Yes! I have (only) two pictures here, but as soon as I have some more time, a short youtube movie will follow!
Today, we have harvested two of the 5 we were planning to harvest (the 6th is hardly capped, so we will do this one when making the hive winter-ready). We collected 5,2 kg of honey from those two flow frames.
There was some leakage, but not much. We used the varroa slider to prevent it from dripping on the stones underneath the hive.
During the harvest of the first flow frame somewhere early/mid-afternoon, not a single bee came to the back of the hive to try to reclaim the honey. In the late afternoon, however, one bee soon found out we were harvesting the second flow frame and soon dozens of bees followed. Quite a difference, but no problem at all.
@Bobby_Thanepohn I was just wondering if anyone waxes their Flowframes before they let the bees use them? Your mention of a head-start is the only touch on the subject I find here. I am a newbee and not even sure how one would accomplish that even if they thought it would help. Thoughts? All responses appreciated.
Lots of people have found it helps. There are many ways to accomplish it. Some are very simple, some less soâŚ
Rub some burr comb (including any honey it, if you wish) over the surface of the Flow frames. This is the simplest method, as most people can get some burr comb at every inspection (every week during a nectar flow).
Rub some rendered bees wax from a source you trust (preferably your own hive) like you might rub a bar of soap, but rub it across the frame surface. Donât worry if there are loose flakes, the bees will clean it up
Melt some rendered bees wax and use a paint brush or a roller to spread the melted wax over the frames.
My personal feeling is that the wax carries smells and pheromones which signal âhome hiveâ to the bees, and that is the most potent influence. As many pheromones decrease with heat, I prefer to use burr comb from the same hive which is receiving the Flow super. Of course, this is also the simplest method. However, all of the above methods seem to work from the experience of people on this forum.
hello @CampingLaChassagne,
Sorry to be commenting so late, but I noticed that you put the Flow frame right on top of the brood box, so am wondering if you harvested all the honey in the FLOW, if your bees had enough stores to get through the winter?
Here in Seattle, similar northern latitude, we leave our girls at least a full medium of honey-in addition to whatâs in the brood boxes-in order to winter over.
What I did notice though, was that your bees totally filled your FLOW frames, which makes total sense if they do not have anywhere else to put the honey.
thank you for any further information you can share :^)
Having kept bees in both the UK and the US, I would say that @CampingLaChassagneâs approach is fairly typical for Europe. However, when I was in the UK, we used âbrood and a halfâ (bit like a deep plus a medium), and we expected to need to feed over winter. âHefting the hivesâ to judge the weight was a very necessary skill to decide on when and how much to feed. I think I prefer the US system of double or even triple deeps (@Anon in NJ does triple 8-frames), but it does result in lengthier inspections during the busy season.
The Dadant box, which most in France use, has about the same volume as a 10 frame Langstroth deep, perhaps a little more, as I think the frames are deeper. So his winter setup may well be pretty close to a deep plus a medium or shallow.
I indeed use 10 frame Dadant deep brood boxes. From what Iâve read - and I do realise that there are many different opinions and of course situations - any stores outside of this brood box are a surplus and supposedly not needed for winter survival. Iâm not completely sure about that, especially when big colonies are involved. So, I provide sugar bread during the winter (well, starting in the fall, really), and they do use it.
Please keep in mind that I am talking about a situation where each colony only has one (deep) brood box. That seems to be the standard in this region (as opposed to having 2 or even more brood boxes for one huge colony, like Iâve seen [on pictures and youtube] in e.g. the USA).
Last winter, I had 3 hives of which 2 lived through the winter without a problem (with the sugar bread). The third one died of because of having been queen-less when going into the winter.
Hello @CampingLaChassagne,
Thank you for the additional info; it is helpful when thinking of how to best utilize the Flow with seasonal weather challenges.
We tend to harvest lightly in the fall, in order to ensure that our bees have enough of their honey to make it through the winter. We also prefer to start new hives with frames of honey and have not augmented with sugar water since our first season (in 2006).
Some people believe that it weakens the bees immune systems to feed them sugar and supplements, and we are striving to nurture the healthiest bees possible. This means that we have had seasons where we harvest very little, which is something that we can do as hobby beekeepers. Bumper crops other years keep us well stocked with honey through lean times.
Hi All, here in West Australia weâre 8-plus weeks into Spring, plenty of warm days, lots of flowering (pollen, nectar) and ripe conditions for honey-making. However, my flow frames have gone from 4 capped frames of honey after Winter to no capped frames in late Spring (i.e. over 10 weeks of âflowâ). Either theyâve swarmed taking bulk honey to their new home or robber bees have been taking honey for weeks. I recently reduced the front door to an 8cm gap using a timber strip to deter robber bees. Is there any other likely cause for the loss of honey in the Super? Bit mystifying. Any ideas on the missing honey?
Well you can tell if they have swarmed by looking into the brood box. You can tell if they are being robbed by looking at the entrance. They may just need the stores to grow. Whatâs inside the box? When did you last look in?
Hi Peter, have you noticed fewer bees coming and going from the hive entrance latelyâŚIâm wondering if the hive has perhaps lost a queen or something drastic, and then was robbed? Hopefully no one snuck around and tapped the frames when you werenât looking
Hive was strong after winter. Never saw any swarming or mass departure of bees early spring. I havenât checked the brood box for a while, so they could have been temporarily queen-less, but recently noted lots of young bees orientating outside the hive suggesting thereâs a queen. Robbing was my suspicion and so I reduced the front door to 4-5cm and that changed their coming-going (for the better). Iâll be inspecting brood/super this weekend, fingers crossed itâs all healthy & productive.
adventure!