I have a strong Flow Hive - one brood box, one langstroth super (95% capped honey) one Flow Hive on top about 40% full on one side only of each 6 Flow Fames.
I would like to remove the langstroth box altogether (and extract the 8 frames of honey) and replace with another Flow Frame Box and Flow Frames to avoid having to do the messy manual /traditional extraction in the future…the winters are mild here and I would leave a super for the bees when winter rolls around. I imagine I would need wait to do the langstroth extraction until the existing Flow frames are more full.
So my question is really : is there any reason why I wouldn’t stack 2 FLow Hive supers on top of each other if I had a spare flow hive lying around…(cost not withstanding)
Sounds like a great idea and I see no reason why this wouldn’t work. I leave my Flow super on the hive over winter with only 3 of the 4 Flow frames full and capped. Didn’t have any issues but you will need to ensure that condensation is not an issue in the hive otherwise you may get some mold on the top of the frames. A hive mat or Warre style quilt on top will reduce condensation. All this will be dependent on what part of the world you live in. If in a warm temperate climate this works well, but if you live in an area where you have sub-zero winters then there are other considerations which have been covered in some other threads on this forum.
I thought that one of the advantages of the Flow Frames would be that you could easily harvest them, a few frames at a time if desired, without full disruption of the hive and then the bees could refill them again, or is it just that you fill your hive is too full and needs the additional space of another super?
Thats right the harvest is simple and less disruptive to the bees. My object is to create more space for the bees while also reducing the conventional hive box/frames .
Thanks for your reply, Rodderick, I am north of Sydney on the Hawkesbury. Im having second thoughts on my “object”…to remove the Langstroth altogether, which I would like to do to 1.take the honey and 2.to avoid this method of extraction in the future…but my niggling doubt is that to manipulate the brood box over time In the future I will no longer have the langstroth to slip a frame or two up into…my winters are mild.
A Flow hive is a Langstroth hive.
Wouldn’t the bees fill and cap the majority of the first super before starting on the next? If so why not just harvest the capped frames making room for stores?
Hi Lindee, this is spot on. If you run single brood boxes in this part of the world (which is the norm) then you will definitely need that additional super for brood management in the spring time. This is very important and is not discussed as much as it should. I use the super above the brood chamber (and under the Flow super) to manipulate frames in spring and then move this super to above the Flow super come summer.
@Rodderick my question is how/when do you know to add the extra super above the Flow super? We are first year beeks, we have two brood boxes 90 - 95% full and have recently added the Flow super. The bees are all over the Flow super. If I understand the nectar flow correctly, we are to have nectar flow into October, but we are having a pretty dry summer. I wasn’t planning on any honey this first season and have been concentrating on growing a strong colony. I understand the colony will downsize themselves for the cold winter, but I don’t miss adding the super and risk the bees swarming, so I am uncertain what to watch for before adding a super above the flow frames.
If you have two full brood boxes and the flow super is filling up you can just harvest the flow frames if they are full, that will give the bees more space and something to do.
Also, they are out of swarm season and are unlikely to swarm even if they would otherwise do so due to crowding in the spring.
The bees will backfill the brood boxes with pollen and nectar for winter and you can gauge once fall comes how much more you’ll have to feed them before it gets too cold. They won’t take syrup below 50 or so °F so plan accordingly.
Thank you @chau06! Knowing they are out of swarm season is such a comfort. They are just beginning to work in the flow frames, so nothing to harvest yet, but I keep watching for anything, even a little taste of their hard summer work
As your climate is dry, you may not need to do that. I only add the extra super if the Flow frames are almost full, but large areas are not capped. Putting the extra super on top seems to help encourage them to cap the Flow super, especially when the weather is humid. @Eva has used this method successfully too, but it certainly isn’t needed by everyone, and it isn’t needed all the time. Just depends on the weather and what the bees have done so far.
