Hi guys. Just after some general advise. We’ve had the super on for about 2 months now, after the colony had expanded to all but one of the frames in the brood box. The colony seems healthy and active with plenty of brood in the middle frames and honey in the end frames. However, the bees seem to not know what to make
of the flow frames in the super. We see bees through the side window walking over the flow frames, but to date have not filled any cells with honey. Any suggestions to give them a move along? Also I. iTunes quite a few beetles in hive even though we have bettle traps on the base sheet. Could this be the problem.?
Hi Jimmy,
Looks like your bees have not finished building out the brood box, you’ll need to give them more time. There’s not much nectar coming in at the moment in Sydney. I checked a couple of boxes before coming into the office this morning to steal some stores to save a dying colony in the Nuc next door, and they were light on for making honey. Chances are at this time of the year, your bees will not go up and wax the gaps in the Flow, they will prioritise finishing off the brood chamber. If the Flow super is completely empty of honey stores, then consider removing it altogether however if there are some stores in the middle then leave it for the bees over winter. There is a possibility they may bring in some nectar.
I am up at Woodford and am reducing my hives for winter. Its basically the wrong time of year to be adding a honey super here. I would take the flow box off and store it till next season and concentrate on letting the bees build up. If they don’t progress soon start feeding them some 2:1 syrup to get them ready for winter. You want the whole box filled out but be careful you don’t overfeed or they will totally backfill the brood nest.
As for the beetles, keep a neat hive with no gaps. Make sure you push your frames together each time and centre them. That way you are reducing the number of spots the beetles can hide from the bees.
