Tonight I went to harvest some of my frames and when I opened the circular cap on the flow hive there were a LOT of bees inside that channel. They were not in there before… I will do a full inspection tomorrow on those frames but any idea how they would have gotten in there?
From what I can see Tim the bees got into the chamber of the flow Frame because you didn’t fit the end plug in when you last extracted honey. I can’t think of any other way bees could get into the chamber. Remember removing a round clear plastic disc so that you could push in the draining tube. I have painted mine yellow with fast drying paint, makes them so much easier to find if your not sure where you put them, like I do with most things.
If you drain the chamber correctly there should be almost no honey left in the chamber and the bees will clean it up quickly.
Cheers
Thanks Peter, but no that isn’t how they got in there. I had just taken that cap off to take the picture actually so somewhere inside the frame there has to be a hole or something. I’ll be checking shortly and will report back as it doesn’t make sense.
Found the issue! I don’t know how, but there is a hole in the bottom of one of my flow frames which was not there when I last inspected 3 weeks ago. The piece that is missing was immediately below sitting on a brood frame. Not happy.
The nice people at Flow may be willing to sell you a replacement piece, perhaps @Freebee2? In the meantime, I would apply a little duct tape. 
2 Likes
Thanks heaps for the pics Tim, I’ve not seen or heard of that issue before. Sorry for assuming that you are as absent minded as I am. 
As Dawn says duct tape would be a short term fix but I think Flow Hive should do the right thing, if only for the PR value so keep us updated.
Cheers
1 Like
Yes I’m hoping they will replace - after 7 hive purchases and a lot of my time promoting the great system I would be disappointed that they didn’t. I don’t want a free ride if I had done something obviously, but I’m super careful with them and I really don’t think I caused it. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it goes.
1 Like
That is my thinking exactly Tim, I can’t see that the fracture is from the frame being bumped against something like a corner of a box as the piece then wouldn’t be where you found it. I think Flow will see the value in replacing it for you.
Cheers mate, off to my apiary to spend some quality time caring for my bees, it sure beats Valium. 
2 Likes
I had the very same issue with one of mine. I sent an email to Flow asking if they’d been presented with this problem before and could they sell me a new frame. Extremely happy with the results as they sent me a new frame. I was happy, I would’ve paid for a new one as I thought I must have caused it.
3 Likes
@Tim_Purdie I trust you have contacted Flow customer support about this issue? If not I would invite you to email info@honeyflow.com for assistance as we are here to help 
(The forum is primarily a platform for sharing beekeeping tips and advice, questions and experiences, and a way to give you access to a community of local and global beekeepers - so it’s a great resource - but probably a less direct route to having a fault attended to )
3 Likes
Yes, I already emailed them and am just waiting for their reply.
1 Like
That’s great Tim
Thank you
3 Likes
I have just noticed a bee in my flow channel also. No idea how he got there as this is the first use of the flow frame and I have never removed that caps. Will now W check the frames for similar damage 
. Thanks for sharing
One bee is certainly odd, in my case I had dozens and it turned out the bottom of one frame had cracked and the plastic fell out. Flow support however fixed me up by sending me a replacement for free-- in the meantime the best thing you can do if you can find the crack is put tuck-tape or duct-tape over the spot so you don’t get a bigger problem while you reach out to support.
1 Like
Well opened the brood box this evening to inspect frames.All were fine but one had not one bee in it but about 50. All huddled together at one end. The frame is not cracked but one of the comb spines is out of place and bees are able to enter and exit. I think it fixable, may have got displaced in shipping.
1 Like
I would let Flow know of the situation my emailing them at info@honeyflow.com, they have excellent videos on you tube that might be a good guide in doing a fix yourself. There is a video about setting the correct wire tension as many have had issues that might be your problem too.
Cheers
2 Likes
Thanks Peter, I will
1 Like