Hello everyone - I’m delighted to share my first Flow harvest was a success this week!
I was nervous leading up to harvesting:
It’s a little later than I usually harvest
The end cells of my frames were not capped - they didn’t even have any honey in them
I’d done an inspection a couple of weeks ago to see how much capped honey there was in my flow frames and several had about 80% capped honey, but doing that check sparked some interest from local wasps, and I actually saw one IN an end cell in my Flow super, despite having a robbing screen on the entrance
I was concerned about robbing wasps and bees being overly interested in my harvest
Having seen posts of first harvests gone awry with honey flooding down into the hive, I was sure this would spark a robbing frenzy and be bad news for the girls
Nevertheless, we gave it a go! It was a nice warm day - about 90 F. We set up some straw bales to support the jars during harvest, used some plastic wrap to cover the tops, and I had pliers, a wooden skewer, jars, and a fly swatter for good measure in case of wasps.
I started with center frames I’d seen honey in and took it slow - inserting the key 1/4 of the way, then 1/2, then 3/4, then all the way over a few minutes’ time. The honey flowed beautifully! I was really pleasantly surprised at how few bees and wasps came back to investigate. I kept my veil nearby just in case but didn’t wear it for most of the team - brilliant!
I harvested all the frames so the girls could clean them up and I’ll remove the super for winter this week, and add in a varroa treatment. Again, a little late, but I didn’t know about Hopguard, which you can use before harvesting honey instead of needing to wait until after the harvest. Good to know! I also tend to keep the hives closed up late summer as I often obeserve robbing activity this time of year.
I keep 2 brood boxes over winter and the top one is currently filled with honey, so they should be strong for winter. I’m so excited about the ease of the Flow Hive and plan to purchase a second - this year my other hive needed to be harvested the usual way.
Hello, I, too, had a wonderful first year with my Flow Super. I harvested almost 5 gallons of honey from one hive! I harvested in mid-August.
A notable negative was the harassing tactics of yellow jackets trying to get some honey. I used saran wrap like Sonrisa shows in her photos with medium success. Next year I plan to repurpose Cpap hoses (my wife’s idea) to cut down on gaps between the flow tube and the jar.
I have a second hive that didn’t have a Flow Super on it but I plan to purchase one for next year along with a Flow bottom board.
Cheers from Longmont, CO…do bee do bee do…Eric
I saw your post from last year regarding your first flow hive collection. How did you over winter your flow hive? Did you leave it out for the winter? Did you take it off and bring it indoors? Did it work just as well this year as last year? I have a flow hive for the first time this year and it’s hard to find advice for this area (Utah). I’m very interested in hearing about your experience.
I’m assuming that you’re referring to the flow super, not the whole hive… would not recommend leaving the super on over winter, there are a number of posts and threads discussing the topic…
If you’re looking for advice from local bee keepers you can ask in reference to a standard langstroth setup and then make adjustments to account for the fact that you’re removing the flow super for the winter…
Hello
I’m in Longmont CO. Haven’t harvested yet this year but last year was bee-gifted 7 gallons. Once the harvest was complete I closed the frames and took the Flow super off and put it in a large garbage bag and stored it in my garage over the winter. It was kept from freezing The bees got any leftovers next summer when they prepped the cells for 2022
We had an exceptionally wet spring in 2021 which resulted in great harvests by all beeks in my area. Very dry this year so I don’t expect a super-abundance of honey
Let me know how it goes for you
De bee do bee do. Eric
Hello.
I’m in Longmont CO. Haven’t harvested yet this year but last year was bee-gifted 7 gallons. Once the harvest was complete I closed the frames and took the Flow super off and put it in a large garbage bag and stored it in my garage over the winter. It was kept from freezing The bees got any leftovers next summer when they prepped the cells for 2022
We had an exceptionally wet spring in 2021 which resulted in great harvests by all beeks in my area. Very dry this year so I don’t expect a super-abundance of honey
Let me know how it goes for you
De bee do bee do.
Eric
Just to clarify, the frames are safe to freeze and freezing is actually beneficial to kill off any latent pests.
It might be good to let them clean the super out before storage - reduces the chance of crystallized honey and makes the frames less attractive to rodents, makes them less sticky/messy, etc.
Thank you for your reply! I live in Utah. I am worried about the freezing temps breaking the plastic in the flow hive, so I think I should take it off. But how did you feed your bees through the winter. Did you have a regular honey super in between the brood box and the flow hive? I only have a brood box and then the flow hive. Or did they have enough stores in the brood box? I don’t want to lose my bee hive or my flow hive.
Did you ever test your honey’s moisture content that came from the flow hive?
My bees have done a great job this year, but I can’t tell looking at the frame through the side if a flow hive frame is capped or not. My honey moisture percentage on my last collection was 20%. Thank goodness that the humidity here is 12%, I am hoping to cover my jars with cheese cloth and see if it lowers on its own in a few days.
The cold alone isn’t the reason to take the flow super off, although I would not recommend opening or closing the frames when it is cold.
Removing the flow super in cold weather is to prevent honey crystallization, and prevent egg laying in the super.
If you have drawn comb you can probably get them fed to fill up two brood boxes or you could get them fed to fill up the one that you have and plan to do an emergency feed in the late winter if needed.
Check with your locals when the nectar flow starts in the spring (and when it ends in the fall) and finish feeding them before temps drop below the 50’s. You might be able to get them through with a single deep if the spring nectar flow isn’t too late.
the flow hive, so I think I should take it off. But how did you feed your bees through the winter. I use a top feeder. It covers the hole in the inner cover. The only way I can tell if the bees are “hungry” is to note during inspection that the bees are taking up the 1:1 or 2:1 sugar solution. I’ll feed Sept Oct and Nov as long as daytime temps are above freezing you have a regular honey super in between the brood box and the flow hive? I have 2 deeps below the Flow super. I was told that the bees will need up 80 lbs of honey to consume during the winter. have a brood box and then the flow hive. Or did they have enough stores in the brood box? I don’t want to lose my bee hive or my flow hive.
Did you ever test your honey’s moisture content that came from the flow hive? Yes
My bees have done a great job this year, but I can’t tell looking at the frame through the side if a flow hive frame is capped or not. My honey moisture percentage on my last collection was 20%. Thank goodness that the humidity here is 12%, I am hoping to cover my jars with cheese cloth and see if it lowers on its own in a few days. If the moisture content is above 16% I put those jars in the fridge I haven’t tried the cheesecloth method
Two deeps can hold a lot of honey - how much did they have left in the spring? A full single deep can weight 80lbs - including the box and frames so if your bees had honey to spare at the end of winter you might be able to do a single deep. Less space for them to keep warm in the winter.
16% is plenty low for it to keep indefinitely without refrigeration.
If it is over 18% then maybe consider freezing; you could also blend it with some “drier” honey, feed it back to your bees, consume it right away, etc…
This is my first year to have bees and over winter them. Once I remove the flow frame, it will just be the brood box. Not having the experience, I’m not sure how to feed them. Maybe next year I’ll put a honey super between the brood box and flow hive. I heard people say they’ll never get up in the flow hive though. So I didn’t. I saw advice to just remove the queen excluder for the winter and let them feed on he flow hive. I think they’re in Australia though. I’m worried the freeze and thaw in Utah through out the winter will damage the flow hive. I can definitely feed them through the winter once I figure out the best way to do that. Is it too late to put a super on top of the brood box now, under the flow hive?
Yes, that might work for Australia or in other subtropical climates but I am not sure that it does anything to prevent the brood rearing problem for the flow frames.
Shouldn’t. I wrapped some of mine up and left under a tarp outside and they are fine.
They won’t take syrup feed in the cold months, they might be able to take some dry sugar in a pinch. They probably won’t draw comb if you add frames now, so they won’t be able to store syrup. You can feed them 2:1 or 5:3 syrup and get them to pack it away in your single brood box and if you insulate top and sides you’ll probably will be ok, assuming that they are healthy with low mite counts. You can check on them periodically by hefting the hive and open up on a warmish day in the late winter and supplement with some dry sugar if they need it. You’re not going to want to open it up except in an emergency when it is cold.
