Hi Eva, yes it is. We have hundreds of almond trees here. I will keep you all posted! Thank you for your recommendations and advices.
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Hi all, it looks like I just have to be more patient after all. I went to see my bees this weekend and even though the number of bees in the super is not very high, I inspected the middle frames and look what I found:
Letās hope they keep working this way!
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I put my super on 11 months after I installed a package. I had 2 brood boxes full. my last inspection before putting the super on it seemed as if the hive was exploding. Honey stores all over the top frames and really messy in and around my empty feeder frame. (I stopped feeding after Christmas time) I took this o mean they needed the super. I put it on, and although there were bees all around it crawling and diving into the cells, NOTHING happened for over 3 weeks. I then decided to melt excess wax I collected as well as some burr-comb with honey on it and brush/smear it on a few frames. (I didnāt have very much) but after I did that they instantly started waxing the flow frames! It was the jump-start they needed I guess. They re-arranged the wax I brushed in 24 hours and then began going crazy building and filling cells with honey.
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Thatās great that your bees are now working the Flow frames. Because youāre in the middle of spring, you need to be aware that your colony could make preparations to swarm.
During spring I focus more on swarm prevention, rather than honey production, however that still happens in the mean time.
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What methods of swarm prevention are there? besides splitting I mean
Re-queening every 1-2 years can help. Removing frames of brood and replacing with frames of foundation or empty comb can also help.
However, once you see queen cells, you should probably split, unless they are emergency or supercedure cells, in which case, you may want to re-queen.
A bit complicated when you start, but you will get used to it. 
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Hi J, I do preemptive swarm prevention splits. That works in the majority of cases. Recently, @CGAnderson had 2 swarms issue out of a hive. Itās what bees do during spring & itās how they reproduce.
By doing preemptive swarm prevention splits, Iām taking a measured amount of bees with mostly sealed brood, which keeps one step ahead of the bees desire to swarm. Consequently, the colony still produces honey while rebuilding the brood. Plus it buys me about 4-5 weeks before I need to do another brood inspection.
Itās something we need to learn, in order to be successful with our bees.
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I just did my inspection. Last week I found 2 queen cells at the bottom of the frame on my top brood box. I eliminated them. This week I found 2 more and did the same. I did see quite a bit of brood, but no larvae like Iām usually used to seeing. I did not look at EVERY frame as I try to minimize the time the hive is open. But it seems like the bottom brood box is half brood half honey, and the top brood box is mostly honey/nectar stores and a bit of brood. The flow super is 1 frame out of 6 packed and capped, and the others about 50-75% packed and capped with middle sections open still. They started basically the last week of March when I brushed the frames with wax.
The problem I am having is if I NEED to do a split, (I donāt want to) as Iām fine with one hive and thatās the space I have allocated for it and thatās itā¦ should I do what you say and remove a frame of brood, and replace it with a foundation-ed empty frame? (and just throw the brood frame away?) will this make it seem like they have the room now and wonāt swarm? It seems to me thereās plenty of room, and there are frames that were previously built out, but arenāt now confusinglyā¦ So why are they building all these queen cells? They just got a super only March 1st and should have plenty of room no?
So if you take say three frames with sealed brood out of the hive, and replace them with empty foundation(ed) frames, this eliminates the itch to swarm. So then you take the 3 brood frames, put them in a nuc with 2 other empty frames, and add a queen in a box to that nuc?
If I ever had to do that- I would probably want to give the nuc to someone. How long do I have before that person needs to come and get it to move to the new location? immediately?
Removing queen cells will not prevent a swarm. It will most likely result in a queen less hive. It is old advice to do that, if somebody told you to do it. There are much better methods now:
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That is mind boggling. I donāt understand any of that.
I think I need to do a split I guess but donāt want a second hive. I guess I need to find someone who wants one and buy a queen to give to them. Once you take the brood frames out and give them to someone they have to take those frames away that day- correct? (and put into their hive box)
Sorry about that. My best advice is to join a local beekeeping club and try to get a good mentor. Then all of this stuff will be less mind boggling. Really, that is a very helpful thing to do.
Next, you just have to learn to think like a bee, then everything will be OK. Most of the time. Perhapsā¦ 
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Donāt be sorry! that is good information. I am in a āclubā of sorts they meet with zoom meetings it is just hard to get a word inā¦ I just donāt want to have multiple hives- 1 turns to 2- 2 turns to 4 etcā¦
What do I need to do to keep them from making these cups every week? just get rid of some brood frames and replace them with empty ones every time in spring when they get the itch?
If I were to keep the brood frames (and not throw them away) I can get a queen in a box and put it together and give to someone in a nuc box right? Then they would need to take the nuc box away that day correct? (and install into their hive at their place)
I have posted this question numerous times and no replies
I only use single 10 fr brood boxes, with only 9 frames. Sometimes Iāll remove 5 of the 9 frames, depending on how strong the colony is. Sometimes Iāll add the frames, minus bees to weaker colonies. Other times Iāll remove the brood, with bees, minus the queen to start a new colony. I take that split away so that no bees return to the parent hive. I let the splits make new queens, however that might not work for you on account of possible Africanized bees.
To clarify your first question: 3 brood frames, with bees, minus the queen.
Your second question: yes, straight away, so as to avoid bees returning to the parent hive. If that happens, there wont be enough bees to keep the brood warm, as well as defend against hive beetles.
This strategy is only for when the colony hasnāt started swarm preparations. If the colony has started swarm preparations, the strategy will need to be more radical in order to prevent the swarm from happening.
This has also been my experience at bee club meetings - not very helpful!
Can you get hold of a Flow ambassador in your area? Even if they donāt live close by enough to visit, you might get more engaged help by phone from someone who is an experienced beek while not being opposed to or put off by Flow hives (clubs can be stodgy about them, even though beekeeping principles and practices remain the same).
If not, try directly emailing or calling someone from your club and ask them to come take a look at your hive and advise on how to proceed. Dawn and Jeff have given you the best information possible from afar, but if thereās a possibility that you donāt have a queen or any eggs & young larvae then you shouldnāt be making a split.
I noticed my bees swarming the entrance yesterday. The entire front of the brood box was covered in bees. Last week the last of the nine frames inside was close to having the honeycomb finished. So I put the queen excluder on last night, put the honey super on top of that, then shook the bee swarm into the honey super before closing everything up. The started crawling in between the honey frames right away.
After I did that I wondered if I should have checked to make sure the queen wasnāt within that swarm. I assumed she would have been somewhere in the brood frames. I hope this works?
Should I still remove the honey super to check the brood frames every few weeks? I donāt want to disturb them if I should avoid it.
Hi Joe, if that was actually a swarm - as opposed to bearding due to hot weather - then yes your queen could easily have been among the bees you shook into the super.
Either way, you should def check the brood box for queen cells. Since youāll also need to make sure your queen gets back in there, this will be a multistep procedure that would be good to plan out somewhat before you get started. I also recommend having the extra equipment to make a split just in case.
Do you have a local mentor who can guide you? If not, just shout with more questions 
Thanks Eva. I donāt think I was clear enough. It was more like bearding due to hot weather. See attached photo.
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Nice looking setup! I love that red roof, but does your hive get some shade? If not, the dark color will elevate the temp inside substantially. Lots of folks put up an umbrella or shade cloth when they donāt have tree options. I use slatted racks year round on my hives which really helps cut down on bearding and aids the beesā temperature control efforts.
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