Hi! I have 2 hives just south of a 6 foot wood fence. In the fall I pile a few straw bales up on the west side with a metal post to brace them off the hive, but that block the wind. Then I can remove them in the spring when it warms up.
Hoping to plant a deciduous tree near the hives for summer shade - anybody have any suggestions?
Cheers, Karina
Yes I harvested this year.
You should call me so I can explain further.
970-231-4400
Bill
Hi Genevieve, I use two deeps then add supers - but Iām curious if people have had luck with one deep in the winter. Would you need to feed them more without honey stores?
Cheers, Karina
With just one deep, for sure you would. Most colonies need 40-70lb of honey stores over winter. One deep is unlikely to have that much in it, so you would need to monitor closely (heft the hive or weigh it every week or two) and feed with fondant or solid sugar as needed.
Thatās what I thought - I have been doing 2 deeps but was curious to see some CO folks with 1 deep. Although reading further, it looks like they may have switched to 2 the next spring.
Where are you located Dawn? Iām in Fort Collins - my first season with a flow hive but about 8th keeping bees 
Not sure what a Deep is. I would have two Brood Boxes for the winter so the bees have a better chance of surviving.
Bill
I am in San Diego, California. If you click on the little picture to the left of my messages, you can read more about me.
Commercial beekeepers often use one deep - they like to sell as much honey as possible! Hobby beekeepers use whatever will get their bees through the long nectar dearths (mostly winter, but for some of us, summer too) because honey is the best food for bees, and feeding them can be a lot of effort.
Your brood box is a deep. It just refers to the depth of the box, which for a deep is 9 5/8". There are other sizes available from beekeeping suppliers, including medium and shallow. Medium boxes are 6 5/8" and shallow are 5 5/8". Medium and shallow boxes are often used by traditional beekeepers for supers. They are lighter and easier to lift when full of honey. Some beekeepers (including the well-known Hilary Kearney) prefer to use mediums for brood boxes, because they are lighter when you need to inspect multiple boxes full of brood. She uses 3 mediums instead of 2 deeps.
All goes to show, there are many good ways to keep bees! 
Lovely! Thanks for the quick reply too - so amazing to have generous folks with decades of experience such as yourself when there are so many things to learn about beekeeping!
Feeding can be a challenge - last winter I lost a colony that was already weakened by robbing in the fall, then my feeder leaked with a temperature swing and the moisture and cold did them in. I felt terrible but will never make that mistake again.
Anyway, thanks for your two cents confirming what I thought to be the best approach around number of deeps for our CO winters!
Cheers, Karina
Sure - Iāll give a ring later this week! Nice to meet another FoCo Flow keeper!
How was your harvest? I closed my cells and am letting the girls clean up the super for a couple of days, then Iāll pull it off for the winter.
They will not return to the cells as long as you pull off the Super and just have Broods in place.
Bill
Hello,
My harvest exceeded my expectations. 6 gallons of honey from my Flow hive.
How was yours?
do Bee do Bee doā¦Eric
Only 3 gallons. How many supers did you have on the hive?
Bill
Iām not sure I understand this - could you explain or reword?
Super is where you extract honey from. If you remove this they will return to the brood boxes below.
Bill
Ughā¦I mis-spoke, more like a. bit under 3 gallons. I have a 7 frame Flow hive. Where are you located? Iām in Longmont and my 2 hives (one is a Hoover hive) with the hives in my backyard. The Hoover didnāt produce any surplus as this hive swarmed the end of Jun. I plan on adding a Flow super on it next year.
do Bee do Bee doā¦Eric
Hello,
My wife re-corrected me. I did harvest ~6 gallons of honey from my Flow hive.
do Bee do Bee doā¦Eric
Right, I get that. Wasnāt sure what you meant when you said āreturn to the cellsā
If you leave a harvested flow super on the hive long enough with the cells reset, they will clean them off and then you can remove the flow super and put it in storage.
If you donāt reset the cells, maybe they can still clean it, not sure.
If you put the super off the hive, it will get cleaned but also likely to have robbing and attract other insects too.
Lovely hives, I like that one you painted!
I got about a gallon and a half from my flow super and about 3 and a half from my old-school super, but this was my first season with a flow hive and it took them a while to get up into the super this year. Iām hopeful for a larger harvest next season and am thinking of getting a second flow super to avoid the rigamarole of the typical extraction.
