Good bee activity in flow but no honey

I have 2 hive, both with 2 brood boxes that are bursting at the seams. I put the flow on one hive about a month ago and they took right to exploring it. Every time I look through the window there are plenty of bees in there. Last weekend I did an inspection and there is not any honey cells capped off. There were a few cell with a little honey in it but seems like after a month there would be more in it. I put the flow on my other hive about two weeks ago and the same thing. They are exploring the flows but not putting honey in them. What can I do to fix this?

Hi “K”,

Are you bees busy dealing the individual cells with wax or absolutely nothing … B.T.W. Hmm… What your approx location ? Region. Hard to give much actual detailed without knowing this n do you actually have a good Nectar Flow ?

It really does matter whether you have the Flow-supers or regular super if a strong nectar flow doesn’t exist … We are just beginning our most major nectar flow (we either make or don’t make it if the flow is good, bad, or indifferent)… Just a side note worthy asking … Did you prep your Flow-frames with bees wax at all ?? I did that with my first last year n my second Flow-super this Ỷear. Ít Really seems to give us Northern Hemisphere folks an edge. I’m over in Puget Sound in foothills SE of Seattle … Trust me it this helps !!

Can you add a little basic info to your profile … It helps us to help you honestly. If you have time snap a pix’s or so of your setup to cuz it helps us visually get an idea what we are dealing with. Is this your first year n have you tried get a local mentor as well … Local knowledge about current flows is very helpful too.

Waiting for your note n reply …

Cheers n happy beekeeping !
Gerald Here I am mentoring a young Beek at my apiary that was having real issues.

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Hi kcampbell. Your bees are busy in the flow frames for a few weeks sealing up all the cracks and gaps. Once that’s done they can store and shift nectar/honey around. All flow hive beginners think once the flow box is on, it just takes a couple of weeks to harvest.
Your bees are busy preparing the cells to their honey storing requirements. The first time takes the longest, so just be patient and consider yourself fortunate that they are up there and working.
In the end it all depends if you got enough of a nectar flow this year for the bees to store and cap.
Many flow hivers only start harvesting in their second year. Depends on location and weather.

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Thanks y’all for the quick answers. I live in Baton Rouge if that helps. The bees are definatly busy in there, a lot of the head first in the cells. When I look through the window sometimes I see liquid in some of the cells but a few days later it is gone. I’ll give the more time.

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k,

If those Butts be up n heads in something truely is happening ! I’d say they’re right on schedule ! Being so far South I’d thing there should be some type of nectar a lot if not all the time.

Bees do move the Liquid Gold Stuff around all the time. Do that would be a normal observation. I’d say your on your way ! If you get a major major Nectar Flow they’ll fill those frames up rather quickly. If it’s only so so … Your success might be slower like mine up North in Puget Sound. Keep watching ! Harvest or none it’s FUN !

Ta Ta,
Gerald

Lots of info here:
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-to-encourage-bees-to-fill-the-flow-frames/6535

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Just be patient. The bees have done well filling the 2 brood boxes. Once they have a good population of foraging workers, coupled with a honey flow, the flow frames will be full & capped in no time.

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+1

@kcampbell
And more in the forum.
Type in “bees not filling flow frame” in the search box (magnifying glass thingy top right of page) and you will get a lot more info.

Patience is a good virtue here as well. It took about 13 months for my bees to actually start honey deposits but then they fill 6 frames in a bit over 2 weeks. Hang in there… if it does happen this nectar flow it will the next one and everyone after that.