I think it will work. It worked for my bees within about 2 days when I just smeared on burr comb with a hive tool. Sometimes simple is best. 
Hi Bertram, thanks for the update & photos. It sounds like you have a good mentor there. Plus itās good to have that local knowledge as to how other beekeepers are going as well as the other 10 hives in the yard.
The bees in that one hive must have found something that the others didnāt. I see that myself from time to time. They do forage over a large area & all of the waggling takes place out of sight of the other colonies. A real secret society.
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A secret society indeed, and a wealth of knowledge to discover.
I must say: no matter how high my desire for honey from my own hive I relish immensely in this possibility of learning about natureās more clandestine secrets. I always have been a firm believer in ālive off the landā - thatās certainly one of the main reasons I became a huntsman at a rather early stage of my life. Trying to become a beekeeper only was the logical next step. It is a great adventure - or rather, especially at this stage, the dawning of a great adventure, and looking forward to it fills my days in a beautiful and enticing way. I even play with the thought of raising the offspring we took today and which now sits in my garden to a full hive nd go classical with it next year, just to have a comparison between yesterdayās apiary and the future. That, and honey, of course.
Again: my heartfelt thanks to all of you.
Iāll keep you posted whether the gals put in their āold
grey bustle and get out and hustleāā¦
Yours
Bertram
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What I love about bee keeping is that it is ever changing and always some new to learn and remember. You sound more confident and sounds like a good mentor you have. Remember over summer you will have good flow days and days that are poor, when it is raining the bees will stay in the hive so they will eat some of their stores.
Regards
Very interesting how much weather differs throughout Germany. Weāve had a very long period of awfully warm dry weather, while the canola was in full bloom. Luckily there was some good rain in between. Now the canola reaches itās end, but clover is not yet starting. I fear a dearth coming up. Fortunately the chestnut trees are still blooming plentyfully.
My flow frames are not yet capped, but I think Iāll harvest by end of May.
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Interesting indeed. Red and white chestnuts are almost done, but due to rain and low temps here in the Balck Forest no flow. Sweet chestnut is about to come, clover too, acacia too. Pine honey might be available soon. We will seeā¦
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I donāt mean to brag, butā¦
Iām gonna harvest within the next days. I might pull one or two frames first, just to take a look and some pics of the surface.
Iām sill unsure about how to continue. Do I take the honey super off and let the bees collect their own winter food? Or do I try to let them fill the flow frames up once more? We have linden (not sure about this word, those trees whose flowers make great flu tea?) and alfalfa bloom coming up next, but how much will it be? My need of honey is fulfilled with this one load, I think, plus theres another hive with flow frames at my motherās. They are filling slowly, maybe because they have two brood boxes, while my hive only has one. I kind of āforcedā them up. Iād give them a second box of normal frames to fill after pulling the flow super to create more drawn and honeyfilled natural comb.
Time for inspection, I guess, but I refuse to lift off the super full, super heavy flow superā¦
Oh, by the way, upon last look yesterday I found quite some debris (?) inside the collection tube/channel of the flow frames. how do I clean that up before harvest? I donāt want that in my honeyā¦
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With your climate, I would consider removing the Flow super and putting a traditional medium super on top to give them space for winter stores.
There have been quite a few posts on the Forum about this recently. One choice is to put the Flow harvesting tube into the frame, then squirt some tepid water into the channel to rinse it out. This is a good method if you have honey possibly fermenting in the channel. Very little water will leak into the hive, and if it is warm water, it is not going to harm the bees.
The other method is to wrap a cloth around the end of the Flow key, then use that to wipe out the channel. Just be careful that the cloth doesnāt fall off in the channel!
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To add to Dawnās reply I would use a Chux kitchen wipe, the open weave general perpose sort of thing and sick a corner down over the end of the turn lever and twist it as you push it gently into the bottom channel of the flow frame, slightly damp with warm water is best I think.
Regards
Thanks, you two. I didnāt have time to thoroughly browse the forum. Actually, I only came back in because I was actively adressed to in this thread and by personal messageā¦ But now I have something to work with, Iāll try the cloth version first and if that doesnāt complete the task, Iāll try the water.
I donāt have medium boxes, Iāll have to add a full box, but I do have some drawn combs to add, so they donāt have to start from zero.
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That sounds just fine. Hopefully you will have a late nectar flow this year. It seems that much of the northern hemisphere has had a late spring, so it would be nice if the nectar flow extended later into the year as a resultā¦ 
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Well, while the hay meadows are a trist view with very few flowers, that will be mown for hay in short time, thereās an alfalfa field (with some esparsette and other flowers mixed in) nearby that should start flowering within the next days, and many, many linden trees. Wild roses a plenty and some red clover in full bloom. And I have several patches of Topinambur and a long row of Silphium perfoliatum in my garden. Plus lots of mixed herbs like salvia, catnip, lavender, agastache, oregano and so on, which are loved by bees. Sure, thatās not the same as a commercial field, but better than nothing. The surrounding gardens are also richly flowering. In the last years there was also a private field of sunflowers and phacelia, must admit that I didnāt check on that field recently. I do think thereās quite some flow ahead.
I will plant so called āgreen fertilizerā in my veg. garden after harvest and thus hopefully generate some additional flower yield. Last year the first real cold days didnāt strike in before beginning of january, I still fed the splits around christmas and there were quite a few flight days and blossoms still available. Letās see if that repeatsā¦
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Not entirely sure what your wintering plans are, but you could consider just harvesting 3 frames or so and see how much more comes in over the coming months.
I noticed many beekeepers treat flow supers as traditional supers and wait until all frames are full and only then harvest, the entire lot.
The way I deal with my hives, I suss out which frames are full and harvest those. 1 to 4 at a time. Gives the bees room to bring in more nectar to process without me having to put more supers on or to worry they run out of space.
Iām only working Flow hives for the last 2 years, but finding my way around harvesting to be rather different to conventional practices.
That way I always have enough for winter or dearths.
But then, your climate might not allow this.
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Maybe so, but I certainly didnāt do that last year. Like you, I inspected and harvested frames 2 and 4. A few weeks later, 3 and 5 were ready. Frames 1 and 6 never got capped, so I harvested those in the kitchen after removing the Flow super in August. Meanwhile, frames 3 and 5 had more honey in them. I measured the water content of the autumn honey, and a lot of it was 23% or higher, so the bees got it back as an early winter feed. They loved it. 
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Yes, the inside frames are always capped first. No reason to wait for the rest.
I do take records of all frames harvested, and some colonies prefer to fill more towards the West, others more to the East. Frame 3 and 4 are generally fully capped first, followed by 2 and 5, then 1 and 6 are usually only full about twice a year or so.
Makes for very different colours and flavours each frame, which we are enjoying very much.
We would never want to extract it all into one big bucket.
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Iām conventional and I donāt do that: This time of year Iāll harvest whatever is ready and bring the frames back or use those āwetā frames to make new hives.
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Iān honest here, I didnāt bother much about the bees recently. Did the last thorough check a few weeks ago, built two splits and then just left them alone. Not harvesting was just the effect of lazinessā¦ 
Oh, but the cells I could see from the rear end were not capped yet! But now they are and I planned on harvesting this afternoon, but Iām a little bit sick (hot weather and air condition are a dangerous combinationā¦) and decided to take a short nap after coming home while the freshly rinsed buckets and tubes dried out - and ended up being nearly late for the field trip of the local farmer, who wanted to show what he does for the environment, wild animals and bees on his land. That was very interesting! Looks like thereās plenty of flow ahead, white clover in full bloom on two large fields, alfalfa just starting, a large patch of topinambur - I think Iāll lleave the Flow frames onā¦ But when I came home, it was already getting dark and I still had to feed my rabbits (i.e. go out and scythe fresh greens). Now itās pitch black outside - Iāll do it tomorrow, along with the due butchering of some quail roostersā¦ And then thereās the hay harvest coming up, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day afterā¦ I need a vacationā¦ 
(sorry for the otā¦)
In any case I will NOT leave the flow super on after august, I have to take out whatās in there by then. So harvesting just one or two frames doesnāt make any sense.
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Hi Angy, your quote: āIāll do it tomorrow, along with the due butchering of some quail roostersā¦ And then thereās the hay harvest coming up, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day afterā¦ I need a vacationā¦ (sorry for the otā¦)ā
You sound like a farmer. I heard on the radio the other day to never ask a farmer when he/she last took a vacation.
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Just toy farmer 
A have a lame 700mĀ² of own land, three not too large meadows where I can make hay but are not my own and I do all of that in my āleisure timeā. Beside this, Iām a single mother of a more or less useless preteen 
Iām on a retraining for an office job during weekdays and study animal medical care (german Tierheilpraktiker) at the weekends. Fortunately not EVERY weekend thoughā¦ Donāt ask what my household looks likeā¦ I currently have two broody hens, of which one tries to kill one of the chicks of the other hen, because itās black instead of yellow or brown like the others (the vendor of the brood eggs mistakenly put a different breed in) and I have to build some sort of fence between them - I technically donāt have time for such unplanned extra work, even shortly thought about just dyeing this chick .
I need a couple of free days to just clean my house and get some things doneā¦ Donāt even know how to manage the hay work without being at home all dayā¦ Traveling is out of question anyway, I get homesick after day oneā¦
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Not always true. Last year, One of my hives filled and capped the outside frames first and left the middle bottom half open like a brood nest even though they had 2 brood boxes. Another hive started on the side fartherest from the window and worked their way toward the window.
Every hive has a starting preference.
Joe
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