walk out in that field and throw hundreds of dollars onto the ground and not know if it is even going to grow. Believe me, we are doing everything we can to help the bees. We just can't control the weather.
Yeah. Its expensive. I have a few wild flower beds in preparation for my bees. Buying 2x 5lbs bags of local wild flower bee friendly mix is about $250 each year. Two years in a row now. Cant imagine an acre field! I can see the flowers are starting to take control of the ground and push out the 'weeds'. The other problem is about half the flower types don't seem to come up the next year. My plan is to get the town to promote a bee friendly town, by creating maybe tax breaks, or free seed for residents that want to dedicate a portion of their land to flowers. I'll have to figure it out. Some of the local members of the bee club seem interested in helping. Not sure what you can do with needing to plant THAT much land. Seems too expensive. Guess it depends on the number of hives and amount of honey. Good luck!
I agree with the above ^^^^ . Trees provide the best nectar flows - like 50x more than flowers. But flowers do help in a dearth. In winter, in my area, folks buy safflower seeds to feed the birds. Why not just plant them? - Bags of safflower (bird food) are pretty cheap: www.beeculture.com/seed-oilseed-crops-bee-plants/ - "safflower blossoms are a top choice among bees".
Next up... 🌹🌷🌼"MAYBE YOU SHOULD MAKE AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM TO HELP THE FLOWERS."🌺🌸🌼 Haha great videos man thanks. There's so much to consider when keeping bees. Maybe I'll do it one day :)
Consider no-till gardening (permaculture) and work with the indigenous plants. DO NOTHING based on conjecture lest you make unnecessary trouble by presuming. There must be successful bee-keepers near. Ask them.
One thing you can see do to help is plant sweet clover. It will not make a super difference but sweet clover builds up the soil and they have flowers and will help some. Sweet clover is a legume. Look that up legume put nitrogen in the soil. They also have a lot of flowers. It is something that will not cost a lot of money but will make a little difference. Sweet clover may take years to realy get going. Plant some the next year there should be a little more sweet clover. Over time you should have a good amount of sweet clover. Each year you should get more. No it will not give you a lot of honey but will give a little more. Sweet clover will grow like grass maybe a little taller. But after time most of the grass area will have sweet clover adding a new flower for the bees. Next plant fruit trees! You get the fruit and the bees get the flowers. This is not a ONE THING deal Look at all the parts. You want more honey put things around to help them make honey. When you add things make the things that will build you soil of give something to eat.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I have two Flow hives one regular and one hybrid and also have yet to use one to harvest honey. I had one of them on the hive for a couple months last year and the bees came up, ran around, and used it for a rec room but never put any honey in it. They got snippy when I wouldn't put in a pool table...
Last summer we put our Flow on our strongest hive. The Bees didn’t touch it but we got a great ants nest. Flow suggested painting it with Bees wax. That sounds discouraging to me as it’s as if you need to trick them into using it. I think a Flow Hive is a waste of money.
This is the most informative video I have watched and could be easily called “Factors You’d Never Consider Before Becoming A Bee Keeper”! You share so much great information while you share your Flow story. Thanks you for a great video! Fingers crossed for you this year!
From what I've seen online, the biggest issue getting started with flowframes is getting the bees to accept them and prep them. Once they get going a strongish hive will fill them surprisingly fast in a strong nectar flow. I would still put it on your strongest hive to let them prep the frames this year so that they're ready to go for a good flow year
i live in sth wales in the uk, our winters are not quite as long or cold, season starts in april, it's possible to get a spring crop here but not always, i started my 1st year april 2022 with 2 flow hives, from 2, 6 frame nucs, we do get a june gap (dearth) but it's only for a week or so and may or may not happen at all dependant on area/year, i had an issue with one hive as the queen in the nuc was injured and got superceeded did not get a great deal out of that hive, but the second hive, well that was just great, once the flow started the bees went from empty flow frames to full in 6 days (linden trees were flowering) i waited too long before extracting thinking the back window would fill up, had i not waited i may well have got three full flow supers off it but it ended up being just the two, flows supers off mid-august for varroa treatment and plenty of time for bees to fill up with winter stores by nov.
I really want to get into beekeeping when i can get my own place and really like the idea of having a low impact design for a collection process. I think the flow hive can work up in the new england area, it just needs to be reinforced somehow.
Hi. I’m a little confused. I thought the flowhive super was just the same as a standard super, but the honey was collected in a different “easier” way. So if your bees weren’t producing enough honey to fill the brood box and the flowhive super then what difference will a standard super make??
With standard frames, I can shuffle them around between hives if necessary and not-quite-full frames can still remain in the hives for winter for the bees to consume. Or if only one frame is ready for harvest, I can just pull that one frame. There is total flexibility. On the other hand, if the flow frames are not 100% full and capped, they cannot be harvested. This is not a problem in a warm climate. They can just stay in the hive until the bees fill them. However, we have a very short season and the flow frames must be removed once our fall hits and the freezing nights start. If the frames are not ready to harvest, I need to take them them indoors, where the unfinished nectar will ferment. The bees won’t get the honey and neither will I. It’s a lose-lose situation.
Here's an analogy I thought of while I was out walking the dog... Say you've always wanted to learn how to swim and you didn't know anything about swimming and you came across someone selling swim fins with a really compelling ad about how swim fins can enhance your swimming experience. So you buy the swim fins and get really excited to learn how to swim. However, you live in Canada and your local swimming pond has ice on it 6 or 8 months a year. So you wait until the perfect warm summer day to go swimming and realize you can't use your new swim fins because you still need to learn how to swim. Then you spend the summer learning to go underwater, dog paddle, tread water... all the basics. Cold weather comes and your pond freezes and you hang up your swim fins for the winter. The next year, you get a little better at swimming and never take out your swim fins because you realize the "traditional" finless swimming method was OK and you really didn't get to swim all that much anyway. The fact remains that there are tons of very happy people in the Caribbean, who live on the beach who love their swim fins and use them every day. The swim fins are a perfectly fine product that greatly enhance their swimming experience. However, the people living up north probably don't really need them all that much.
half acre of Purple giant hyssop, 2 Sumac (Staghorn) trees, 2 Sumac (Smooth) per five hives, and you won't get that bad of a dearth in mid summer. Yes it takes a couple of years for the trees to grow but worth it in the end.
North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana are the 3 TOP Honey producing states in the country. And Minnesota, Michigan and New York are in the TOP Ten. It's not the winter that's causing the low flow.
Those are great plants to have, and any late summer blossoming plants work great. I'm about 20 miles away from Vino Farm and the dearth I had in the past 2 years was solely due to drought. No water = no nectar. Even with great plantings, if there's no water, then you'll get poor nectar and pollen. For folks thinking about beekeeping - make sure your hives are near a natural water source - brook, stream, pond, or well irrigated farm... That's the best way to insure the plants can produce nectar and good pollen in a drought.
According to your explanation, flow frames or not, you'd be lucky to get any honey at all... yay! Btw, you are a great "teacher" you are very articulate and conveying the relevant information, great job, thank you for sharing!
Aura Todoran This is what I agree. Its not the flow frame, it is that the bees are not producing more honey. Why not use the flow frame for the 2nd floor? I saw a bunch of honey being wasted and not consumed through the winter in his flow colony. He could have harvested it.
Next season Vino will produce 800 pounds of honey without even trying. Better stock up on 5-gallon buckets and figure out what you prefer. We buy the buckets from a store called Rural King because they sell white buckets with a #2 on the bottom. The lids at Rural King suck and don't fit well. They pop loose and ants get in. (That's no good) We get the lids from Menards. The buckets come from Century Container Corporation and the lids come from another company called Encore Plastics Corporation. We shopped around and had a bad experience and corrected it by purchasing buckets and lids separate. We were using Menards buckets too. Then one day one cracked open and split down the side. Before you could say "spit" we had 5 gallons of honey on the floor. Losing 60 pounds of honey valued at $5/pound stings.
G'day from downunder!! You are so right about our weather. In Australia we have 90% of our country does not have snow or temps under -2degC (28F). Only 10% drops to maybe -8C. Where I live, 30 deg S Lat, 80 naut miles from the E coast as the crow flies, our minimum, minimum temp has been -4.5C, basically shorts & T shirt weather all year round. Local temp variation from 45C to -4C and we don't get snow, definitely no snow. We don't even have a permanent snow line. Although I am not a beekeeper, I can truly understand exactly what you are saying. I commend the work you have done and your comments. I'd like to get into bee keeping, atm I do my "apiarying" through you my friend. Yes I do watch others, but enjoy your work (more) and look forward to your videos (addicted). Keeping bees helps your local environment stay strong and vital, that is very important. With each passing year your bees will get stronger and stronger through natural selection, hang in there, the flow hive will be in use, I can feel it in my bones. The learning curve you are on, and the information you publish helps others along their individual paths, and that is bloody brilliant. You are building a massive bank of good Karma. To coin an Aussie saying......... "Maaaaaaate, ya dun good!!!!"
Expat Alex? Mate we're easy to find. If you're coming from the East and see Indonesia, turn left or from the West, turn right, can't miss us, lol. I'm busting a gut to get out of here for a rest (been here 64 years with a short break best forgotten), saving for a short trip to the States in a couple of years hopefully visit a few friends. As a people we haven't changed all that much, but our political arena seems to have taken a sharp turn to the right (bordering on fascism) and the loud mouth boobs seem to have taken control. Love this channel, would love to care for some bees but my health puts a damper on it unfortunately. Thanks for the shout, really appreciate it, don't be a stranger to the Land Down Under :)
Pilot McBride You've obviously never been to Perisher, Thredbo, Snowy Mountains in general, Canberra, or even some parts of Tassie! T-shirts and shorts all year round?! Born in a tent were you?! What a bloody croc!
Can you not feed your bees in the weaker months? Forgive my lack of beekeeping knowledge, but can't you feed them a variety of syrups when nectar is not available?
Not bashing the Flow Hive. It's just that I get asked all the time why I haven't used it. The issue we have with the Flow Hive is the need to completely fill a frame in order to harvest the honey. I can put regular Langstroth supers on any time. If they fill one or two or only half of all of them, the frames are still harvestable OR fine to be left in a hive for winter. The Flow Frames come off in October whether they're filled or not. If they're all 75% capped at that point, they're wasted. I can't harvest a 75% capped Flow frame and I can't leave it over the winter for the bees. It's all or nothing. That's the conundrum. This problem is specific to the Flow Frames.
Nicholas Gaudet When the Flow frames are on, you must have a Queen excluder installed. During winter, bees are going to cluster around the queen. If the cluster needs to go up into the flow box for stores, the queen could be left behind under the excluder. Also, the flow frames are Extra deep with very little room around them for clustering. They are simply not designed to be used over winter. The flow hive people state that they need to be removed for winter. Bottom line, this whole system was designed in a place with no winter. In the location (sub tropical Australia) where these were conceived and tested, they are left on the hive year round. In almost every other part of the world, these frames need to be removed during freezing months. Unfortunately, we have six freezing months.
on the brightside, it was your flow hive video that first brought me to your channel ages ago. and ive been a subscriber since. i look forward to your videos this year :) p.s your channel is probably the best ive seen for beginners to get into beekeeping.
Vino Farm What steve said! I subscribed to the channel for the same reason he did and while I've been curious about why you haven't put the flow hive on, I never really cared because you do have the best videos out there and I've learned so much! I started one year after you and I'm in Texas so I've had to learn to adjust accordingly since we really don't have winters in central Texas... Not compared to y'all anyway. I just made it through my first winter and am going into my second year with the 2 hives I started with, thanks to your guidance. So, here's a big heartfelt Texas "thank you"! 😊
Ditto! I have grandiose ideas about being a beekeeper so it's been very interesting to learn about it. Great explanation on your situation! I look forward to seeing how this summer goes for you! Long Live Queen Balboa's Lineage! :)
Dude, the only difference between a flow hive setup and a longstrop is the FH has taps to take honey, when required. Just set it up and see how it goes... :-)
One point someone brought up elsewhere is: Its supposed to be convenient way to get honey, but unless you buy $600 flow-hive for every hive, you still will need to do traditional extractions, so it doesn't save you time for that money. If you have a single hive, you could just buy a food-grade bin, and a mesh, then uncap and let it passively drain while you go do something else, and doing that is not much more time-costly than using the flow-hive.
(not a beekeeper) I've been watching videos and if your bees are struggling to survive certain months couldn't you just do the trick of 1 part water 1 part sugar to keep them going?
Same question I had. Could you supplement them with sugar syrup until September? So start with brood box. Feed until you can add a super. Add a medium super and continue supplementing. Then add Flow, no more feeding. Once you have collected and removed flow, supplement feeding until it gets too cold. If the hive is really full of bees, add a second medium super after removing the Flow.
Thanks alot, i guess you just saved me some frustration (living in Sweden) ..I just have to see further down the road if Flow hive is something i can use, but i start up with some classic ones.
It is not recommended by Flow Hive. Also, the queens will move up into the flow frames in late winter and fill them with brood, causing a gigantic mess.
@@vinofarm So you wouldn't just harvest from the Flow in the fall, then remove those frames and feed pollen patties and sugar for winter? I know some beekeepers are against this. I'd like to get into beekeeping and the Flow was the only way I'd do it to keep down on equipment. I'm on Cape Cod by the way.
MrMills Yes, that’s the ideal situation. This video explains what happens to me: the flow frames would never be full by fall. You can’t harvest 1/2 empty flow frames and you can’t leave them on. It’s a lose lose situation. If you KNOW your bees will fill them right up, this would work for you.
I am almost down the street from you in Belmont MA. I started watching you to learn from you, and compare bees. ( also a new bee keeper) My bees did good the 1st year and I used my flow hive the 1st year. (I used waxed frames, maybe that speeded the process) In the Summer of my 2nd year they all died, maybe swarmed. My 3rd year now, I am going to start all over again with a package bee. I believe if you start with a strong hive in the spring, flow hive will work. I love your videos, you say you are a new bee keeper, but we all learn so much from you. Good Job, Thank You.
I have friends in Belmont! Actually, you have an advantage over there. City bees do GREAT. There is so much variety for nectar sources and all packed really close together. Plus you're a couple stops up on the weather zone charts. Good luck and thanks for the kind words.
No "tree nectar" up there? My bees were cutting into maple buds on any warm day in mid February to March, Persimmon, Tulip Poplar, Black Gum (Tupelo) and sourwood. Tulip poplar is the build-up and winter stores, I try to keep the Tupelo and and Sourwood.
Thanks for this video. I am in same environment as you and have been wanting a flow hive. My initial investment for my first bees was just deeps and a couple mediums. Was lucky to have a mentor tell me to start off that way. After 6 months of beekeeping I realize the flow hive will not be needed for a couple years. Great video and again thanks for your explainations!
Would it be viable to make a 4xMed Hive and a 3xDeep Hive for them to be able to have a good size of a population and food storage for themselves and be able to get a situation where you could get 1 Med Super on each hive for yourself after they've filled the hive proper? A larger hive with more brood might be able to survive better, no? I'm not sure, just giving a thought from the outside.
Send me the box..I live in Victoria Australia..You are right we really don't experience snow, only on our tall mountains. But you have made me feel better were I live, Im always complaining how cold winter is here...Its nothing like what you guys experience.
Unless you live in the arctic this will work. RULE 1 IN BEEKEEPING IF YOU WANT HONEY ,YOUR BEES MUST BE AT MAXIMUM POPULATION BEFORE THE APRIL MAY OR JUNE FLOW. This means your bees must be strong going into the winter. They must be mite free and lots of honey. Then as soon as it starts warming ( note no particular month) feed sugar syrup and pollen patties. As soon as the flow is on ( note when the dandelions are blooming) throw the flow frames on. In my case, Chinese knockoffs.
things to consider . You can't take some spare frames to the flow hive and swap them with honey filled frames. If the flow hives are not close to your home you have to wait for the frame to drain into your honey jar. If it is cold the honey flow is slower. I am in a cold climate closer to Antartica than QLD so I have not purchased the flow hives since moving more South five years ago.
Well since you now have multiple hives and each winter a hive that dwindles (and or dies) you might want to use another strategy for just a little bit of honey harvest in non-optimal years. You put one or two flow frames in the flow box and the rest of the space you fill with normal frames. If that one flowframe gets filled with honey you harvest only that one, ones a year. Once harvested and the frame is cleaned by the bees you switch the box and take out the flow frame and put in a normal frame. They only have one frame to add honey :) To support strong hives getting through the last bit of winter you'll need the weak hives and you'll need to combine them making sure the food is used by a strong hive. If a hive dies, freeze the honey frames and use those to get stronger hives through winter. Deepfreeze for 2 months kills pests, honey will be fine once thawed. If you have 10-30 frozen frames full of honey as a backup then hives not making it in Sep/Okt or Feb/Mar/Apr can still be given good honey. And you won't have to worry about harvesting 2-3 frames of fresh honey in Jun/Sep. You've already experienced that there can be other issues bugging the hive to get it to dwindling. Once that dealt with the short nectar flow is over and adding frames from your backup would fix it. Yes I know you don't have 30 frames of honey backup, and it might take you multiple years the get to that amount to store but eventually you will. You might want to "travel" with a hive putting it near a neighboring meadow about 3-10 miles away during good honey flows. While wintering it in your own backyard. Then you might expand to 5 hives of which 2-3 survive winter. 2 hives dying during winter would leave you with 4-10 frames of backup honey.
So the flow hive is perfect for where I live after hearing that is mostly for hot-warm weather because I live in Trinidad and Tobago and we don't have winter(we have a DRY season, Rain season and fall). But I do still have mix feelings about it and after watching this video this Really opened my mind if I want to live that has a winter and I wanted to start with a flow hive. 🤔
I did not like how they had a fundraiser saying they needed millions to start up. We had one of the reps from Australia saying they got all the money to start up but they need more money actually several million more and come to find out they had the Chinese make them at their factories. Initially they were going to build a factory in Australia but took most of 5he money. In my opinion they are shisters. Later come to find out the Chinese copied the design and are selling a Flow hive really cheap. Being a beekeeper for 8 years I am quite confident in my skills and have no need for the trash Flow Hive. I have a mere 100 hives and use the honey my bees have made to supplement my prescriptions.
We have had bee hives on our off-grid homestead for a while now and people who buy our honey always asked about these types of hives. I'm torn since I don't hear good things about their longevity. Some of our hives have been in use for 8 years. I've heard these will only last a season or two because the combs get clogged or break as they are plastic. I'd still try one out if I got one for free but think I'll stick to my wooden boxes.
Similar story here with Flow Hive in the Berkshires (Western Mass) but I’m starting to think your resource Nucs could be the answer. If your primary hives are in good shape after winter then move some brood frames from your resource nucs to the Flow Hive to catch the first nectar flow - Michael Palmer in one of his videos called it “dropping a brood bomb”. I just assembled my resource nuc (which you introduced me to, thanks) and now I'm thinking i should get a second one, but i'll have over a year to see if I can get my dusty Flow supers to work. Good luck and thanks for the great videos.
As the wife of a long time beekeeper, I have a few questions. First, are you monitoring for the varroa mite. From what I have picked up from my husband and The American Bee Journal, varroa mites are a very possible reason why your bees are not making it through the winter. Second, are you checking your hives in the early spring to find out where the bees are in relation to the honey stores? Sometimes the queen lays late into the fall season, and the bees will cluster around her to keep her alive, but the honey will not be near by. Restacking the supers, bringing the honey closer to the cluster, will help them. Third, do you feed them in the early spring months? We live in MI and have been feeding our bees a sugar fondant for several months. They went into winter with plenty of honey, but the winter was longer and colder than normal. Checking the hives during a warm spell in Feb., my husband decided the bees needed some extra feeding to keep them alive. My husband recently bought "The Beekeeper's Bible", publisher Abrams, NY. Not only does it cover beekeeping, but the book has chapters on the history of beekeeping, bee life history, overwintering, diseases, hive location, grading honey, and recipes for using your honey and wax. Love this book. Very informative.
I've lost two hives out of five hive overwinter attempts, so my overwinter record is pretty good. The two I lost had heavy varroa and were treated, but probably a bit too late in the fall. I need to monitor the varroa earlier in the season and treat earlier. Still, I've had three hives make it through winter, so I'm doing OK. Yes, I check any days that get above 50º in MA. One of my survivors was just about out of honey back in early March and they've had fondant on all winter. They're living on fondant right now, but still very much alive. It's still too cold to feed syrup, but that will start soon. Thanks for the tips.
I left Connecticut couple years ago and the three years I lived there I have never seen so much SNOW and cold in my life lol I’m from Virginia. No such thing as warm spring in Connecticut I was still wearing a coat !
I live in subtropical Queensland, with blooms all year round, and the flow hive works well for me. I understand completely why it would not work in your situation and feel fortunate not to have to cope with cold winters.
Maybe try a double queen colony like some commercial beekeepers do. Queen in top box, queen in bottom box, queen excluders bottom and top, flow hive/supers in the middle. Maximises honey production in short period of time if your seasons are short. Good luck.
I think he means two excluders with two hive bodies and a flow hive sandwiched in between. It'd be more trouble than running two conventional colonies supered the old-school conventional way imo. Of course I have an extractor so I'd lean toward using it.
I live in Massachusetts and have 7 Flow Hives - they generate A LOT of honey, and sometimes with 2 harvests in one year...they work great for me...it seems like it is all about the environment and its "friendliness to bees" in that area.
@@vinofarm Outside Boston inside Rt128...lots of urban and suburban flowers...and with a three-mile flight radius, they seem to gather all the nectar and pollen they need, although I am prepared to supplemental feed when needed. Our nectar flow was pretty steady this year with all the yards and fields with a wide variety of flowers and shrubs. For example, our first frame of honey had a slight hint of mint to it - the bees seem to have found some mint bushes in the area and it shows up in the honey - possible when you don't mix honey from multiple frames and multiple hives. We get frame by frame honey and each has a slightly different taste - only Flow Hive gives you that kind of individuality of flavor... PS I have always wanted to meet you and see your apiary...would you be open to that?
We had an amazing flow of nectar all summer this year. The past three years (my first three years) we had a severe dearth during July and August... like clockwork. I just thought that's how it was. This was my first time seeing nectar come into the hives in abundance. This video was shot between my 2nd and 3rd season and that was all I knew. I can't say this new flow will continue because most beekeepers I've talked to have said this was an unusually great year. It's different everywhere you go, though. As far as visits, we are not currently open for visitors. Sorry. I try to share everything I do here on the channel.
No one should look at a flow hive till you have real strong hives. When I got mine I had a hive that was two brood box's and a super. I put the flow hive on top with a queen excluder and got good honey but the hive was about 3 or 4 years old and I had never taken any stores from them just left them from year to year.
Thank you for your informative videos. I will be taking the classes at U of M for Beekeeping. Here in Minnesota we have brutal winters. At the same time we have flowers that bloom before the snow is completely gone. May I suggest that you talk to your local plant nurseries and plan your flower blooming for the whole summer. Again thank you.
This is funny and sad because if you didn't have "FlowHive" in your titles, I never would have watched any of your videos in the first place. Doesn't Mr Dunn live near you? Why does his work and yours doesn't? I AM SO CONFUSED. Good presentation, but leaves me with more questions than answers.
Frederick Dunn lives 9 hours away from me in a different state. There are people 1 hour away from me who have the Flow Hive working. Every situation is completely different. I'm not giving up on it. I hope to get it working this summer, but if we have a similar dearth in July, it's not going to happen. Like I said in the video, if I lived next to a canola farm, my bees would have plenty of summer nectar and I wouldn't have this issue. Unfortunately, my plantings for summer nectar have not been successful. I'll keep trying.
Was thinking about your comment getting to know how to get your bees through the winter. We don't have a particularly cold winter here but have a long wet winter. I noticed in one of your videos that you have a poly tunnel, so how about sticking your hives in there for the worst of the period. I've recently been given another tunnel and I'm planning on housing my apart in it as my bees are flying in my other tunnel and it's jan
I've considered it, but the problem comes when it's early March and the hoophouse warms up to 70ºF and it's still freezing outside. They think it's spring and start flying, only to find that there are no flowers for 8 more weeks. Moving them there and back for the coldest two months is highly impractical. The other option is covering the whole beeyard with a hoophouse and making the plastic easy to open and close to regulate temp. Still very impractical since we have huge temperature swings in late winter. I'll see how my current wrapping/insulation does this winter. If I lose too many hives I'll think about something like that next winter.
You have a lot of acreage to plant. Yellow clover is the best provider of nectar. One acre can produce a ton of honey. I would look into it. Not sure about ur zone. Also we havent put on our flow hive super yet either. Second year we are trying to put it on during the first nectar flow. With the issues in your area sounds like you need to feed early and use pollen substitute to kick them into production. Also melt some wax you have collected and coat ur flow frames, put a queen excluder on and put on ur flow frames early. They will need to clean it up and get it ready before they even start storing. Also as a new beekeeper I wouldn’t buy the flow hive initially, I would do what u said just buy traditional hives then get the super. I feel your pain. Really hard to get the honey going!
We tried sweet clover last year but it got overrun with grass before it took hold. I have red and white clover (native here) ready to plant this spring after we till our field. I have not looked into yellow clover. Best of luck with your bees!
Clover is tricky. Lots of blooms, but once nectar is gone, its dry blooms. Ive read guys who high mow/cut their clover fields in rows, cycling new blooms. Flowers do not = nectar flow.
Your channel has been one of my go to channels while I was researching beekeeping and has remained so since I started last year. It was so strange to see your bee yard with just one hive in it @ 3:41 and no shrubs around the outside!!! Keep up the great thoughtful well explained vids :)
Brilliant video. I genuinely think the technology and the concept of Flow is brilliant (I feel as though you agree?), but it's the application which makes me dubious. Your video has given me a truly balanced insight - so many beekeepers appear hostile towards it, often though misunderstanding. It was fantastic to watch a video which is 'negative' about flow, but with a brilliant justification. Thanks very much for this. For me, as silly as it sounds, one of the aspects I love about the Flow is the observation window... but that's partly because it's a great way to show bees in action to those not comfortable being around an open hive. I'm yet to get into beekeeping - I've just found your channel so I think I'll watch your videos and learn from your learning experience! Anyway, that's the end of my rambling. :)
Now, I know relatively nothing about bees; and I will NEVER have bees (because I'm allergic), but why are hives the size they are? What keeps you from custom building an extremely large, extra long (maybe modular?) hive? If the hive is large, would that not offer a greater degree of insulation for the winter, and a considerably larger cluster in winter? And could you then use flow frames on top, given it allows a much greater winter survival rate? Of course, that means that if anything goes wrong in that hive, it's a significant loss, but I'm curious how flexible hives really are.
This video has very nice lighting. The colours are great, the music in the end enters very naturally and the video has a professional feel. You've become a proper videographer mr. Vinofarm. What's your name btw? I'm sure you've mentioned it on some episode, but I can't remember.
There is something I've been thinking about at 3:40 when I saw your hive. Why don't you have a "beeshed"? Here in Bavaria a lot of the Beekeepers I know have a little shed built around there hives. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienenhaus I guess those help the bees at least a little bit to keep warm during winter, 'cause those can be mostly the same as you describe.
Well... This is interesting. I bought a Flowhive on a whim because I wanted an easy way to get into beekeeping. Then I found your you tube channel and have watched every episode of your beekeeping experience. The difference between you and I starting up was that I had heard that you should start with two hives. I didn’t want to buy another Flowhive so bought an 8 frame flat packed Langstroth hive so I could share elements of both hives. After installing two 6 frames nucs, the Langstroth proved to be the more successful and productive hive. Like you I haven’t harvested any honey yet from the Flowhive but I’m trying to figure out a strategy so I can. Unlike you though I fortunately didn’t lose any bees over winter. I now have 4 hives in total. One 8 frame Langstroth , 2 ten frame Langstroths and a 32 frame Langstroth frame long hive that we call our “Longstroth” This year the Longstroth will converted into a 5 x 5 frame nuc hive and I plan to get another 4 or so Langstroth hives going. I won’t be buying another Flowhive. Like you I don’t have anything bad to say about the Flowhive except it’s probably not for me either. What I will say is this, the Flowhive may have been the catalyst for me to start bee keeping but it won’t be the reason I remain a bee keeper. I absolutely love it. I still do a little jig, like you, when I find a mated queen for the first time. I also really enjoy your channel and feel I truly can share your delights and frustrations. FYI... I live on the south western tip of the UK.
There goes $700 dollars. Did my 1st flow hive in 2017. Was a mentor to the buyer. Found out he didn't have the time nor did he want any of my advise. It worked great for my 1st free bottle of honey & that was about it. He is now building a Top Bar hive. It is a very interesting about the zone difference.
Nah, advertising like that will just get ppl to make fake accounts or subscribe just for the sake of free stuff. Better to just let it happen over time so the subscribers are legit and here to stay.
You'd be surprised... also, it wouldn't be just 1 person doing it. A lot of ppl have hundreds of fake accounts already to up their favorite channel's sub amount or to up their own real account, they could just reuse them on this channel. I think you just underestimate the stupidity of RUclips.
When do you apple trees start blooming? Will they help in the death months when they get bigger? Are there other trees you could plant that bloom in those months?
As a beekeeper, I get asked about the flow hive all the time. I always refer those questions to videos like yours, and Brandon's Bees. I feel that you guys get it. You still have to be a beekeeper with the flow hive. You can't just put it on, and wait for the magic to happen, you may get a crop, but the bees will most likely fail. Keep on beekeeping JIm. I love the journey!
Yes, you can feed them syrup to get through the dearth, but you would not want to harvest that syrup to eat. You actually have to watch where it goes and make sure you put on fresh supers before the flow to be sure what's being stored in the frames you are harvesting is from flowers and not sugar water.
Fun Fact: i missed this Video back in the day - just watched it. Funny thing is - my beekeeping story is exactly the same as yours ^^ The good thing - through Flow Hive i got into beekeeping, and i found your channel. started watching you with the first Flow Hive Video.
Quick question - isn't the flow hive slightly more effective as a honey storage as they don't need to build as much comb to begin with? Won't that mean the bees spend less energy building comb and gather more honey instead? I always thought you could leave the box on, for them to utilise it when they want. Thanks
Watch what I said in the video... you can't leave it on in winter. So I need to make sure they have at least one FULL regular super filled up first that will just be for THEM for the winter. Once they have that filled, THEN I can put on the Flow super for me to harvest whatever they store after that. If I only put the flow super on, they will surely fill it up, but I need to remove it when the weather gets cold and I'd be taking away their honey.
That is definitely a tough timeline. Maybe this year will be better and the numbers will be on your side. I think a flow hive would work for me here in VA. b/c we only have a couple of really cold months. I would definitely love to try it some day. Good luck this season. 👍
Hi Jim! Thanks so much for putting in so much work into your videos. I enjoy them a lot! I live in a quarter acre lot in a village in New York and there is no way I could have any hives. I have been watching your bee adventures for 2 years now and everything I have learned about bee keeping has been from your content. It seems that your hives are stronger this year than what they were this time last year. I was wondering if you could plant a field of wildflowers around your bee yard. Would that be practical to increase the flow? Maybe find some wildflowers that peak during your dearth months. Just a thought from someone who knows nothing! I hope you have a great bee season this year coming up!
I'd say keep your Flow Hive ready to use. You and I live about 2 miles apart, as the bees fly. We've had some wonky weather that hasn't helped anyone in this area. 2016 we had a drought. Bees worked hard to find flowers with nectar in them. 2017 saw the end of the drought, and what I had heard through Worcester County Beekeepers was that shower and rain activity diluted or washed the nectar from flowers. Again, the bees had to work hard to find nectar. 2015 though, lots of nectar was readily available, and ours made lots of honey. Since this is agriculture and not manufacturing, we are at Mom Nature's mercy. Keep the faith, good years are coming. 🐝
I bought the flow frames because the technology was so intriguing.... and I know this product has generated thousands of new bee keepers.... so I am grateful for this.... encouraging new keepers .... so I appreciate your situation....
Just saw video and i think you are correct i have been keeping bees for 4yrs now and my 2nd year tried my first flow hive and it works great in central texas we might have 10 days of winter this year i will be adding my second flow box . Im still a small hobbyist with 10 hives.
Unfortunately, I had the opposite experience there. Watch my video of me installing the Russian nucs. They were filled with black comb and hive beetles, not to mention that I was led to believe that I was buying nucs FROM HIS APIARY only to arrive for pickup to find that they came from Missouri. He's also the guy who told me, "You won't have to worry about Varroa with these bees." One of those nucs turned into a varroa bomb in three months. Not a good experience for me.
@@vinofarm i never got Russian from him i got packaged bees.I use to be able to inspect my hive like you do but now i have to get into full battle rattle LOL
A question.... do beekeepers in your area collect any honey the traditional way? If so then why not try the two queen system where two hives joined together with the supers linked to both in the middle? This way with two hives collecting nectar, the supers would fill up twice as fast enabling you to add the flow frames in early September.
I've had quite a similar history: Came across the flow thing in 2015, took a beginners course and tried to get my first bees, but couldn't get my hands on a colony. Bought a 7 flow frame set whitout a box anyway and waited a solid 11 months for it to arrive (which it did in Feb 16). Finally bought two colonies, that nearly filled one brood box by then, waited until they filled up the second box at least by half, then added the flow supers (had ordered a second frames-only set and 2 full sets with box, when the production was running) and they filled them readily, but slowly. This is normal for brand new frames, they fill up faster when they've been previously used. Harvested ~25kg from two hives in total, made two splits and had one hive swarm, which of course lessens the honey yield. One original colony died in Dec 16, but the splits turned into thriving hives in 2017. But we had very rough spring in 2017, with heavy winds, cold and wet weather and even a blizzard on April 1st! It not only stopped the bees from flying, but also killed of the early spring flowers including most fruits (cherry, apple...). The second original colony started queenless and I had to requeen by giving them a brood frame to make a new queen, thus weakening the donor hive, that had not started having brood before March, which is very late. All colonies struggled to survive and since I had only wheat fields around my house that year (as opposed to 2016, when there was plenty of canola and broad bean nearby), plus by the time I was to harvest we had a solid 14 days of rain and the bees consumed most of what they had collected, I had ~7kg of honey in total - and that was way too wet with about 24% moisture. Of course I fed them after harvest and if the honey had not been in flow frames, I would have left it for the bees. Again I had made two splits in summer, but they died in March 18, where we had severe frost up to -20°C. But first hive inspection showed that this year, all 3 remaining colonies are doing well, are strong and already have lots of brood, so I put up the flow supers on 2 of them this week. The third one will be used for hive multiplication, honey comb production (the splits died because they didn't have all their frames drawn out with comb and weren't able to store enough food, so I will focus on having excess combs for splits to add if neccessary), honey store build-up (i.e. those normal wax honey combs will be used for winter food for all hives, so less sugar feeding will be necessary) and maybe propolis production. But the difference is, that I started thinking about bee keeping at least 10 years before the actual start and read virtually everything about it I got into my handy. The flow hive only was the last trigger needed to actually DO it (and the fact that I bought a house in 2014 and was free to do what I wanted since then, not dependent on landlords anymore). My advice would be, let your hive build up and make some splits to compensate for losses. Don't depend on only one hive, just as you said near the end. If your hive does well, don't refrain from putting on the flow super. You can just give them one or two frames as a start by just turning the others to open position. They won't use those open frames and focus on the one or two in closed position. And if they only get to the point of having the plastic lined with wax by the time you'll have to take the honey super off, that's fine, that'll give them a pole position next year. Just do it, don't be afraid ;) If they don't manage to fill them - so what? You shouldn't focus on honey harvest the first years, but on building up strong colonies, getting familiar with the bees (since looking into an actual hive is always a very different thing than reading a book) and collecting a safety reserve of fresh comb and filled honey comb. Side info: I'm in Germany, quite in the center, and we do have cold winters, yet not THAT long and cold as you explained. I take the honey super off by august, september latest, since I have to do varroa treatment by that time. You can't harvest honey after treatment anyway. I put on the flow super by april, depending on weather. If you like, check out my channel, I did some short videos on my harvests (ignore the chicken and rabbit videos ;)). I took one frame out for the very first one, because I was curious to see what happens. I had huge problems with bees falling into the honey jar, so I made a closed tubing system to let the honey flow into my bucket, which has a tap to directly fill the honey into jars. Summary for this novel (sorry): I am satisfied with the flow frames, they work as intended even in other climates than australian eternal summer and they make harvesting super easy. They DON'T have impact on hive development or weather and you'll have to get your basics first no matter which way of harvesting you choose.
Hello in Germany! Thanks for your story and thanks for the encouragement. I'm starting my spring this year with two strong hives and one brand new package. I am hoping to do splits and focus on building my little bee yard. I have patience. It's not about the honey for me, anyway. I just want to be a better beekeeper. Thanks again!
Maybe those long strips of insulated electric wire, they use to warms house gutters fro icing up, around the hive to warm it. they don't get that hot as to burn them or the hive.
I agree that you can expect to put that frame in the hive and get a flow but I also believe that you didn't try it so you really don't know and all you're doing is making excuses for yourself in order not to use a product that I guess you unlike most of us can afford just to throw $700 away on and never use. all I see in this video is you making excuses for wasting your money. I have heard that the flow hives are not good for your bees but I've also heard that you can't do a review on a product you haven't used just because you bought it. I'm one of those 11 thumbs down for that by the way
where i live in canada... july and august are the months when we get 200 pounds per hive. but that is also the only months where you will have real honey flow. these are also the months when the honey can flow nicely because the temps are hot enough that the equipment would work.
some years, but typically, due to our season, farmers put off planting so the most growth happens in july and august. end of august is when crops start to dry out and get ready for harvest. but it is the sheer amount of farms out here that is what counts. check out google earth or maps, go to southern manitoba... and just look at all the fields there are. thousands upon thousands of them
I know Fred, yes. He's not in zone 4. We're in similar zones. The main difference he has is that he's in the middle of farmland and has a more predictable nectar flow than I do.
I'm in NY about 90 mins up from the city. We had a weird winter this year - flowers started blooming mid-may and continue to do so now in June - so it seems like when I get into beekeeping (outside research), I'm going to have to work with the bees for a full year and see how well they do during that year. I don't want to take the honey away from them when they need it more than I do. My plan, along with my husband's (who hates bees but knows I want this in my life), is to get the yard ready for them. We're looking at flowers, bushes, and trees that will give the bees what they need, then place the hive. Luckily, there's a local beehive supply place in Kingston so I can get my bees and tools, attend workshop classes, and have more questions answered there as well. But your video was very helpful (I'll be watching your Q&A); and you answered some questions I had about this Flow Hive. You also gave a great pointer towards the end of your video where you said that when you start beekeeping, start with two hives. So thank you for that! Good luck in your venture and may your colonies be strong this year and years to come. :)
Just new to beekeeping, pardon the stupid comments/ questions. From my limited understanding, the flow box is pretty much a pre-fab comb, that when the queen blocker grate is put on, means that only honey/ nectar can be put in the comb cells. Basically turning the facility into a 7/11 for bees. If it’s a tough time of year, leave the storage for the bees, but if it’s full, then jar a honey bank up. And is it possible to throw a blanket or 2 over the hive to keep it a bit warmer for those colder days? Best of luck!
You can't leave the flow frames on once the temps start to be below freezing. Whether the cells are capped or not, the frames come off. If they're capped, I can harvest. If not, they are useless to me AND the bees. We have 6 months of winter. It's not like I can take them off for a week and put them back on. They would come off before October and go back on maybe in April.
Exactly what I thought. I am in Chicago and started a hive with a nuc last summer late (July). Like you I was inspired by the Flow hive but did jump on it wanting to see some first hand experience. Well, my bees did not make it. But even though it is not quite as cold the season is just about as short. So I am in a similar situation like you and your review is exactly what I had been looking for as FLOW has announced the FLOW 2 and another indigogo promotion that I want to take advantage of because I love the idea of the flow hive, but like you I just don't think there is enough season or flowers to support it. Thank you so much for doing this video, it really helped me to make up my mind. I'm sad that the flow hive is not right for me but it is an expensive hive and I don't want to end up like you with it unused.
Makes it more obvious why most of the beekeepers bring their hives to my state during the summer even though we're actually farther north than you. We load up on huge amounts of wild flowers like clover and farm crops like canola. Looks like your biggest trick is to get the hives for the winter in a reasonable way so they can start off the season ahead of the game instead of trying to catch up.
I love your videos and have learned so much from your bee keeping experiences. I’m starting 2 flow hives (a 7 frame and a hybrid) next month here in Texas and hope I have better luck with being able to use the flow supers this year.
I live in Kentucky and do not think the flowhive would be an issue climate wise because based on the last 3 winters, we never get snow except maybe 1/10 of an inch 1-2 times throughout the winter where I live, and our coldest months are usually January-march. My friend's dad has multiple hives and he does really well here every year with minimal loses so it gives me hope that climate wise it shouldnt be much of a problem. I am considering buying one and putting bees in it next year.
I do feed during the dearth. But you can't feed sugar water AND have flow frames on. They'll put sugar water in the flow frames and then you're harvesting sugar honey.
Where, if I may ask John? I had seven hives in an apple orchard on the farm I grew up on (Orange County, outside Hillsborough) and had looked into the idea of a flow frame, but rejected it as difficult to control and likely to take too much from the bees, necessitating winter feeding (we almost never had to feed because we took so little and the hives were well protected from the elements). NC State has an excellent apiary program (BEES) as does the NC Ag Extension System and I would bet BEES has tried the Flow Frame system in real world conditions.
Gday mate ..Great videos .. I’m in Australia and yes prob have no winter like you... stupid question but what is a dearth and golden rod flow ??? Is nectar being available from flowers what u call golden rod flow ??
I'll start by saying I know nothing about bees or beekeeping. Some one already mention it, but it seems that you just can't get honey no matter witch system you use. If you can't grow a good size hive you will never be able to add supers to collect honey, flowhive or not. if your hive aren't able to grow in size, would it help to use smaller boxes with less frames?
I'm already using only 8 frame boxes (rather than 10 frames). My problem is a lack of nectar sources in the middle of the summer. I'm looking into trying to solve that problem.
But since you can't control the amount of nectar sources (can you?) A bigger work force should be able to collect more when it's available. A small colony is able to sustain it self, but doesn't produce enough honey to collect, right? Watching your channel is very entertaining and I've learned alot. I like that you show nor only the sucesses but also the mistakes. It's a very honest insight into bee keeping.
Can you find some Canadian beekeepers and find out what they do, there must be something for July/August. We have raspberry bushes that the bees get nectar from all summer long as they are the everbearing raspberries. I am not a bee keeper just a gardener :) and a fan.
I'm just saying, coming from Calif. where water , or lack thereof will always be a problem, people here are trending towards replacing their front yard lawns and also backyards with more and more indigenous, less water demanding plants such as succulents, Calif. poppy etc. I would think there has to be some group of plants that are nectar rich , very hardy to the Mass. environment that are low maintenance, non invasive, and very bee friendly. Just go to the local library and lookup beekeeping during the colonial area. Im sure there has to be some info there.
have you ever made sugar frames to help your bees survive? i've seen a video of Cody's lab, he lives in Utah where it can becone very cold too and most of his hives survive the winter.
Have you ever thought about getting a giant greenhouse and then moving the beehive inside during winter months. one you could actually keep their food restock because they have constant flowers enter they won't go into hibernation because they think they have a longer time.
This has been suggested a lot, but it is way too impractical. The hoophouse actually gets too warm during the late winter and the bees would be active months earlier than local nectar would be available. Dealing with artificially feeding them would be no fun. It's best to leave them in their hives and let them come out of their winter cluster in sync with the seasons.
Hi Jim, Could by using your flow frames as your main honey storage for your bees, be an advantage for them, as they only need to seal them with wax instead of having build up complete cells. Therefore giving themselves more resources to make honey instead of wax?
hello sir, vinofarm owner, thx for sharing, im currently doing study project on nature conservation (very serious), bee habitat is one of the subjects. is there any way that i can further ask more questions by pm? thx
Hi there I see you have a little problem but have you try feed sugar water and pollen substitute in April/may to bill Them up before the flow. As I live in township of crows nest, state of Queensland, Country of Australia which is only 2 1/2 hour dive from the flow hive factory. I normally get 3 months good honey flow and winter can down to 2 c over night but maximum day is 10 c or 35.5 f to 50 f but it does get hot. It can get up 40c or 104 f in summer and the tree stop giving nectar about 30 c or 68 f .so I have problems with absconding summer for a Dearth and some didn’t make it through winter. Even when I feed them sugar water and bee pro pollen substitute because they were to weak. Same as you keep Learning very day I hope you do get to try out the flow frames. As I’m would like to do so myself maybe next year as we are rapping up for the year. Which have really good best in 7 years let me no how you get on .
I just read your response to the suggestion that you plant flowers for your area that work during your dearth. Have you thought about roaming around to see which larger plant and maybe trees are covered with bees for your area during that dearth time. Clover and smaller plants can get easily overrun as you have found out. But to establish a few larger bushes and or trees could work.
very interesting and very nice of you to share....i live in the equator..and my sister have a plot of land in a very wooded community and wondered if it is agood place to start off a simple set up?
🌹🌷🌼"MAYBE YOU SHOULD PLANT FLOWERS TO HELP THE BEES DURING THE DEARTH." 🌺🌸🌼
This comment keeps coming up over and over. You're not the first one to think about it! In fact, the season before we got bees, we plowed, disced and tilled an acre of our field RIGHT NEXT TO THE BEE YARD and planted a full acre of bee-friendly wild flowers. We spent hundreds of dollars on seed. Unfortunately, we also had the driest summer in recent history that year so the flowers did not produce like we hoped. 2016 Record-breaking drought. (No water, no nectar) I'm sure what did come up helped, but it was not the success we had hoped for.
Knowing we had a solid acre of wildflowers in the ground in 2016, we decided to plant a SECOND ACRE on the other side of the bee yard to add more flowers. So we plowed, disced and tilled a second acre and planted buckwheat, sweet clover and alfalfa. The buckwheat came up and produced a very thick stand of flowers all through June and a little into July. Unfortunately, the alfalfa did nothing. No germination. The clover germinated, but quickly was taken over by grass and sod that came right back up right after we seeded.
To make things worse, the acre of field we had planted with wildflowers the previous summer (2016) reverted right back to exactly what it looked like before we started planting. So it was basically just a grassy meadow with native pasture flowers. The several hundred dollars of wildflower seed just disappeared and didn't come back the second season.
That patch is where the majority of our goldenrod is, so I am hesitant to do too much to disturb it now. That goldenrod is right next to the bees and they really need it in September. We are going to try re-tilling the second acre and replanting buckwheat and some different types of clover this spring.
It's a crap-ton of work, time and money. It is a little sad to walk out in that field and throw hundreds of dollars onto the ground and not know if it is even going to grow. Believe me, we are doing everything we can to help the bees. We just can't control the weather.
Yeah. Its expensive. I have a few wild flower beds in preparation for my bees. Buying 2x 5lbs bags of local wild flower bee friendly mix is about $250 each year. Two years in a row now. Cant imagine an acre field! I can see the flowers are starting to take control of the ground and push out the 'weeds'. The other problem is about half the flower types don't seem to come up the next year. My plan is to get the town to promote a bee friendly town, by creating maybe tax breaks, or free seed for residents that want to dedicate a portion of their land to flowers. I'll have to figure it out. Some of the local members of the bee club seem interested in helping. Not sure what you can do with needing to plant THAT much land. Seems too expensive. Guess it depends on the number of hives and amount of honey. Good luck!
I just ordered 50lbs of buckwheat seed yesterday. Yay!
I agree with the above ^^^^ . Trees provide the best nectar flows - like 50x more than flowers. But flowers do help in a dearth. In winter, in my area, folks buy safflower seeds to feed the birds. Why not just plant them? - Bags of safflower (bird food) are pretty cheap: www.beeculture.com/seed-oilseed-crops-bee-plants/ - "safflower blossoms are a top choice among bees".
Next up... 🌹🌷🌼"MAYBE YOU SHOULD MAKE AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM TO HELP THE FLOWERS."🌺🌸🌼
Haha great videos man thanks. There's so much to consider when keeping bees. Maybe I'll do it one day :)
Consider no-till gardening (permaculture) and work with the indigenous plants. DO NOTHING based on conjecture lest you make unnecessary trouble by presuming. There must be successful bee-keepers near. Ask them.
One thing you can see do to help is plant sweet clover. It will not make a super difference but sweet clover builds up the soil and they have flowers and will help some. Sweet clover is a legume. Look that up legume put nitrogen in the soil. They also have a lot of flowers. It is something that will not cost a lot of money but will make a little difference. Sweet clover may take years to realy get going. Plant some the next year there should be a little more sweet clover. Over time you should have a good amount of sweet clover. Each year you should get more. No it will not give you a lot of honey but will give a little more. Sweet clover will grow like grass maybe a little taller. But after time most of the grass area will have sweet clover adding a new flower for the bees. Next plant fruit trees! You get the fruit and the bees get the flowers. This is not a ONE THING deal Look at all the parts. You want more honey put things around to help them make honey. When you add things make the things that will build you soil of give something to eat.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I have two Flow hives one regular and one hybrid and also have yet to use one to harvest honey. I had one of them on the hive for a couple months last year and the bees came up, ran around, and used it for a rec room but never put any honey in it. They got snippy when I wouldn't put in a pool table...
You realize that billiard bees are pretty lazy.
Fooz bees on the other hand...
Last summer we put our Flow on our strongest hive. The Bees didn’t touch it but we got a great ants nest. Flow suggested painting it with Bees wax. That sounds discouraging to me as it’s as if you need to trick them into using it. I think a Flow Hive is a waste of money.
@Patty Castle I don't think a one time waxing is such an inconvenience for easy harvesting.
This is the most informative video I have watched and could be easily called “Factors You’d Never Consider Before Becoming A Bee Keeper”! You share so much great information while you share your Flow story. Thanks you for a great video! Fingers crossed for you this year!
Turns out there's a LOT of factors you'd never consider before becoming a beekeeper. That's sort of the theme of my channel!
From what I've seen online, the biggest issue getting started with flowframes is getting the bees to accept them and prep them. Once they get going a strongish hive will fill them surprisingly fast in a strong nectar flow. I would still put it on your strongest hive to let them prep the frames this year so that they're ready to go for a good flow year
i live in sth wales in the uk, our winters are not quite as long or cold, season starts in april, it's possible to get a spring crop here but not always, i started my 1st year april 2022 with 2 flow hives, from 2, 6 frame nucs, we do get a june gap (dearth) but it's only for a week or so and may or may not happen at all dependant on area/year, i had an issue with one hive as the queen in the nuc was injured and got superceeded did not get a great deal out of that hive, but the second hive, well that was just great, once the flow started the bees went from empty flow frames to full in 6 days (linden trees were flowering) i waited too long before extracting thinking the back window would fill up, had i not waited i may well have got three full flow supers off it but it ended up being just the two, flows supers off mid-august for varroa treatment and plenty of time for bees to fill up with winter stores by nov.
I do not think a flow hive is for cold weather country
We are all so very vulnerable to the weather aren't we?
Sounds like cold weather country are bad for beekeeping
I really want to get into beekeeping when i can get my own place and really like the idea of having a low impact design for a collection process. I think the flow hive can work up in the new england area, it just needs to be reinforced somehow.
Check out Frederick Dunn’s page, he has 2 flow hives and i believe he is in Pennsylvania and has no problem extracting.
@@Khanstant yes cold weather bee keepers really have to invest in alot more infrastructure so their bees survive the winter. But it can be done.
Hi. I’m a little confused. I thought the flowhive super was just the same as a standard super, but the honey was collected in a different “easier” way. So if your bees weren’t producing enough honey to fill the brood box and the flowhive super then what difference will a standard super make??
With standard frames, I can shuffle them around between hives if necessary and not-quite-full frames can still remain in the hives for winter for the bees to consume. Or if only one frame is ready for harvest, I can just pull that one frame. There is total flexibility. On the other hand, if the flow frames are not 100% full and capped, they cannot be harvested. This is not a problem in a warm climate. They can just stay in the hive until the bees fill them. However, we have a very short season and the flow frames must be removed once our fall hits and the freezing nights start. If the frames are not ready to harvest, I need to take them them indoors, where the unfinished nectar will ferment. The bees won’t get the honey and neither will I. It’s a lose-lose situation.
Here's an analogy I thought of while I was out walking the dog...
Say you've always wanted to learn how to swim and you didn't know anything about swimming and you came across someone selling swim fins with a really compelling ad about how swim fins can enhance your swimming experience. So you buy the swim fins and get really excited to learn how to swim. However, you live in Canada and your local swimming pond has ice on it 6 or 8 months a year.
So you wait until the perfect warm summer day to go swimming and realize you can't use your new swim fins because you still need to learn how to swim. Then you spend the summer learning to go underwater, dog paddle, tread water... all the basics. Cold weather comes and your pond freezes and you hang up your swim fins for the winter. The next year, you get a little better at swimming and never take out your swim fins because you realize the "traditional" finless swimming method was OK and you really didn't get to swim all that much anyway.
The fact remains that there are tons of very happy people in the Caribbean, who live on the beach who love their swim fins and use them every day. The swim fins are a perfectly fine product that greatly enhance their swimming experience. However, the people living up north probably don't really need them all that much.
Makapu'u Beach O'ahu Hawai'i one the best body surfing places in Hawai'i!!
half acre of Purple giant hyssop, 2 Sumac (Staghorn) trees, 2 Sumac (Smooth) per five hives, and you won't get that bad of a dearth in mid summer. Yes it takes a couple of years for the trees to grow but worth it in the end.
North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana are the 3 TOP Honey producing states in the country. And Minnesota, Michigan and New York are in the TOP Ten. It's not the winter that's causing the low flow.
700 dollar swim fins I see
Those are great plants to have, and any late summer blossoming plants work great.
I'm about 20 miles away from Vino Farm and the dearth I had in the past 2 years was solely due to drought.
No water = no nectar.
Even with great plantings, if there's no water, then you'll get poor nectar and pollen.
For folks thinking about beekeeping - make sure your hives are near a natural water source - brook, stream, pond, or well irrigated farm... That's the best way to insure the plants can produce nectar and good pollen in a drought.
According to your explanation, flow frames or not, you'd be lucky to get any honey at all... yay! Btw, you are a great "teacher" you are very articulate and conveying the relevant information, great job, thank you for sharing!
That's nice of you to say. Thanks for watching.
Aura Todoran This is what I agree. Its not the flow frame, it is that the bees are not producing more honey. Why not use the flow frame for the 2nd floor? I saw a bunch of honey being wasted and not consumed through the winter in his flow colony. He could have harvested it.
Next season Vino will produce 800 pounds of honey without even trying. Better stock up on 5-gallon buckets and figure out what you prefer. We buy the buckets from a store called Rural King because they sell white buckets with a #2 on the bottom. The lids at Rural King suck and don't fit well. They pop loose and ants get in. (That's no good) We get the lids from Menards.
The buckets come from Century Container Corporation and the lids come from another company called Encore Plastics Corporation. We shopped around and had a bad experience and corrected it by purchasing buckets and lids separate. We were using Menards buckets too. Then one day one cracked open and split down the side. Before you could say "spit" we had 5 gallons of honey on the floor. Losing 60 pounds of honey valued at $5/pound stings.
couldn't have said that better!
G'day from downunder!!
You are so right about our weather. In Australia we have 90% of our country does not have snow or temps under -2degC (28F). Only 10% drops to maybe -8C. Where I live, 30 deg S Lat, 80 naut miles from the E coast as the crow flies, our minimum, minimum temp has been -4.5C, basically shorts & T shirt weather all year round. Local temp variation from 45C to -4C and we don't get snow, definitely no snow. We don't even have a permanent snow line.
Although I am not a beekeeper, I can truly understand exactly what you are saying. I commend the work you have done and your comments. I'd like to get into bee keeping, atm I do my "apiarying" through you my friend. Yes I do watch others, but enjoy your work (more) and look forward to your videos (addicted).
Keeping bees helps your local environment stay strong and vital, that is very important. With each passing year your bees will get stronger and stronger through natural selection, hang in there, the flow hive will be in use, I can feel it in my bones.
The learning curve you are on, and the information you publish helps others along their individual paths, and that is bloody brilliant. You are building a massive bank of good Karma.
To coin an Aussie saying......... "Maaaaaaate, ya dun good!!!!"
Pilot McBride I miss Australia 😥
Expat Alex?
Mate we're easy to find. If you're coming from the East and see Indonesia, turn left or from the West, turn right, can't miss us, lol. I'm busting a gut to get out of here for a rest (been here 64 years with a short break best forgotten), saving for a short trip to the States in a couple of years hopefully visit a few friends.
As a people we haven't changed all that much, but our political arena seems to have taken a sharp turn to the right (bordering on fascism) and the loud mouth boobs seem to have taken control.
Love this channel, would love to care for some bees but my health puts a damper on it unfortunately.
Thanks for the shout, really appreciate it, don't be a stranger to the Land Down Under :)
Pilot McBride aye gotta alot of family down and used to live there beautiful and exciting place
Come back soon mate!!!!!
Pilot McBride You've obviously never been to Perisher, Thredbo, Snowy Mountains in general, Canberra, or even some parts of Tassie! T-shirts and shorts all year round?! Born in a tent were you?! What a bloody croc!
Can you not feed your bees in the weaker months? Forgive my lack of beekeeping knowledge, but can't you feed them a variety of syrups when nectar is not available?
They are fed when there is no nectar available.
So, if using normal hives you have a lack of honey, why place emphasis on the flow hive? Just seems like there's a lack of honey overall.
Not bashing the Flow Hive. It's just that I get asked all the time why I haven't used it. The issue we have with the Flow Hive is the need to completely fill a frame in order to harvest the honey. I can put regular Langstroth supers on any time. If they fill one or two or only half of all of them, the frames are still harvestable OR fine to be left in a hive for winter. The Flow Frames come off in October whether they're filled or not. If they're all 75% capped at that point, they're wasted. I can't harvest a 75% capped Flow frame and I can't leave it over the winter for the bees. It's all or nothing. That's the conundrum. This problem is specific to the Flow Frames.
Why can't you leave it on for the winter? Your discussion was based on this assumption, but I'm missing why it's not possible. Thanks.
Nicholas Gaudet When the Flow frames are on, you must have a Queen excluder installed. During winter, bees are going to cluster around the queen. If the cluster needs to go up into the flow box for stores, the queen could be left behind under the excluder. Also, the flow frames are Extra deep with very little room around them for clustering. They are simply not designed to be used over winter. The flow hive people state that they need to be removed for winter. Bottom line, this whole system was designed in a place with no winter. In the location (sub tropical Australia) where these were conceived and tested, they are left on the hive year round. In almost every other part of the world, these frames need to be removed during freezing months. Unfortunately, we have six freezing months.
on the brightside, it was your flow hive video that first brought me to your channel ages ago. and ive been a subscriber since. i look forward to your videos this year :)
p.s your channel is probably the best ive seen for beginners to get into beekeeping.
Thank you. Yes, I realize the Flow Hive is the reason this channel took off to begin with. So, thanks, Flow Hive. I appreciate your kind words!
Vino Farm
What steve said!
I subscribed to the channel for the same reason he did and while I've been curious about why you haven't put the flow hive on, I never really cared because you do have the best videos out there and I've learned so much!
I started one year after you and I'm in Texas so I've had to learn to adjust accordingly since we really don't have winters in central Texas... Not compared to y'all anyway. I just made it through my first winter and am going into my second year with the 2 hives I started with, thanks to your guidance. So, here's a big heartfelt Texas "thank you"! 😊
Ditto! I have grandiose ideas about being a beekeeper so it's been very interesting to learn about it. Great explanation on your situation! I look forward to seeing how this summer goes for you! Long Live Queen Balboa's Lineage! :)
Awww.
And I still think about how many bottles of honey one could purchase with $1,100? What is the right way to go???
What do you think about a top bar hive. I have a bad back. And it looks like a top bar hive would be easier on the old back??
Bill Mitchell Top bats are definitely easier on the back. Also look up horizontal hives. They’re like Langstroth/top bar hybrids.
Dude, the only difference between a flow hive setup and a longstrop is the FH has taps to take honey, when required. Just set it up and see how it goes... :-)
One point someone brought up elsewhere is: Its supposed to be convenient way to get honey, but unless you buy $600 flow-hive for every hive, you still will need to do traditional extractions, so it doesn't save you time for that money. If you have a single hive, you could just buy a food-grade bin, and a mesh, then uncap and let it passively drain while you go do something else, and doing that is not much more time-costly than using the flow-hive.
(not a beekeeper) I've been watching videos and if your bees are struggling to survive certain months couldn't you just do the trick of 1 part water 1 part sugar to keep them going?
Same question I had. Could you supplement them with sugar syrup until September?
So start with brood box. Feed until you can add a super. Add a medium super and continue supplementing. Then add Flow, no more feeding. Once you have collected and removed flow, supplement feeding until it gets too cold. If the hive is really full of bees, add a second medium super after removing the Flow.
Thanks alot, i guess you just saved me some frustration (living in Sweden) ..I just have to see further down the road if Flow hive is something i can use, but i start up with some classic ones.
Whats the point of removing the flow frames? the bees eat from them in winter?
Bee keeping is a like a box of chocolates .8-)
But you know you gonna get honey
And in a box of chocolates you know you are gonna get chocolate ;D
Why can't you leave the flow frames on during winter? Won't they just eat the honey out of them, then fill it again next spring?
It is not recommended by Flow Hive. Also, the queens will move up into the flow frames in late winter and fill them with brood, causing a gigantic mess.
@@vinofarm So you wouldn't just harvest from the Flow in the fall, then remove those frames and feed pollen patties and sugar for winter? I know some beekeepers are against this. I'd like to get into beekeeping and the Flow was the only way I'd do it to keep down on equipment. I'm on Cape Cod by the way.
MrMills Yes, that’s the ideal situation. This video explains what happens to me: the flow frames would never be full by fall. You can’t harvest 1/2 empty flow frames and you can’t leave them on. It’s a lose lose situation. If you KNOW your bees will fill them right up, this would work for you.
I am almost down the street from you in Belmont MA.
I started watching you to learn from you, and compare bees. ( also a new bee keeper) My bees did good the 1st year and I used my flow hive the 1st year. (I used waxed frames, maybe that speeded the process) In the Summer of my 2nd year they all died, maybe swarmed. My 3rd year now, I am going to start all over again with a package bee. I believe if you start with a strong hive in the spring, flow hive will work.
I love your videos, you say you are a new bee keeper, but we all learn so much from you. Good Job, Thank You.
I have friends in Belmont! Actually, you have an advantage over there. City bees do GREAT. There is so much variety for nectar sources and all packed really close together. Plus you're a couple stops up on the weather zone charts. Good luck and thanks for the kind words.
No "tree nectar" up there? My bees were cutting into maple buds on any warm day in mid February to March, Persimmon, Tulip Poplar, Black Gum (Tupelo) and sourwood. Tulip poplar is the build-up and winter stores, I try to keep the Tupelo and and Sourwood.
Thanks for this video. I am in same environment as you and have been wanting a flow hive. My initial investment for my first bees was just deeps and a couple mediums. Was lucky to have a mentor tell me to start off that way. After 6 months of beekeeping I realize the flow hive will not be needed for a couple years. Great video and again thanks for your explainations!
Deeps for brood boxes (1 at the bottom) and shallows for supers. Mediums full of honey are so HEAVY. LOL
Would it be viable to make a 4xMed Hive and a 3xDeep Hive for them to be able to have a good size of a population and food storage for themselves and be able to get a situation where you could get 1 Med Super on each hive for yourself after they've filled the hive proper? A larger hive with more brood might be able to survive better, no? I'm not sure, just giving a thought from the outside.
have you ever thought of planting wildflowers where are you live??????
Sara Elias I’m pretty sure he has two meadows of planted wildflowers 😊
Hi Sara wild flowers are an excellent choice. We can also get more precise with the specific plants that flower during dearth months. Thank you.
Send me the box..I live in Victoria Australia..You are right we really don't experience snow, only on our tall mountains. But you have made me feel better were I live, Im always complaining how cold winter is here...Its nothing like what you guys experience.
Unless you live in the arctic this will work. RULE 1 IN BEEKEEPING IF YOU WANT HONEY ,YOUR BEES MUST BE AT MAXIMUM POPULATION BEFORE THE APRIL MAY OR JUNE FLOW. This means your bees must be strong going into the winter. They must be mite free and lots of honey. Then as soon as it starts warming ( note no particular month) feed sugar syrup and pollen patties. As soon as the flow is on ( note when the dandelions are blooming) throw the flow frames on. In my case, Chinese knockoffs.
things to consider . You can't take some spare frames to the flow hive and swap them with honey filled frames.
If the flow hives are not close to your home you have to wait for the frame to drain into your honey jar.
If it is cold the honey flow is slower.
I am in a cold climate closer to Antartica than QLD so I have not purchased the flow hives since moving more South five years ago.
Well since you now have multiple hives and each winter a hive that dwindles (and or dies) you might want to use another strategy for just a little bit of honey harvest in non-optimal years.
You put one or two flow frames in the flow box and the rest of the space you fill with normal frames. If that one flowframe gets filled with honey you harvest only that one, ones a year. Once harvested and the frame is cleaned by the bees you switch the box and take out the flow frame and put in a normal frame. They only have one frame to add honey :)
To support strong hives getting through the last bit of winter you'll need the weak hives and you'll need to combine them making sure the food is used by a strong hive. If a hive dies, freeze the honey frames and use those to get stronger hives through winter. Deepfreeze for 2 months kills pests, honey will be fine once thawed.
If you have 10-30 frozen frames full of honey as a backup then hives not making it in Sep/Okt or Feb/Mar/Apr can still be given good honey. And you won't have to worry about harvesting 2-3 frames of fresh honey in Jun/Sep. You've already experienced that there can be other issues bugging the hive to get it to dwindling. Once that dealt with the short nectar flow is over and adding frames from your backup would fix it. Yes I know you don't have 30 frames of honey backup, and it might take you multiple years the get to that amount to store but eventually you will.
You might want to "travel" with a hive putting it near a neighboring meadow about 3-10 miles away during good honey flows. While wintering it in your own backyard. Then you might expand to 5 hives of which 2-3 survive winter. 2 hives dying during winter would leave you with 4-10 frames of backup honey.
Excellent, excellent ideas. Thank you, as always, jo han!
Why cant you leave the flow hive in winter?
So the flow hive is perfect for where I live after hearing that is mostly for hot-warm weather because I live in Trinidad and Tobago and we don't have winter(we have a DRY season, Rain season and fall).
But I do still have mix feelings about it and after watching this video this Really opened my mind if I want to live that has a winter and I wanted to start with a flow hive. 🤔
I did not like how they had a fundraiser saying they needed millions to start up. We had one of the reps from Australia saying they got all the money to start up but they need more money actually several million more and come to find out they had the Chinese make them at their factories. Initially they were going to build a factory in Australia but took most of 5he money. In my opinion they are shisters. Later come to find out the Chinese copied the design and are selling a Flow hive really cheap.
Being a beekeeper for 8 years I am quite confident in my skills and have no need for the trash Flow Hive. I have a mere 100 hives and use the honey my bees have made to supplement my prescriptions.
We have had bee hives on our off-grid homestead for a while now and people who buy our honey always asked about these types of hives. I'm torn since I don't hear good things about their longevity. Some of our hives have been in use for 8 years. I've heard these will only last a season or two because the combs get clogged or break as they are plastic. I'd still try one out if I got one for free but think I'll stick to my wooden boxes.
Similar story here with Flow Hive in the Berkshires (Western Mass) but I’m starting to think your resource Nucs could be the answer. If your primary hives are in good shape after winter then move some brood frames from your resource nucs to the Flow Hive to catch the first nectar flow - Michael Palmer in one of his videos called it “dropping a brood bomb”. I just assembled my resource nuc (which you introduced me to, thanks) and now I'm thinking i should get a second one, but i'll have over a year to see if I can get my dusty Flow supers to work. Good luck and thanks for the great videos.
As the wife of a long time beekeeper, I have a few questions. First, are you monitoring for the varroa mite. From what I have picked up from my husband and The American Bee Journal, varroa mites are a very possible reason why your bees are not making it through the winter. Second, are you checking your hives in the early spring to find out where the bees are in relation to the honey stores? Sometimes the queen lays late into the fall season, and the bees will cluster around her to keep her alive, but the honey will not be near by. Restacking the supers, bringing the honey closer to the cluster, will help them. Third, do you feed them in the early spring months? We live in MI and have been feeding our bees a sugar fondant for several months. They went into winter with plenty of honey, but the winter was longer and colder than normal. Checking the hives during a warm spell in Feb., my husband decided the bees needed some extra feeding to keep them alive.
My husband recently bought "The Beekeeper's Bible", publisher Abrams, NY. Not only does it cover beekeeping, but the book has chapters on the history of beekeeping, bee life history, overwintering, diseases, hive location, grading honey, and recipes for using your honey and wax. Love this book. Very informative.
I've lost two hives out of five hive overwinter attempts, so my overwinter record is pretty good. The two I lost had heavy varroa and were treated, but probably a bit too late in the fall. I need to monitor the varroa earlier in the season and treat earlier. Still, I've had three hives make it through winter, so I'm doing OK.
Yes, I check any days that get above 50º in MA. One of my survivors was just about out of honey back in early March and they've had fondant on all winter. They're living on fondant right now, but still very much alive. It's still too cold to feed syrup, but that will start soon.
Thanks for the tips.
The description of Massachusetts weather had me laughing. I’m right below in CT and it’s so accurate about April
I left Connecticut couple years ago and the three years I lived there I have never seen so much SNOW and cold in my life lol I’m from Virginia. No such thing as warm spring in Connecticut I was still wearing a coat !
I live in subtropical Queensland, with blooms all year round, and the flow hive works well for me. I understand completely why it would not work in your situation and feel fortunate not to have to cope with cold winters.
Maybe try a double queen colony like some commercial beekeepers do. Queen in top box, queen in bottom box, queen excluders bottom and top, flow hive/supers in the middle. Maximises honey production in short period of time if your seasons are short. Good luck.
This was a suggestion by someone else as well. I need to look into that. My brain is having a hard time understanding it. Thanks for the tip.
I think he means two excluders with two hive bodies and a flow hive sandwiched in between. It'd be more trouble than running two conventional colonies supered the old-school conventional way imo. Of course I have an extractor so I'd lean toward using it.
I live in Massachusetts and have 7 Flow Hives - they generate A LOT of honey, and sometimes with 2 harvests in one year...they work great for me...it seems like it is all about the environment and its "friendliness to bees" in that area.
Where in MA? What are your nectar sources?
@@vinofarm Outside Boston inside Rt128...lots of urban and suburban flowers...and with a three-mile flight radius, they seem to gather all the nectar and pollen they need, although I am prepared to supplemental feed when needed. Our nectar flow was pretty steady this year with all the yards and fields with a wide variety of flowers and shrubs. For example, our first frame of honey had a slight hint of mint to it - the bees seem to have found some mint bushes in the area and it shows up in the honey - possible when you don't mix honey from multiple frames and multiple hives. We get frame by frame honey and each has a slightly different taste - only Flow Hive gives you that kind of individuality of flavor...
PS I have always wanted to meet you and see your apiary...would you be open to that?
We had an amazing flow of nectar all summer this year. The past three years (my first three years) we had a severe dearth during July and August... like clockwork. I just thought that's how it was. This was my first time seeing nectar come into the hives in abundance. This video was shot between my 2nd and 3rd season and that was all I knew. I can't say this new flow will continue because most beekeepers I've talked to have said this was an unusually great year. It's different everywhere you go, though. As far as visits, we are not currently open for visitors. Sorry. I try to share everything I do here on the channel.
No one should look at a flow hive till you have real strong hives. When I got mine I had a hive that was two brood box's and a super. I put the flow hive on top with a queen excluder and got good honey but the hive was about 3 or 4 years old and I had never taken any stores from them just left them from year to year.
Yes sir, i have been around bees since i was a kid, and he is just starting. You have to have super strong hives to get good honey period.
Thank you for your informative videos. I will be taking the classes at U of M for Beekeeping. Here in Minnesota we have brutal winters. At the same time we have flowers that bloom before the snow is completely gone. May I suggest that you talk to your local plant nurseries and plan your flower blooming for the whole summer. Again thank you.
This is funny and sad because if you didn't have "FlowHive" in your titles, I never would have watched any of your videos in the first place. Doesn't Mr Dunn live near you? Why does his work and yours doesn't? I AM SO CONFUSED. Good presentation, but leaves me with more questions than answers.
Frederick Dunn lives 9 hours away from me in a different state. There are people 1 hour away from me who have the Flow Hive working. Every situation is completely different. I'm not giving up on it. I hope to get it working this summer, but if we have a similar dearth in July, it's not going to happen. Like I said in the video, if I lived next to a canola farm, my bees would have plenty of summer nectar and I wouldn't have this issue. Unfortunately, my plantings for summer nectar have not been successful. I'll keep trying.
Oh! I didn't realize that. Yes, keep trying and we'll keep watching! Thanks for the response.
When you have 10 or more colonies next spring would be a great time to invest in 12 more flow hives.
Was thinking about your comment getting to know how to get your bees through the winter. We don't have a particularly cold winter here but have a long wet winter.
I noticed in one of your videos that you have a poly tunnel, so how about sticking your hives in there for the worst of the period. I've recently been given another tunnel and I'm planning on housing my apart in it as my bees are flying in my other tunnel and it's jan
I've considered it, but the problem comes when it's early March and the hoophouse warms up to 70ºF and it's still freezing outside. They think it's spring and start flying, only to find that there are no flowers for 8 more weeks. Moving them there and back for the coldest two months is highly impractical. The other option is covering the whole beeyard with a hoophouse and making the plastic easy to open and close to regulate temp. Still very impractical since we have huge temperature swings in late winter. I'll see how my current wrapping/insulation does this winter. If I lose too many hives I'll think about something like that next winter.
You have a lot of acreage to plant. Yellow clover is the best provider of nectar. One acre can produce a ton of honey. I would look into it. Not sure about ur zone. Also we havent put on our flow hive super yet either. Second year we are trying to put it on during the first nectar flow. With the issues in your area sounds like you need to feed early and use pollen substitute to kick them into production. Also melt some wax you have collected and coat ur flow frames, put a queen excluder on and put on ur flow frames early. They will need to clean it up and get it ready before they even start storing. Also as a new beekeeper I wouldn’t buy the flow hive initially, I would do what u said just buy traditional hives then get the super. I feel your pain. Really hard to get the honey going!
We tried sweet clover last year but it got overrun with grass before it took hold. I have red and white clover (native here) ready to plant this spring after we till our field. I have not looked into yellow clover. Best of luck with your bees!
Joe Lewis has a great video on plants for bees: ruclips.net/video/VgALQjkER-o/видео.html - Best to plant in a shoal sized area. Good luck.
Clover is tricky. Lots of blooms, but once nectar is gone, its dry blooms. Ive read guys who high mow/cut their clover fields in rows, cycling new blooms. Flowers do not = nectar flow.
Your channel has been one of my go to channels while I was researching beekeeping and has remained so since I started last year. It was so strange to see your bee yard with just one hive in it @ 3:41 and no shrubs around the outside!!! Keep up the great thoughtful well explained vids :)
You gotta start somewhere! Thanks for the support.
Brilliant video. I genuinely think the technology and the concept of Flow is brilliant (I feel as though you agree?), but it's the application which makes me dubious. Your video has given me a truly balanced insight - so many beekeepers appear hostile towards it, often though misunderstanding. It was fantastic to watch a video which is 'negative' about flow, but with a brilliant justification. Thanks very much for this.
For me, as silly as it sounds, one of the aspects I love about the Flow is the observation window... but that's partly because it's a great way to show bees in action to those not comfortable being around an open hive. I'm yet to get into beekeeping - I've just found your channel so I think I'll watch your videos and learn from your learning experience!
Anyway, that's the end of my rambling. :)
just cut a window on a normal hive
Now, I know relatively nothing about bees; and I will NEVER have bees (because I'm allergic), but why are hives the size they are? What keeps you from custom building an extremely large, extra long (maybe modular?) hive? If the hive is large, would that not offer a greater degree of insulation for the winter, and a considerably larger cluster in winter? And could you then use flow frames on top, given it allows a much greater winter survival rate? Of course, that means that if anything goes wrong in that hive, it's a significant loss, but I'm curious how flexible hives really are.
This video has very nice lighting. The colours are great, the music in the end enters very naturally and the video has a professional feel. You've become a proper videographer mr. Vinofarm.
What's your name btw? I'm sure you've mentioned it on some episode, but I can't remember.
Jim!
There is something I've been thinking about at 3:40 when I saw your hive. Why don't you have a "beeshed"? Here in Bavaria a lot of the Beekeepers I know have a little shed built around there hives. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienenhaus
I guess those help the bees at least a little bit to keep warm during winter, 'cause those can be mostly the same as you describe.
Well... This is interesting. I bought a Flowhive on a whim because I wanted an easy way to get into beekeeping. Then I found your you tube channel and have watched every episode of your beekeeping experience. The difference between you and I starting up was that I had heard that you should start with two hives. I didn’t want to buy another Flowhive so bought an 8 frame flat packed Langstroth hive so I could share elements of both hives. After installing two 6 frames nucs, the Langstroth proved to be the more successful and productive hive.
Like you I haven’t harvested any honey yet from the Flowhive but I’m trying to figure out a strategy so I can. Unlike you though I fortunately didn’t lose any bees over winter. I now have 4 hives in total. One 8 frame Langstroth , 2 ten frame Langstroths and a 32 frame Langstroth frame long hive that we call our “Longstroth”
This year the Longstroth will converted into a 5 x 5 frame nuc hive and I plan to get another 4 or so Langstroth hives going. I won’t be buying another Flowhive. Like you I don’t have anything bad to say about the Flowhive except it’s probably not for me either.
What I will say is this, the Flowhive may have been the catalyst for me to start bee keeping but it won’t be the reason I remain a bee keeper. I absolutely love it. I still do a little jig, like you, when I find a mated queen for the first time.
I also really enjoy your channel and feel I truly can share your delights and frustrations.
FYI... I live on the south western tip of the UK.
There goes $700 dollars. Did my 1st flow hive in 2017. Was a mentor to the buyer. Found out he didn't have the time nor did he want any of my advise. It worked great for my 1st free bottle of honey & that was about it. He is now building a Top Bar hive. It is a very interesting about the zone difference.
What i would do is have a give-a-way.
This thought crossed my mind. Maybe at 50,000 subscribers?
Nah, advertising like that will just get ppl to make fake accounts or subscribe just for the sake of free stuff. Better to just let it happen over time so the subscribers are legit and here to stay.
You'd be surprised... also, it wouldn't be just 1 person doing it. A lot of ppl have hundreds of fake accounts already to up their favorite channel's sub amount or to up their own real account, they could just reuse them on this channel. I think you just underestimate the stupidity of RUclips.
When do you apple trees start blooming? Will they help in the death months when they get bigger? Are there other trees you could plant that bloom in those months?
Apples are all in a narrow two weeks roughly end of April to early May. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later, but always over by mid May.
As a beekeeper, I get asked about the flow hive all the time. I always refer those questions to videos like yours, and Brandon's Bees. I feel that you guys get it. You still have to be a beekeeper with the flow hive. You can't just put it on, and wait for the magic to happen, you may get a crop, but the bees will most likely fail. Keep on beekeeping JIm. I love the journey!
maybe a dumb question but you cover the dearth with feeding them right? don't they make honey from the food they get?
Yes, you can feed them syrup to get through the dearth, but you would not want to harvest that syrup to eat. You actually have to watch where it goes and make sure you put on fresh supers before the flow to be sure what's being stored in the frames you are harvesting is from flowers and not sugar water.
Fun Fact: i missed this Video back in the day - just watched it.
Funny thing is - my beekeeping story is exactly the same as yours ^^
The good thing - through Flow Hive i got into beekeeping, and i found your channel. started watching you with the first Flow Hive Video.
Quick question - isn't the flow hive slightly more effective as a honey storage as they don't need to build as much comb to begin with? Won't that mean the bees spend less energy building comb and gather more honey instead? I always thought you could leave the box on, for them to utilise it when they want. Thanks
Watch what I said in the video... you can't leave it on in winter. So I need to make sure they have at least one FULL regular super filled up first that will just be for THEM for the winter. Once they have that filled, THEN I can put on the Flow super for me to harvest whatever they store after that. If I only put the flow super on, they will surely fill it up, but I need to remove it when the weather gets cold and I'd be taking away their honey.
That is definitely a tough timeline. Maybe this year will be better and the numbers will be on your side. I think a flow hive would work for me here in VA. b/c we only have a couple of really cold months. I would definitely love to try it some day. Good luck this season. 👍
Thanks for watching!
Hi Jim! Thanks so much for putting in so much work into your videos. I enjoy them a lot! I live in a quarter acre lot in a village in New York and there is no way I could have any hives. I have been watching your bee adventures for 2 years now and everything I have learned about bee keeping has been from your content. It seems that your hives are stronger this year than what they were this time last year. I was wondering if you could plant a field of wildflowers around your bee yard. Would that be practical to increase the flow? Maybe find some wildflowers that peak during your dearth months. Just a thought from someone who knows nothing! I hope you have a great bee season this year coming up!
I'd say keep your Flow Hive ready to use. You and I live about 2 miles apart, as the bees fly. We've had some wonky weather that hasn't helped anyone in this area. 2016 we had a drought. Bees worked hard to find flowers with nectar in them. 2017 saw the end of the drought, and what I had heard through Worcester County Beekeepers was that shower and rain activity diluted or washed the nectar from flowers. Again, the bees had to work hard to find nectar. 2015 though, lots of nectar was readily available, and ours made lots of honey. Since this is agriculture and not manufacturing, we are at Mom Nature's mercy. Keep the faith, good years are coming. 🐝
Thanks, Jack. I had a sense that the last two seasons we a bit abnormal. It's all I know, though! I appreciate the encouragement.
I bought the flow frames because the technology was so intriguing.... and I know this product has generated thousands of new bee keepers.... so I am grateful for this.... encouraging new keepers .... so I appreciate your situation....
I'm liking the Beard! really suits you.
Just saw video and i think you are correct i have been keeping bees for 4yrs now and my 2nd year tried my first flow hive and it works great in central texas we might have 10 days of winter this year i will be adding my second flow box . Im still a small hobbyist with 10 hives.
That's great. This illustrates my point. It's still a fine product for a lot of people. You just have to live in the right location for it to work.
I live in houston,tx and i want to start. Any pointers?
YA WANT 75 BUCKS FOR IT ? I'LL PAY SHIPPING.
TRICK-OR TREAT lol
Have you gone to warm colors apiary? they are where i got my first 2 packages and i have nothing but great things to say.
Unfortunately, I had the opposite experience there. Watch my video of me installing the Russian nucs. They were filled with black comb and hive beetles, not to mention that I was led to believe that I was buying nucs FROM HIS APIARY only to arrive for pickup to find that they came from Missouri. He's also the guy who told me, "You won't have to worry about Varroa with these bees." One of those nucs turned into a varroa bomb in three months. Not a good experience for me.
@@vinofarm i never got Russian from him i got packaged bees.I use to be able to inspect my hive like you do but now i have to get into full battle rattle LOL
@@vinofarm Wow that is terrible.
Please sell them to me :( I’m just getting ready to start beekeeping , and of you want to sell that I would love it.
A question.... do beekeepers in your area collect any honey the traditional way? If so then why not try the two queen system where two hives joined together with the supers linked to both in the middle? This way with two hives collecting nectar, the supers would fill up twice as fast enabling you to add the flow frames in early September.
You should try catching wild bees they already know what they need.
I've had quite a similar history: Came across the flow thing in 2015, took a beginners course and tried to get my first bees, but couldn't get my hands on a colony. Bought a 7 flow frame set whitout a box anyway and waited a solid 11 months for it to arrive (which it did in Feb 16). Finally bought two colonies, that nearly filled one brood box by then, waited until they filled up the second box at least by half, then added the flow supers (had ordered a second frames-only set and 2 full sets with box, when the production was running) and they filled them readily, but slowly. This is normal for brand new frames, they fill up faster when they've been previously used. Harvested ~25kg from two hives in total, made two splits and had one hive swarm, which of course lessens the honey yield. One original colony died in Dec 16, but the splits turned into thriving hives in 2017. But we had very rough spring in 2017, with heavy winds, cold and wet weather and even a blizzard on April 1st! It not only stopped the bees from flying, but also killed of the early spring flowers including most fruits (cherry, apple...). The second original colony started queenless and I had to requeen by giving them a brood frame to make a new queen, thus weakening the donor hive, that had not started having brood before March, which is very late. All colonies struggled to survive and since I had only wheat fields around my house that year (as opposed to 2016, when there was plenty of canola and broad bean nearby), plus by the time I was to harvest we had a solid 14 days of rain and the bees consumed most of what they had collected, I had ~7kg of honey in total - and that was way too wet with about 24% moisture. Of course I fed them after harvest and if the honey had not been in flow frames, I would have left it for the bees. Again I had made two splits in summer, but they died in March 18, where we had severe frost up to -20°C. But first hive inspection showed that this year, all 3 remaining colonies are doing well, are strong and already have lots of brood, so I put up the flow supers on 2 of them this week. The third one will be used for hive multiplication, honey comb production (the splits died because they didn't have all their frames drawn out with comb and weren't able to store enough food, so I will focus on having excess combs for splits to add if neccessary), honey store build-up (i.e. those normal wax honey combs will be used for winter food for all hives, so less sugar feeding will be necessary) and maybe propolis production.
But the difference is, that I started thinking about bee keeping at least 10 years before the actual start and read virtually everything about it I got into my handy. The flow hive only was the last trigger needed to actually DO it (and the fact that I bought a house in 2014 and was free to do what I wanted since then, not dependent on landlords anymore).
My advice would be, let your hive build up and make some splits to compensate for losses. Don't depend on only one hive, just as you said near the end. If your hive does well, don't refrain from putting on the flow super. You can just give them one or two frames as a start by just turning the others to open position. They won't use those open frames and focus on the one or two in closed position. And if they only get to the point of having the plastic lined with wax by the time you'll have to take the honey super off, that's fine, that'll give them a pole position next year. Just do it, don't be afraid ;) If they don't manage to fill them - so what? You shouldn't focus on honey harvest the first years, but on building up strong colonies, getting familiar with the bees (since looking into an actual hive is always a very different thing than reading a book) and collecting a safety reserve of fresh comb and filled honey comb.
Side info: I'm in Germany, quite in the center, and we do have cold winters, yet not THAT long and cold as you explained. I take the honey super off by august, september latest, since I have to do varroa treatment by that time. You can't harvest honey after treatment anyway. I put on the flow super by april, depending on weather. If you like, check out my channel, I did some short videos on my harvests (ignore the chicken and rabbit videos ;)). I took one frame out for the very first one, because I was curious to see what happens. I had huge problems with bees falling into the honey jar, so I made a closed tubing system to let the honey flow into my bucket, which has a tap to directly fill the honey into jars.
Summary for this novel (sorry): I am satisfied with the flow frames, they work as intended even in other climates than australian eternal summer and they make harvesting super easy. They DON'T have impact on hive development or weather and you'll have to get your basics first no matter which way of harvesting you choose.
Hello in Germany! Thanks for your story and thanks for the encouragement. I'm starting my spring this year with two strong hives and one brand new package. I am hoping to do splits and focus on building my little bee yard. I have patience. It's not about the honey for me, anyway. I just want to be a better beekeeper. Thanks again!
lol you bought it but you don’t plan to use it. You sound like my wife
HA
Maybe those long strips of insulated electric wire, they use to warms house gutters fro icing up, around the hive to warm it. they don't get that hot as to burn them or the hive.
I agree that you can expect to put that frame in the hive and get a flow but I also believe that you didn't try it so you really don't know and all you're doing is making excuses for yourself in order not to use a product that I guess you unlike most of us can afford just to throw $700 away on and never use. all I see in this video is you making excuses for wasting your money. I have heard that the flow hives are not good for your bees but I've also heard that you can't do a review on a product you haven't used just because you bought it. I'm one of those 11 thumbs down for that by the way
Noted. Thanks for watching.
where i live in canada... july and august are the months when we get 200 pounds per hive. but that is also the only months where you will have real honey flow. these are also the months when the honey can flow nicely because the temps are hot enough that the equipment would work.
Canola??
some years, but typically, due to our season, farmers put off planting so the most growth happens in july and august. end of august is when crops start to dry out and get ready for harvest. but it is the sheer amount of farms out here that is what counts. check out google earth or maps, go to southern manitoba... and just look at all the fields there are. thousands upon thousands of them
Yes, I've seen those images. Truly amazing scale.
I have a auto flow hive and I live in Connecticut I have no issues
Hey @vinofarm have you seen Frederick Dunn’s video Cold Winter Preperation with the Flow Hive? He’s in zone 4 and has a really simple solution
I know Fred, yes. He's not in zone 4. We're in similar zones. The main difference he has is that he's in the middle of farmland and has a more predictable nectar flow than I do.
I'm in NY about 90 mins up from the city. We had a weird winter this year - flowers started blooming mid-may and continue to do so now in June - so it seems like when I get into beekeeping (outside research), I'm going to have to work with the bees for a full year and see how well they do during that year. I don't want to take the honey away from them when they need it more than I do. My plan, along with my husband's (who hates bees but knows I want this in my life), is to get the yard ready for them. We're looking at flowers, bushes, and trees that will give the bees what they need, then place the hive.
Luckily, there's a local beehive supply place in Kingston so I can get my bees and tools, attend workshop classes, and have more questions answered there as well. But your video was very helpful (I'll be watching your Q&A); and you answered some questions I had about this Flow Hive. You also gave a great pointer towards the end of your video where you said that when you start beekeeping, start with two hives. So thank you for that!
Good luck in your venture and may your colonies be strong this year and years to come. :)
Just new to beekeeping, pardon the stupid comments/ questions.
From my limited understanding, the flow box is pretty much a pre-fab comb, that when the queen blocker grate is put on, means that only honey/ nectar can be put in the comb cells. Basically turning the facility into a 7/11 for bees.
If it’s a tough time of year, leave the storage for the bees, but if it’s full, then jar a honey bank up.
And is it possible to throw a blanket or 2 over the hive to keep it a bit warmer for those colder days?
Best of luck!
You can't leave the flow frames on once the temps start to be below freezing. Whether the cells are capped or not, the frames come off. If they're capped, I can harvest. If not, they are useless to me AND the bees. We have 6 months of winter. It's not like I can take them off for a week and put them back on. They would come off before October and go back on maybe in April.
Exactly what I thought. I am in Chicago and started a hive with a nuc last summer late (July). Like you I was inspired by the Flow hive but did jump on it wanting to see some first hand experience. Well, my bees did not make it. But even though it is not quite as cold the season is just about as short. So I am in a similar situation like you and your review is exactly what I had been looking for as FLOW has announced the FLOW 2 and another indigogo promotion that I want to take advantage of because I love the idea of the flow hive, but like you I just don't think there is enough season or flowers to support it.
Thank you so much for doing this video, it really helped me to make up my mind. I'm sad that the flow hive is not right for me but it is an expensive hive and I don't want to end up like you with it unused.
Makes it more obvious why most of the beekeepers bring their hives to my state during the summer even though we're actually farther north than you. We load up on huge amounts of wild flowers like clover and farm crops like canola. Looks like your biggest trick is to get the hives for the winter in a reasonable way so they can start off the season ahead of the game instead of trying to catch up.
I love your videos and have learned so much from your bee keeping experiences. I’m starting 2 flow hives (a 7 frame and a hybrid) next month here in Texas and hope I have better luck with being able to use the flow supers this year.
So you dont feed in the Spring to boost brood production?
Brett Perry Of course, I do feed. Syrup and pollen patties as soon as weather allows. Usually late March when we start having 50°F days.
I live in Kentucky and do not think the flowhive would be an issue climate wise because based on the last 3 winters, we never get snow except maybe 1/10 of an inch 1-2 times throughout the winter where I live, and our coldest months are usually January-march. My friend's dad has multiple hives and he does really well here every year with minimal loses so it gives me hope that climate wise it shouldnt be much of a problem. I am considering buying one and putting bees in it next year.
Pardon my ignorance, but why not feed the bees sugar water during your “dearth” period?
I do feed during the dearth. But you can't feed sugar water AND have flow frames on. They'll put sugar water in the flow frames and then you're harvesting sugar honey.
I live in South Eastern NC near the coast, what are your thoughts on the flow hive here.
Where, if I may ask John?
I had seven hives in an apple orchard on the farm I grew up on (Orange County, outside Hillsborough) and had looked into the idea of a flow frame, but rejected it as difficult to control and likely to take too much from the bees, necessitating winter feeding (we almost never had to feed because we took so little and the hives were well protected from the elements).
NC State has an excellent apiary program (BEES) as does the NC Ag Extension System and I would bet BEES has tried the Flow Frame system in real world conditions.
Gday mate ..Great videos .. I’m in Australia and yes prob have no winter like you... stupid question but what is a dearth and golden rod flow ??? Is nectar being available from flowers what u call golden rod flow ??
I'll start by saying I know nothing about bees or beekeeping.
Some one already mention it, but it seems that you just can't get honey no matter witch system you use. If you can't grow a good size hive you will never be able to add supers to collect honey, flowhive or not.
if your hive aren't able to grow in size, would it help to use smaller boxes with less frames?
I'm already using only 8 frame boxes (rather than 10 frames). My problem is a lack of nectar sources in the middle of the summer. I'm looking into trying to solve that problem.
But since you can't control the amount of nectar sources (can you?) A bigger work force should be able to collect more when it's available.
A small colony is able to sustain it self, but doesn't produce enough honey to collect, right?
Watching your channel is very entertaining and I've learned alot. I like that you show nor only the sucesses but also the mistakes. It's a very honest insight into bee keeping.
Can you find some Canadian beekeepers and find out what they do, there must be something for July/August. We have raspberry bushes that the bees get nectar from all summer long as they are the everbearing raspberries. I am not a bee keeper just a gardener :) and a fan.
Well, with your gardening experience, can you recommend any drought resistant, hardy nectar plants?
I'm just saying, coming from Calif. where water , or lack thereof will always be a problem, people here are trending towards replacing their front yard lawns and also backyards with more and more indigenous, less water demanding plants such as succulents, Calif. poppy etc. I would think there has to be some group of plants that are nectar rich , very hardy to the Mass. environment that are low maintenance, non invasive, and very bee friendly. Just go to the local library and lookup beekeeping during the colonial area. Im sure there has to be some info there.
Where can I find the map of my area(Northern Indiana) that shows the information you showed about temps and altitude?
have you ever made sugar frames to help your bees survive? i've seen a video of Cody's lab, he lives in Utah where it can becone very cold too and most of his hives survive the winter.
Have you ever thought of moving them to a warmer place for the winter??
Have you ever thought about getting a giant greenhouse and then moving the beehive inside during winter months. one you could actually keep their food restock because they have constant flowers enter they won't go into hibernation because they think they have a longer time.
This has been suggested a lot, but it is way too impractical. The hoophouse actually gets too warm during the late winter and the bees would be active months earlier than local nectar would be available. Dealing with artificially feeding them would be no fun. It's best to leave them in their hives and let them come out of their winter cluster in sync with the seasons.
Hi Jim, Could by using your flow frames as your main honey storage for your bees, be an advantage for them, as they only need to seal them with wax instead of having build up complete cells. Therefore giving themselves more resources to make honey instead of wax?
I’m curious, with your new Bee Barns that seem to help your bees survive the winter, would you try the Flow Hive now?
There's a chance, but the Flow hive doesn't really fit into my workflow, so it's a small chance.
hello sir, vinofarm owner, thx for sharing, im currently doing study project on nature conservation (very serious), bee habitat is one of the subjects. is there any way that i can further ask more questions by pm? thx
Hi there I see you have a little problem but have you try feed sugar water and pollen substitute in April/may to bill Them up before the flow. As I live in township of crows nest, state of Queensland, Country of Australia which is only 2 1/2 hour dive from the flow hive factory. I normally get 3 months good honey flow and winter can down to 2 c over night but maximum day is 10 c or 35.5 f to 50 f but it does get hot. It can get up 40c or 104 f in summer and the tree stop giving nectar about 30 c or 68 f .so I have problems with absconding summer for a Dearth and some didn’t make it through winter. Even when I feed them sugar water and bee pro pollen substitute because they were to weak. Same as you keep Learning very day I hope you do get to try out the flow frames. As I’m would like to do so myself maybe next year as we are rapping up for the year. Which have really good best in 7 years let me no how you get on .
Have you considered feeding your bees rather then 7 weeks of flight with no food?
I want to get into beekeeping and I've been thinking about getting a flow hive but I hear you say you cant use it winter but dont understand why?
Because it get's cold during winter and with more space during winter the more space the bees need to keep warm to survive.
I just read your response to the suggestion that you plant flowers for your area that work during your dearth. Have you thought about roaming around to see which larger plant and maybe trees are covered with bees for your area during that dearth time. Clover and smaller plants can get easily overrun as you have found out. But to establish a few larger bushes and or trees could work.
I’m letting the local natural stuff spread where it wants. Right now milkweed and goldenrod are dominant and the bees love them both.
Feed your bees during the winter, sugar water, or sugar syrup. Look at Emmy made. And are you winterizing your bees in the wintet?
very interesting and very nice of you to share....i live in the equator..and my sister have a plot of land in a very wooded community and wondered if it is agood place to start off a simple set up?
Ramon Martinez If you live on the equator and near a source of nectar, you will love the flow hive.