Hi, I have had my flow hive for about 6 years now, I had been unwell for the last 12 months so unable to extract the honey. 4 months ago I robbed the honey and it was very thick. I checked last week and the frames are capped and ready to go again. This time the honey won’t flow at all. The weather is hot as usual ( seq) Any ideas on what to do next. Thanks Greg.
In frustration I took the box ( minus bees ) into the shed. I cracked the frames and the honey very slowly came out. 35’ on the shed, so it should flow quicker than this from my experience. But then I looked underneath the box and the honey was flowing out from the bottom of the frames. Luckily I can catch it all. I took some pics and I ask for advice please.
Hi Greg, I had a similar experience with a former client’s flow frames. I lot of honey flowed from the bottom into a tray, like in your situation. What I did to get the honey to eventually flow was to use 2 keys & hold them in the open position for about 10 minutes.
I did this in about Sept. here at Buderim. My guess was that a lot of crystallizing had taken place, thus impeding the flow of honey.
Jellybush honey can also affect the flow of honey.
Going by past experience from a different client, if brood has been raised in flow frames, the leftover cocoons can restrict honey flow.
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Thanks for the tip. I have been reading a lot of old posts and my problem is not new unfortunately. Now I have them out of the hive I will have to clean them apparently with a pressure washer. It appears to me that the honey pipe on the bottom of the frame must be half clogged with whatever.
You’re welcome Greg, that doesn’t sound good. What I also found with the flow frames in the first example was every second frame had a rancid smell in the channel, which we cleaned out with warm water before drying them before attempting to harvest. Therefore I think it’s a good move to give each channel a sniff test before each harvest. It’s also a good move to keep the drain back gap open at all times. That allows any honey to run back into the hive for the bees to clean up before it turns rancid.
If it’s only the honey pipe that needs cleaning, you could probably do it with a bottle brush & warm water.