Andrew,
looks like your bees have a good nectar flow! theyre filling it up fast but I would be careful to wait til theyre capped first.
Mine arent as fast heh
@oatkir Now that its been 2 weeks since you extracted those two frames, what did the bees do next? Did they fill up the frames you didnt extract or did they start again from the middle 2? Or did they move honey from the outer frames into the middle?
I wonder what the post-extracting experience is of others who have harvested?
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no worriesā¦
have sold that honey up above with reports coming back that it was fantastic!! they really liked it and their kids luved it as wellā¦ 
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@Philip_Waters Interesting that you mention that. Whenever I harvest from the middle frames, I do find that they then stop filling the outer ones as fast to focus on the now middle empty ones. Its possible they are moving honey from the outer frames - I hadnāt thought of that, but it makes sense.
I did an inspection the day after last harvest (when the frames were empty and light) and noticed that the end frame I had left alone and not harvested was almost completely capped across the entire frame, however a few days later when I looked through the end panel I could see they had uncapped and emptied the cells on the end of the frame (at least, maybe more, its all I could see from the end panel). They did probably start moving it to the middle frames.
@oatkir thatsan interesting observation. I guess that bees would normally do that for traditional supers, right? but because we can see what they do on a daily/hourly(!) basis, we can understand more what theyre doing.
@Philip_Waters I would say I peek into the end panel of the hive once or twice a day (does that put me in a bee stalking category?
) just to see what they are doing and sometimes I think that what I see makes me even more keen to open it and see whatās happening but Iāve got to hold myself back from constantly disturbing them and getting on with their job.
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That is really interesting.
Thatās a lot of extra work for the bees; eating the honey and moving it to the warmest part of the hive. I wonder, if you are harvesting only the middle frames whether it would be an idea to then move them to the outside.
In a traditional super the bees will fill the cells with honey and cap a lot of it but not all. By then the beekeeper has added another and they will start filling that leaving the first one still partly uncapped. They need the room to ripen the honey and the warmest part in the middle is the first.
Traditionally the beekeeper will keep an eye on these supers and either remove as one lot or each super as itās capped.
Hmmm! the more i learn about how the flow hive works, the more i realise how different beekeeping is compared to the traditional beekeeping methods.
It seems that at the next hive inspection after you have extracted the middle frames (and this is just for those who extract some of the frames not all at once), it would be wise to rotate the middle flow frames to the outside and move the 2nd and 5th into the 3rd and 4th position. this might be what the bees prefer anyway and saves them energy/time moving stores around?
im really interested to hear about the experience of the others who have extracted theirs! @Rodderickā¦?
what would the advice be?
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although some of my honey disappeared from the end frames when I emptied the centre frames, 95% o fit is still there and being filled/finishedā¦
I think the outside frame on the window side was about 50% cappedā¦ but when I checked today, at least 95% of it is still cappedā¦
I did notice that some honey disappeared from the very ends of the flow framesā¦ but overallā¦ its pretty much still being filledā¦
just my observationsā¦
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Personally prior to harvesting I physically check each frame to make sure it is full capped, I live on the coast in a relatively humid environment and need to check the moisture content of my honey every time I extract. I donāt bother moving around the honey frames unless they are in the brood box. Though I see no harm in shuffling them about. I also have another super on top of the Flow frames for any excess honey storage, this is also where the honey frames from the brood chamber end up. In late Autumn/Fall, the Flow super will be removed and the top honey super will become their winter stores.
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As Rodderick
I think this is the way Iām going to go. Put the flow frames on one hive, using regular supers everywhere else. It will be a bit of a novelty. Looking forward to at least trying it 
ok, so hereās a picture that I took this morning of an outer frame where the middle ones were drainedā¦
as you can seeā¦ its almost time that I could drain that oneā¦ but at this stage I have no plans to do that unless they refill the others before Aprilā¦
so as you can seeā¦ they are not moving it to the centre 
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one of the benefits of the flow hive, you can easily go in any time and extract a bit at a time. we wont touch ours til the last drop of honey is slurped up at home!
Also Note the different colours of my beesā¦ some Black, Some Brownā¦ :
Different patrilines 
Youāre right @oatkir, Im in Warrnambool in Victoria Australia. I got my hive in late August and waited until swarming season to get me bees in which was November 5th. I tapped my first two frames in early feb and am ready to tap again which Iām thinking about harvesting 3 or 4 then leaving them alone for the winter. Buying a nice definitely gave you a head start. Hereās a few photos of my first harvest. I also got roughly 3kg per frame.
Two weeks after my harvest, the bees had chewed back the wax and refilled much of the frame again already. Hereās a photo two weeks after harvest. It was the two middle frames I tapped:
I too am finding the whole thing easy and Iām loving doing occasional inspections of my brood frames. Iāve done a couple of bee courses and have been reading madly as well as joined a local bee club. Itās all very exciting. Good luck everyone!
Jim.
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thereās a local bee club in Warrnambool?
come againā¦ 
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love the photos! 
wow, your bees are doing great! I think you must be close to a lot of gum treesā¦ happily jealous!
i wonder, is fresh honey tastier or is it like wine, leaving it capped (barreled) to let it age mature the flavour?
I notice you have the same leaky cap problem as me. all of mine have little pools of honey on the metal strip. its attracting ants! no matter how hard i push the caps back, honey still leaks through.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/552511248230077/
Itās over Facebook @Andrew. We generally meet once a month. A lot of newbees involved. Did you also know Natures Way Sanctuary in Rosebrook (near Port Fairy) have bee courses running? Hosted by Frazer McKenzie. https://www.facebook.com/Natures-Way-Sanctuary-750493435073442/
Lot of stuff happening down here!
Jimmi.