Almost ready for the Flow super, couple questions

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I am almost ready to add my flow super. Got my NUC three weeks ago and my five natural frames are already full of comb and filling with bees! Florida stays warm year round so I am not anticipating the winter despair I hear that hits so many in the North East US. But question, I am hearing mixed reports the bees don’t take to the Flow super most of the time without some kind of enticing. Putting wax or honey on the Flow frames. Does anyone else have thoughts or recommendations on this?

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Welcome to the forum, James.

There are numerous posts from people concerned over the lack of activity in the Flow super. There’s a number of reasons to consider:

  • Not enough bees - some enthusiastic beginners install the super before the bees have expanded enough to work the extra space. They need to guard against pests like small hive beetle, maintain the air conditioning for the much larger space, have enough foragers and packers to work the nectar flow. Before adding a super, ensure there are bees covering at least 80% of the frames including on the top bars and multiple frames of capped brood.
  • No nectar flow - it sounds obvious, but it’s often overlooked. Without plenty of nectar, loads of flowers, the bees won’t waste time on the super. Even Flow frames require energy expensive wax production. No nectar, no honey.
  • Some bees don’t like plastic. Apparently , some bees are more sensitive to the smell or texture of plastic. I’ve had two colonies next to each other, booming in populations, massive floral event, perfect weather. One filled the Flow frames so fast I was harvesting every week. The other would not work the Flow frames at all. I rubbed plenty of beeswax into the frames hoping to make it more enticing. It worked! They soon caught up with their neighbours. Sometimes just waxing isn’t enough. Other methods include spraying the frames with sugar syrup, smearing some honey comb from the brood box into the frame, or removing a Flow frame and temporarily placing a frame of brood in the super. Every colony is unique in their reaction to plastic as is their response to the method used to encourage them to overcome their aversion to it.

By accounting for each of the above conditions and if necessary, use some combination of the encouragement methods, the bees will start to work the Flow frames. Once the frames have been worked and well coated in wax, they’ll happily take to them again in the next nectar flow.

Mike

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