Beginner failings?

Hi Experts! I got my first fliw hive this year and had bees in last week of May. I don’t know if I’m missing something obvious but I’m not seeing any real production, even though they seem very active. Can anyone give any insight?

Picture attached for reference

More images!

Do you have one or two brood boxes? Are they completely drawn and full of bees? When did you add the super?

They were likely not strong enough earlier in the year as they are a new colony and there may not be adequate nectar flow (until about now, probably for you in RI) foe them to put anything away since the late spring.

It does look like they’ve done some work on completing the flow frames.

If the brood box(es) are fully drawn and full of bees then you could probably wait and see if they work the flow frames more but in a few weeks you’ll have to pull the flow super off for winter and may need to feed them, depending on what things look like inside.

Before @Dawn_SD says anything, what’s your mite count and mite plan? :joy:

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if you zoom in super close you will see where they have been sealing the gaps in the cells.

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Thumbs up. They are working on the flow frames. They have done a fair job of sealing the gaps in the cells - not complete yet but well underway.

Also, they usually only start placing nectar on the inner parts of the inner frames. So you won’t usually see any nectar filling from the windows for quite some time. Usually the windows are the last places they fill.

However, from the work their doing the cells, they’ve obviously taken to the flow frame. So you just need to give them some more time.

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I’ve marked a few of the spots of waxing on you photo. There are many more in the photo but it gives you an idea of what the bees are up to.

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Welcome Ashley! Everyone has made the key points and I’d just say that for our general area of the world (I’m in PA) you have a great start. You won’t see much if any nectar stored in the Flow super in the few short weeks before winter is here, but because of that and also to avoid the chance of them propolizing up there, you should plan to remove it soon. Check out all the info on storing it for winter (and varroa mite management, and winterizing your colony :wink:) in the search function, and then look forward to spring with a primed Flow super, ready for all that amazing spring nectar!

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I am getting ready to harvest honey for the first time, but I noticed in Cedar’s video about harvesting honey that his frames look so clean as if they were brand new. My bees in contrast have filled every space between the frames with propolis including the caps. What causes so much propolis production in comparison?

Probably mostly bee variety.