I took this pic this morning through the flowframe window
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Did they perhaps deposit some pollen in there?
Hard to make out. Doesnāt exactly look like brood.
Hi Larry,
Laying workers can only lay drone eggs. If the queen went up into the flow box, she also likely lays drone eggs, as the flow cells are too large for worker brood. But heard that happened before as well.
If a hive is queenright, there are no laying workers.
But then, in the bee world there are always exceptions to the rules. Rare though to have a queen plus laying workers.
he said there are 3 day old eggs of works bees in the brood box. Iāve just emailed him to make sure. We didnāt try to find a queen - he seems so certain.
I can see drone capped cells through the side window on the flowframe - for sure, no doubt.
Some indications of laying workers ā¦ multiple eggs per cell, eggs that arenāt centered well
as is often the case with bees, not always easy to make absolutely certain & bees often confound even the experts ā but, generally speaking, an experienced beekeeper ought to recognize presence of a queen and at least roughly how well she is doing
So did you empty your 3 flow frames and remove from super, leave the 4 standard filled frames and add an extra 4 empty frames to the super over winter? Just want to clarify as that is what I was thinking of doing (my 1st winter with bees). I just have brood box and hybrid super.
For me (Perth winter) I donāt touch the 4x standard frames after mid/late summer. Iāll empty the 3x flow frames as late as mid May, otherwise leave them. I reduce the entrance by half and leave the hybrid super in place over winter, with the QX in place too.
At present I havenāt emptied the 3x flow frames as they arenāt full. If they donāt fill Iāll just leave them over winter and get an early harvest in spring/late winter.
Does that all make sense?
The only other thing I do in preparation for winter is in May I put flashing over the flow roof to minimise water ingress.
Edit: I always keep the hybrid with 4x standard and 3x flow frames. I donāt swap out flow frames for standard frames.
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I am in agreement with Alan @SnowflakeHoney. There is no need to remove the Flow frames in our climate. I do get some crystallisation of honey in the comb over winter however it has never been an issue in the Flow framesā¦ so far 
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So do you actually remove the flow frames after you empty them or are they left in over winter? Mine are pretty much full at the moment. My main issue is the queen excluder. I have that on and donāt want to take it off (so the queen canāt lay in the flow frames) and many people have said that if I leave the queen excluder on then the queen will die. The conflicting advice is making my head spin!! Iām in Victoria with average min of 3 degrees over winter.
Do you leave a queen excluder on over Winter?
If youāre getting down to 3 C Iād remove the queen excluder and the Flow super and make sure the bees have a second deep brood box full of honey for winter.
Hi Rachael, I donāt leave take the QX off however I am in Sydney where the night temp will get down to 3C on occasion and day temps in winter are from 12C - 16C. I also run single brood boxes with a single super only half filled with honey frames over winter (the rest are empty) and a hive mat over the brood and another over the super frames. For the Flow hive I leave 3 full Flow frames and the rest are left empty. For you in Vic, I would recommend leaving a full box of honey or nectar filled Flow & standard frames for your bees, doesnāt matter if they are not fully capped. Leave it up to you as to whether you remove the QX or not, I have never heard of bees leaving the brood behind in the lower box in our climate (though never say never). The commercial beekeepers in VIC and lower NSW do not remove the QX either, but I do recommend you use a hive mat to keep the warmth in the brood chamber, a gap around the edges is important to allow the bees to retrieve honey and move it down to the brood when needed.
@RachaelP Living in Perth my minimum temps are usually about 5-8 degrees overnight but we get the odd few days around 0-3 degrees. It then heats up quite quick to typically get to mid-teens by mid-late morning, sometimes high-teens. My hive is also positioned alongside one of the walls of my house, so my hive benefits from radiant heat (Iāve only got 1 hive).
For my personal situation, I leave the flow frames in for the bees to refill. I also leave the QX in place.
I also have very little concern with nectar and pollen over winter because I live in the suburbs and alot of things around my area flower at all times of the year.
Do you know a local beekeeper? They could give you better advice very specific to your area.
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This is my first season so I donāt have any extra honey. I could put a 2nd brood box on with 4 capped frames (from the super) and 4 empties.
Good info. Iāll ask some locals if they have an issue with brood leaving the queen behind as Iād prefer to leave the queen excluder on.
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@RachaelP How many things are you expecting to flower over the next 4-8wks in your area? Iām guessing you have Acaciaās starting to come into flower soonā¦anything else?
My suggestion for you:
- Use a single brood box with the QX. Ensure you have a hive mat. Ensure you have flashing for the gable flow roofā¦youāll need it. Bunnings sell aluminium flashing you can easily shape and curl/bend to stay in place.
- Restrict 2/3 of the entry
- If bee numbers are low to moderate expect to pack everything into a single brood box in about 4-5wks time (i.e. remove any Super), or whenever you start to notice a real cooling off (i.e. consistently below low 20ās). However, do a final inspection as you might find your bees coming along ok.
- If bee numbers are high, keep the QX in place and put a single super on top. This could be your hybrid (but ensure you have 3-4 full frames of honey). If you put the single super on top, make sure you out frames in your brood box are honey (this will help insulate)
Out of interest, are you seeing any drone cells in the brood chamber still? What is the honey-brood-pollen situation like in the brood chamber (not just on each frame, but throughout the brood box)?
Great, thank you for the info. We currently have callistemon, lavender and salvia in flower. Lots of acacia soon. Iām going to do a full hive inspection this week to determine what shape the brood box is in. Good to know I have 2 options figured out depending on what I find.
With an average minimum of 3 celcius in winter you will get a reasonable number of frosts. Iād guess you would get down around minus 2 a few times. Iām a little colder here. I personally find that the bees will move up in the hive as winter approaches and leave the lower parts of the hive alone. I wouldnāt take a queen excluder off with Flow frames in place here.
Hi Rod, Iām not sure I fully understand what you mean by this 
I think they are probably both implying that in their climate bees donāt cluster. If they are not clustering, they will not abandon the queen to freeze and starve below the excluder.
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