Hello Bee Keepers!

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Hello all! I am relatively new to the bee keeping world and am mostly looking to chat with others to learn as much as I possibly can!!

About My Journey:

We started our bee keeping adventure with 1 flow hive. We did not winter them properly and lost the whole hive! It was devastating! :sad_but_relieved_face: Last year we bought a second flow hive and bought 2 NUCs. The bees did well all summer and we even managed to get a jar or two from 1 of the flow supers. When we treated for mites our smaller hive either died or left. ( LOTS of dead bees on the floor of the hive) :sad_but_relieved_face: We wintered the surviving hive successfully with the help of our local bee inspector.

This spring we split the surviving hive (some brood, some food, some capped brood, and lots of ladies) into the empty hive. They seemed to do okay but building a queen has been an issue! We bought a queen and within a week of her chewing her way out of her box she was dead in the landing board. :sad_but_relieved_face:

After doing a hive check this week, we found a Queen cell! :partying_face: So our fingers are crossed she survives!

Now for some questions:

  1. When is a good time to add the flow super? What do we look for in terms of readiness for it?
  2. When checking the hive, what should I be checking for? Queen, brood, honey frames, etc…
  3. The flow super from our failed winter ( we left the whole hive intact- 2 supers and a flow super) is covered in mold. How do I clean it?!

I would like to thank you all in advance for the advice!

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Hi Shan, welcome to the forum. You’ll find lots of helpful information here by simply clicking on the magnifying glass and asking any conceivable question about beekeeping and flow hives.

I always tell new beekeepers to first learn bee culture. Learn timelines is also helpful. Three helpful videos are: “City of Bees”, “Nova, Bee Tales From a Hive” and “A Civilization a Hundred Million Years Old”.

Q1. Add the flow super when the brood box is 80+% full.

Q2. In the brood box check for healthy looking brood, plenty of worker brood in all stages which is evidence of a healthy queen. No need to spot her if you see that. Learn the difference between worker and drone brood, especially learn what drone brood in worker cells look like. Learn how to spot diseases such as Foul Brood, Sac Brood & Chalk Brood.

Q3. Bees will clean up mold, however I would not suggest giving them a whole hive’s worth in one go.

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