I’m totally making something like this for my students next year. Love them!
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Oh beehive yourself!
The last thing you need is to hear us drone on honey!
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She might be an older queen. Sometimes the worker bees chew the paint off. Also, the original queen might have swarmed off, and this is a newer queen who took her place.
I think this is kind of neat, to determine the age of a purchased queen, the beekeeping community uses color codes.
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I love the etched jar idea. There are some great, free, honey badges on Freepik.com.
In San Diego county, it’s required that beekeepers print their last name and phone number on each hive in one inch characters. I am going to print stencils for beekeepers with multiple hives. I just found some flexible acrylic to use. I’ll be printing some up soon.
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@bdm, that is a fabulous picture!! Wow, just WOW!
I started beekeeping because of the FlowHive. I backed it too. I am going to check on a colony using the FlowHive later this week. It will be the first time I have opportunity to harvest honey from it.
I am so glad to hear that the FlowHive has been working for you. I am excited to see how it works on my own hive. If I have difficulty, I will be sure to send you a PM for some advice. If you’re interested, I’ll let you know how it works out.
A few months back, Stuart Anderson was in the US and spoke at our monthly beekeeping society meeting. What a nice guy.
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Oh beehive yourself!
The last thing you need is to hear us drone on honey!
Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! 
You win with this one. Ha!!
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I think you will be amazed.
The only issue i have met this far is when i harvested on a moderately hot day (32C) and cracked open an entire row of cells… i ended up with the honey being too liquid in the heat and it dripping through the hive (luckily only a few bees were drowned and the queen was not one of them).
It has been a common problem in hotter areas.
Since then i have been careful to open no more than 25% or 33% of the cells in a row at a time.
That is about the only caution i would give you.
Do not hesitate. It is an incredibly intuitive system though and you should be fine!
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These are really great! Since you are basically a trophy shop now, technically you’re the grand prize winner of whatever the heck you want right? 
Man I really want to start a lavender and bee thread now. I’m growing some lavender (seeds came from Alibaba.com so I couldn’t tell you what it is) right now and would love to bee keep as well.
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Is a bee on a Yamazakura (Japanese Mountain Cherry Tree) acceptable for your bee thread @Brandon_R?
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More than even chance it’s not lavender either 
Lavender doesn’t propagate true from seeds very well. You really want to get established plants or cuttings. Fortunately it’s so easy to take cuttings that it’s no big deal seeds don’t work.
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You may be right. It definitely smells like lavender, but that’s all I have to go on. It really needs to go outside, but it’s been super wet out lately.
Gorgeous shot! Look at those pollen pockets on her back legs.
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looks like lavender, smells like lavender, probably lavender.
it’s not really that hard to propagate from seeds, it just takes for-friggin-ever and can be a little finicky about temperature. yours look like they’re growing well, though the brown tips mean it’s stressed about something.
if you or others haven’t tried, i recommend checking out different lavender varieties; the smell can vary by a lot more than i was expecting (we found several wonderful and one disgusting varieties at a local garden place last weekend).
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Looks like a bee to me!
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They’re stressed about still being in styrofoam cups. With gnat looking insects always bothering them. Can’t seem to get rid of them
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that’ll do 'er.
probably fungus gnats. you might be keeping the soil too wet.
if you’re unwilling to put them outside just yet consider getting some of those pressed coir cups as an intermediate step. you can bury the whole thing when it’s ready to go outside.
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I was a flowhive backer too! Last year they didn’t like them. I think I might have added them too late. Trying again this year. I’m in Vermont. I have yet to get my girls over winter. A heartbreaking hobby, but an excellent thing to do nonetheless.
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Some of them have peat moss in bottom. It’s probably my issue.
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maybe. but they’re responding to the moisture on the surface. do your cups have drainage holes? start letting it dry just a little more between watering and your gnats should go away.
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