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TIMBER FINISHES
HOW TO USE YOUR BASE TRAY
HOW TO USE YOUR SPIRIT LEVELS
Applying a suitable wood finish will improve weather
protection and increase the life of your timber hive.
Araucaria & Paulownia
: We recommend painting the
outside of the hive with a paint primer followed by a
good quality exterior grade paint.
Western Red Cedar
: If you would like to preserve
the natural timber finish of your hive we recommend
applying a non-toxic, no- or low-VOC timber finish to
the outside of the hive only, along with the inside of the
door covers, swing latch and bracket covers, to minimise
expansion in wet weather.
Roof
: To create a good weather seal on the roof we
recommend painting with exterior grade paint. Apply a
primer first then use two coats of paint. Apply liberally to
the joins.
The base tray provides a safe space free from bee
activity, which can be used to apply pest treatments,
such as small hive beetle traps, to the hive. You can
also use the tray to inspect debris from the hive,
giving an insight into hive health. We recommend
cleaning the base tray prior to harvesting.
The Flow Hive 2 comes with two inbuilt spirit levels
to ensure your hive is set up for optimal honey
harvesting.
You can adjust the front height of your hive to create
the optimal slope for harvesting by either attaching
the supplied footblocks or optional leg kit to the
base. The inbuilt spirit levels on both the side and rear
of the base will be centred when your hive has the
optimal 3° slope required for harvesting.
For those that don’t know how to use a spirit level,
angle the base until the spirit level bubble is between
the two marks. This sets your hive on the 3 degree
slope required for harvesting.
FLOW HIVE 2 CONFIGURATIONS
STARTING YOUR COLONY CONFIGURATION
It’s important to get your brood box humming before you
add your Flow Super. First set up your base, brood box
with frames, inner cover and roof (as shown below) while
your bees are growing in number and building comb.
You can use the inner cover plug to control bee access to
your roof while the colony is establishing.
ESTABLISHED COLONY CONFIGURATION
Add your Flow Super with Flow Frames once your colony
is strong and established. Place the queen excluder
between the brood box and Flow Super. The inner cover
is placed on top of the super. It is possible to add extra
brood boxes or supers once your colony is established
and expanding. Speak to your local beekeeping club for
regionally specific advice.
Inner
cover
Inner
cover
Roof
Roof
Brood
box
Base
Brood
box
Super
Queen
excluder
Base
3°
3°