Anything special I need to do specifically to the Flow Frames after losing my hive last year? Like as far as cleaning or treating? I’ve cleaned up the rest of the hive but didn’t know if I should do anything with the Flow Frames, or just let the new hive have at it.
What did you lose the hive to? If it was AFB, the cleaning will be different from varroa/starvation/condensation etc. 
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LIke @Dawn_SD said it really all depends on why you lost them as to what approach you might need to take. If I’m not mistaken the plastic is safe to boiling water temperatures if they need heavy cleaning. I tried to find the post from awhile back where this was discussed but couldn’t locate it for you.
70C is my memory of the Flow frame plastic, but it can be irradiated if it needs sterilizing.
Pretty sure it was starvation. I found no signs of AFB or mites. I got a late start last year. Wierd winter too.
How would I irradiate it?
Thanks for checking!
[quote=“efbman, post:5, topic:10563, full:true”]
Pretty sure it was starvation. I found no signs of AFB or mites. I got a late start last year. Wierd winter too.[/quote]
In that case, if the frames are relatively clean to the eye, I would just rinse out the extraction drainage channel (the one with a round cap at one end) with tap hot water. The bees will do the rest once you have a strong hive to put the Flow super on.
You only need to find that out if you have AFB. I would suggest contacting your local bee club or City/County Bee Inspector if you ever have an affected hive. Irradiation has to be done in a dedicated facility, and it is not cheap.
Hi Ethan,
It’s under our “Cleaning and maintenance” section in the FAQs -
https://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/cleaning-frame-maintenance/p/67
https://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/flow-frame-sterilisation-irradiation-disease-control/p/145
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