Hi all, I thought that it was pertinent to add a thread that outlines this forum members Flow frame harvesting tips which mitigate the often discussed flooding issue as a reference for future.
Some of these tips are not endorsed by Flow however are proven to work by forum members.
If you have other harvesting tips to share feel free to add.
The below tips were posted on another thread by @Dawn_SD
Thanks Dawn.
**HARVESTING FLOW FRAME TIPS**
Before you ever put the frames on the hive, make sure that the wires are tight. If they aren’t, the frame can flex and leak before or during a harvest
Inspect the Flow frames before harvesting to make sure they are fully capped. That means lifting them out so that you can see the whole frame face. Inspecting though the windows is not enough. Bees love to leave an arc of uncapped cells in the center frames, and these will leak if you you harvest them
When you open a frame, consider using 2 Flow keys (you can buy an extra for $15). If you use them together, the frame flexes much less, reducing the risk of breaking the cappings and causing a flood
Open the frame in 20-25% increments (you can mark the key with a Sharpie to help know how far 20% is), waiting for at least 5-10 minutes before you go on to the next 20%. You must avoid developing an airlock in the Flow tube, or pressure will force honey out of the frame into the hive
On any harvest day, only open one or two frames at a time. That way, if you get a spill, the hive will not get overwhelmed
I’ve had only once had a spill into the hive and that was when I thought that because the view through the window showed it fully capped and the rear door showed fully capped. The two centre frames gave me less honey than normally and the next day the bottom slide was covered in honey.
The bees had obviously not filled/capped some cells in those frames and the honey from the upper cells ran out the uncapped lower cells instead of flowing into the bottom channel. I use 1.5 kilo buckets and get two buckets per frame. In this case the second bucket got less than half full. That told me where the gaps were.
Since then I’ve checked the frames for full capping before harvesting. At my last harvest there were crescents of uncapped cells in the frames 3, 4, 5 so I only harvested frames 1, 2, 6.
I’ve also marked the flow key so I can open the frames in quarters and let the honey flow slow down before the next turn. Two turns to each bucket and it almost stops so I can change buckets easily.
I assume you mean leaving it in this position while you harvest the honey. It won’t increase rigidity, nor will it decrease leaking.
The frame rigidity is dependent on the tightness of the wires top and bottom. If they are too loose the frame might leak some honey into the hive during harvesting, but probably not. The frame cells are covered in wax and the bees build that wax out further than the plastic frame. When the frame is unlocked all that extra wax stays in place and the capping remains until the bees remove it.
If the cells are all capped there should be no leaking. If there are uncapped cells in the lower portion of the frame, as there sometimes are above the main brood frames, there can be leaking as the honey from the upper cells flows out of those lower uncapped cells.
In some videos, Cedar suggests leaving the key in position for a while, but that is after you’ve locked the frames again. The reason is that if there is a slow-to-return portion of the frame because of wax build-up, leaving the key in the slot keeps the pressure on the sliders to get them into locked position.
Sometime ago a Flowhive forum member posted this excellent video… this issue has been discussed extensively and I hope will continue to be open to new experiences and debate.
In my mind and experience, this video casts doubt on these two points:
Flowframes need to be capped to prevent leakage
Using 1/4 increments with the keying tool is an effective way to prevent leakage
Not all circumstances are identical in beekeeping…so your results may vary.
The important point with Flowhive is that their honey extraction technology has enabled a lot of novice beekeepers to enter the field…it breathed vitality into the industry and gave many a first hand experience with nature. That is quite a remarkable and commendable accomplishment…even with the glitches any new technology has.
As an experienced beekeeper, I love to have my bees filling flowsupers and I will continue to work on solutions to improve their effectiveness in my apiaries.
Hear, hear to that well-spoken sentiment about Flow’s impact, Doug
Skegs, great topic - thanks for getting it going. I would add that less-than-gentle handling during pre-harvest frame inspection could well be a factor in harvesting leaks. It’s important to look at each frame face but this can be done without lifting each one out.
I don’t know if the frame in the video was inside the super when it began to leak, or if the beekeeper had removed it first to harvest. I seem to recall that the latter practice was noted as increasing the risk of leaks, for the same reason that too much flexing or jostling would.
As a somewhat new beekeeper, I gave a question about the use of 2 keys. We have 2 Flows, 1 each on our 2 hives. I’m not sure what you mean by using 2 keys at once. Can you elaborate or provide a picture?
Hi Doug I tried all suggested ideas above and still noticed honey flowing on the outside of the frames from the side windows like your video . I now only harvest by taking the flow super inside because sometimes a lot of honey ends in the brood nest. When that happens hundreds of bees cluster on the outside of the hive for several days and they seem to perish at night, the cluster hets smaller and find dead bees in the ground. Do you have ideas how to avoid it apart from taking super off to be safe?
