Hi, I am interested in starting my 2nd hive here is Austin, Texas. This past season was my 3rd season, and it was very successful (for me). I had a strong 2-box hive coming out of winter, and they produced honey like crazy. However, I was a little gun-shy from my monumental failure the 1st year, and I did not add the Flow Hive until April 25 (your October) and did not extract my first natural frame and the Flow frames until July (your January).
I reduced to a 1-box hive during winter because I had some chalk brood due to my failure to switch from screened to solid bottom board during an extraordinarily cold autumn season. Nonetheless, the 1-box hive has survived yet another [becoming less] extraordinary winter with 2 weeks of temperatures below 10 degF.
Based on the Youtube date, looks like you did the above split on ~Sept. 13, which is essentially 2 weeks away from my honey season (March). Could you please tell me:
What were the nighttime low temperatures during the week that you did this split? We have nice 70 degF highs this week, but still lows down to ~42 degF.
Did you already have a screened bottom board on the giving and receiving hives? Or still a solid bottom board?
When did you first put on your Flow Hive? (It is already full!!! ) Do you link it to a date? Or low temperatures? Or you simply check that the brood box is filled out?
) Do you link it to a date? Or low temperatures? Or you simply check that the brood box is filled out?