Is this supposed to happen? Found these in my super when I came out to remove the winter blanket wrap and feed. This is our first Spring with bees/flowhive. To say I’m a novice at this would be an understatement. We did not remove the super over the winter. We are in Indiana, USA. We took a chance and just left it on over the winter. I did not remove the queen excluder for the winter. I’m assuming it is still intact below the super but we will have to check for sure. I suspect this is not the end of the world but would like to hear what experts think. Thank you for any help you can provide!!
Hi Veronica and welcome to the forum. I’m glad you came here to get some input - beginning beekeeping is a huge learning curve and using a Flow hive does pose certain nuances that aren’t necessarily obvious when you start out.
The bees in your photos aren’t babies but full-grown workers, that look pretty dead to me. They came up during the winter looking for food and probably got too chilled/damp to survive the trip back to the cluster.
Out in Indy like here in PA where the winters are several months long and can be very cold, we need to take Flow supers off at the end of the nectar flow. It’s good you had some insulation on the hive, but leaving the Flow super on was counterproductive to that effort. There are lots of great posts that explain the reasons for this and include all the info you need when getting ready for winter with a Flow hive - here’s one:
Have you checked the brood box, and if so what did you find? If you haven’t taken off the Flow super yet, definitely do it now. If your bees survived, they need controlled space to start with and won’t be ready for supering until the weather is above 40f at night and there’s a good nectar flow on. If they didn’t, you’ll need to protect your unguarded equipment from pests and put it away for now.
Stay with us here, ask more questions, and let us know how things go!
PS: when the Birds don’t make it I am a Colts fan FYI 
lots of family in Indy!
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Ya. We should have take the super off. Too late now. I think leaving it on over the winter starved a lot of bees. There’s a lot of dead bees on the ground in front of the hive (see picture of front of hive). Yet, there’s a lot of activity going on in there. I’ll take the super off just to look and inspect for sure. But should we take it off now and put it on later in the season?? I’ve put a couple of fondant patties on top and will probably go out tonight and put another on. Oh, and we’re Packers fans for the most part (my husband is a Yooper). Although we watch less and less and probably won’t much at all if any here on out. Just sick of the commercials, the prices. We’ve got other things to do!!
Also, I’ve got bees going out under the frames of the super at the back of the hive. There’s a big gap there that wasn’t there last year. Looks like the frames are pushed as close to the back as possible. I’ll maybe get shims and stick in the gap.
Also, what is to do about those dead bees in the super then? Just let them take care of it and clean those cells out??
Hey Veronica,
As Eva said, you need to inspect the brood box to determine colony health and strength. If it’s not brimming with bees with plenty of capped and uncapped brood, I would remove the super and clean it up. If there aren’t enough bees, the empty space in the super costs the bees energy in lost heat and guarding against pests.
If you have loads of bees and there’s a flow on, you can leave the super on, but you can still clean it up during the inspection.
Let us know how it goes.
Mike
Definitely take the super off at this point. Where Veronica lives and where I live it’s still winter for another week, and the nighttime temps are in the 20sF and sometimes lower. Decent nectar flow for supering - in a strong colony as Mike says - doesn’t start for about another month.
The good news is you can fix the gaps more easily while the super is off the hive!
Let us know what you find when you inspect 
Thank you both! Got out today and lifted super. It had a cluster in the center of it. And then below the Queen excluder was in place and below it was a cluster in the middle of that box as well. Lots of dead bees down in the bottom. Also I removed two of the frames and they were light and empty. Dead bees clinging to one of them. I couldn’t get the flow frames out of the super. I didn’t have my hive tool to pry them out. I did a pretty big disruption today so maybe I’ll go back tomorrow. I did put fondant below the excluder in the box below. So, should I still take the super off? Just shake out the cluster?? Thanks a bunch!!
Good you put new fondant below the excluder. I would avoid shaking if possible, and instead I’d try to tweak the setup to make it necessary for the upper cluster to go down below the excluder and consolidate with the others. I am assuming your temps are still pretty chilly out there like it is here, so it’s best to do this with the super on over the course of a couple maybe three days.
To do this, get hold of a feeding shim or a shallow super. Shim is better for heat conservation because it add less open space Once you have that, carefully lift the super off. Remove the inner cover from the top of the super and set it aside (the thin board with a hole in the center under the roof/lid). Put the shim on top of the excluder, then the inner cover on that, then put the super back on. Take away any fondant in the super.
With the inner cover now presenting an obstacle, the bees in the super will not be as connected to the queen and the food and will need to move down, by going through the hole. The shim provides more room for them to do that so the process goes faster and fewer bees will remain clinging to the bottoms of the Flow frames.
Give this situation a day or two, then check to see if they’ve moved down - once the majority has done so, you can take the super away and just put the roof on. You can give stragglers a chance to go into the brood box by setting the super near the entrance and then putting it away at night.
We’re in an iffy moment with late winter and colonies that have survived: these tend to be ready to swarm much earlier, yet there is still little out there to forage and/or the weather is not good for flying so lacking stores they could still starve without us feeding them. After you consolidate the cluster into the brood box, you might need to feed again and possibly do a light inspection - or a full one if warm enough. Anyway let us know how it goes!
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Thank you! Coaxing them to move to the brood box is a good idea. I got in line and ordered a feeding frame. I’ll go take what fondant is above the super off and put the lid below the super. Its warm but super windy here now and supposed to get cold for the next couple of nights. Thanks everyone!!
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