Went to inspect the girls today. I put my flow hive on top of two brood boxes about 2-3 weeks ago. The flow frames have some nectar in them but there’s no capped honey yet. The bottom two boxes of brood are now completely full. Do I need a third box for brood? My neighbor beekeeper advised me to keep two boxes to overwinter, so I was hoping to pull off of flow box of honey later this summer and then just leave the two boxes for the winter. But I don’t want to induce swarming if those two boxes are already completely full.
No real need for worry. You might find that once you pull your flow frame off and add a medium or shallow super they will add more honey from late summer and fall flowers. for a new colony they might need the extra for food in the winter. Once the bees recognize that winter is on the way and the flow has stopped the drones will leave and queen will not lay as much and since bees live about 6 weeks you will loose some through natural process. As they will prepare themselves for the winter months they will be more concerned with securing the hive and protecting the queen as the days grow colder and their bodies adapt for the colder months. I have not seen a fall swarm but I suppose it could happen.
My colonies have never swarmed in winter and by the time summer is peaked I’m betting I have on average 60-70,000 bees in 2 deep boxes. My wintering is here in beautiful Wyoming and as the winters can be very windy and very cold, I put a medium box on top with no frames that have 1.25 inch drilled holes to put in PVC pipe for upper air. I seal off the bottoms with mouse guards and place a wrap over the two deep boxes. So far they have done very well with this process. And no swarms.
I would put a super on under flow box to keep bees over winter. just pull honey off from flow. Then you have the best of the best set up. Honey for bees and honey for you.
Ok I’m in UK. Winters rarely get below - 8c in the West of Englandand then only for a few days. I’ve just ordered langstroth shallows to assemble ( It’s mid July now.) The bees are roaring away and I did one split early in May. ( Newbie just got my nucs in May).
When do I put on the shallow boxes and when do I remove the flow supers please? They haven’t yet filled the flow frames. Brood frames are packed. Note UK. Thanks.
As a former UK beekeeper, I can tell you that most beekeepers in the UK run their hives on “brood and a half”. For a Langstroth hive, that means one deep and one medium. You should really let them fill both of those boxes before putting any super on the hive.
A Langstroth medium is about half the depth of a deep. A shallow is about a third of a deep. If you don’t have any mediums, you could use the shallow instead, but you will need to monitor their food stores over winter.
How much honey is in the Flow super? If not much, I would take it off now and put a shallow on instead. I am not sure when the nectar flow will end in your area, but they may draw it out and fill some of it before winter. I would join a local bee club and ask them when the flow ends. In Oxford, the main flows were over by early September, with a period of very little nectar between July and late August, depending on the weather. I used to take my supers off in July when I lived there, and maybe put one empty super with foundation or “stickies” (harvested frames) back on the hive until September.
If there is a fair amount of honey in the Flow super, you could harvest any capped frames now. If none are capped but there is some honey, I would put your shallow on top of the brood box now. Put the queen excluder on top and the Flow super on top of that. The bees will likely move the honey down and use the shallow to store food for winter. You may not get any honey this year, but you will have a stronger colony going into winter.
Sorry if it sounds a bit complicated, but it isn’t really. You just need to fix the lack of a second box for bees to store winter food.
Once the nectar flow is over for the year, take the Flow super off. In the UK, bees will gum up the Flow frames with propolis in autumn, and any remaining honey may crystalize in the frames, making a harvest next year difficult or impossible.
Thank you for that Dawn,
Ian Gourlay keeps bees in Oxford at the Wytham walled garden behind Dad’s apples.
I have ordered the langstroff boxes though I could only get shallows. I didn’t know there was a medium size. I wonder which size is the ‘ideal’ that the Aussies refer to?
I’m in Dursley Gloucs. So I guess the foraging will be much the same.
Sarah Juniper
I’m up on Woodmancote.Come and see my hives if you are over. Born in Oxford. Dad was at St Catz. Educated Berkeley, Chico and Sta Barbara. Small world indeed.
She lived on Rednock Drive, just opposite the school.