Hi … my Brood box is full of Brood frames and Honey frames … the bees have not started using the Flow Hive Super yet … but my question is should i remove the frames of honey and replace with blanks so they have room to lay more eggs or will they move the honey? up into the super to make room – i am using an excluder between the 2 boxes … thanks Tim
Hi Tim - I wouldn’t move the honey out of the hive, but one thing to think about and research (if you haven’t done so already), is the swarming thing. If you are in suburban or peri-urban areas this is more of an issue as opposed to being in a very rural area.
Hi Tim. It’s a good idea to remove a flow frame and replace with a frame from the brood box, especially if there is no more room for the queen to lay.
Brood on the frame will encourage the bees up to look after the brood.
If a nectar flow is on, the bees will usually go up and start preparing the flow frames for honey. I say usually, because I heard that on rare occasions the bees swarm without starting on the flow super.
I would check for any swarming signs in the brood box about weekly now in spring. Cheers, and enjoy your bees.
Thanks Dan – i actually live out in the country SA (willunga) lots of flowering scrub at the moment … I have been reading everything i can find but do you know which queen leaves in the swam ?? i have read that the old queen does (and if that is true why re queen) and i have read that the new queens do …and what happens if you find the swam and just drop it back in the original hive ?
lol sorry for the swam of questions …Cheers Tim
Thank you …good advice i think
The thing is that there can be more than one swarm from the hive and each one generally leaves with a queen. The big prime swarm tends to have the old queen in it. That one tends to cluster not too far from the hive and not too high up, but if you are not home you can miss it. When clustered in a shrub they can be easily missed too. I understand that you can reunite swarmed colonies, but probably not a good idea before the summer solstice …check out articles etc about that too.
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New Brood box or split?
I have a question. I have bought over the last two years 2 full flow hives. Three weeks ago I inspected my 8 frame hive and found the queen. She has a damaged wing and can’t fly. I saw that the brood box was completely build out. The two outer frames were full of capped honey, for which one had some brood. I took 1 frame full of capped honey out and substituted it for a empty frame to create more space for the queen to lay eggs. I saw all stages of brood but not very strong. A lot of honey and pollen. I did release two flow frames of nice honey. After now two weeks I see more and more bees outside at night. In the day is normal activity. In 1 month I leave to Europe for 5 weeks. I am considering to inspect this coming weekend. I have two options. 1 place a new 8 frame brood box with wax plates or to split the hive. What will be the best option? I will release again 2 flow frames with honey since they all seem to be full and capped. If I put in another brood box will that influence the honey production in the flow frames? Please advise needed. Thank you very much, Herold Far North Queensland Port Douglas
Split, since you have a 2nd hive. That honey frame you took out 3 weeks ago most likely got filled in a few days.
Either option would be fine. If you split them, you will get a new queen, which might be a good thing if you are concerned about the health of the current queen. If you put a new box of frames with foundation in the hive, they will likely work on those before filling the Flow super. Depending on your nectar flow, they could well fill that box in the 5 weeks you are away. You may not want a hive with a double brood box, if you are are in a tropical or sub-tropical climate. The hive will be very strong, and could be quite a handful by the time you get back.
On balance, I think I would go for the split. But either would be better than doing nothing, in which case you risk a swarm taking half of the bees and most of the honey while you are away. 
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