I am just about to head over to Utah for a bit of a holiday and after living in Sydney in a t-shirt during winter, its going to be a very different experience at -20C… sort of looking forward to it and scared at the sametime… its such a different way to live. Looking into the top of your hive, they seem to have a good number of bees however its a bit on the low side… but it is your winter so that may have something to do with it.
Skiing, @Rodderick? We go skiing every year in February. Park City, Utah is our favourite place. Lovely town, miles of ski runs, fabulous restaurants, and the national symbol of the state is the beehive! 
If you haven’t been anywhere that cold before, I suggest you prepare to dress in layers. We use thermal underwear, then a normal clothing layer, then a sweater or fleece vest and finally an outer layer of quilted garments, like a jacket and insulated trousers. The hardest part is transitioning from indoors to outside. I get vastly overheated very quickly, so I often carry a few layers until we are about to go out of the door. Once outside, you quickly appreciate the multiple layers, but you can even be comfortable sitting still for hour or so eating lunch outside. 
Hope you have a great time!
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Today I checked the hive again, I found all frames covered with bees on 2 sides, 2 large beetles that I removed and killed and luckily a healthy queen as well! I was a bit worried because I had seen less activity outside the hive, but after opening I saw it all was in good shape. The empty frame I inserted last time has a good chuck of new comb that they partially filled with honey. I noticed the queen laying eggs quite randomly on many frames, but I guess there is not much I can do about that. Fair amount of larvae every where.
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The brood pattern looks pretty good to me. They still have building to do, but so far, so good! 
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Hey thanks Dawn, a white winter is not something I am used to so need all the advice I can get… Such as the layering tip. We are making our way slowly north, left the Grand Canyon and monument valley earlier this week and am now in Moab… What a beautiful country you have here…
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This is on old thread but I am looking for updates. Anyone still not using queen excluders?
I have drone brood in my flow frames for the second time but both times it is from laying workers since I use QX’s.
I mostly use the plastic ones but it sounds like many believe the bees like the metal ones better. Most of my hives do seem slow to use the flow frames but hard to know if it is the frames, the qx’s, or just haven’t needed to use them. Last year I did have some honey harvested but it doesn’t seem as much as it should be at times.
So for those that have seen brood in the frames, was it for sure the queen or could it have been laying workers that laid in the frames?
Hi Pluto, I am in Esperance, Western Australia and have been successfully not using queen excluders on my two flow hives for two years. I have two 8 frame brood boxes under each flow super with mostly foundation less frames. One hive from a swarm has been very productive, the other from a cutout less so but they are improving now. I did try a plastic queen excluder but the bees were struggling to get through it, now I own a metal one which appears to have bigger holes. I intend to try this over a single brood box when I catch a new swarm. So far I have had no problems with brood in the flow frames.
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Your use of foundation less frames in 2 brood boxes allows the bees to make the amount of drones they want. Therefore there is no need for them to encourage the queen to lay drone eggs in the flow frames.
It is still a good practice, I believe to inspect each frame before harvest, just to be sure, especially during spring when they may want to make a few more drones than they normally would.
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You are right Jeff, the swarm hive fills the flow frames right up to the back window (but never to the side window ), the cutout hive never fills the flow frames on the back 5 cm so I have to inspect the frames to know when to harvest. Amazing how each hive is so different despite being next to each other.
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metal ones are FAR superior. The plastic is a false economy. They warp, buckle and crack at the edges. When they are warped they kill bees- as when you put them in position bees can crawl under warped sections and get crushed when you put a box down. Cleaning a metal frame is roughly 4 times faster (at least) than a plastic one- which makes a big difference mid-inspection. I expect a metal one will last many years more than the plastic. The metal ones offer far more surface area for the bees to move through- and I think that’s a big deal- and the bars are rounded and maybe do less harm to bees passing through. and they usually only cost a few dollars more. I switched out all my plastic ones.
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