Honey Crystallised and slow flow

Flow Hive
1

Hi I tried harvesting my Flow on the week end with all 6 frames ready.
I noticed there was some candied honey on part of all the frames.
As a result of this I think that the flow frames are not working properly.
I have had flow hive a for a few years and have never had an issue with the honey flow when harvesting before.
Has anyone else experienced this and what have you done to get honey out?
I am in Sydney NSW.

@Forum_Support

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2

I think I would be tempted to remove the Flow super completely, blow the bees out and put it in the back of the car on a warm day (25C+… that will certainly make a difference and should re-liquify most of the cells.

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3

Thanks Roderick was thinking of warming them up somehow. I will try this.
Should I put another super on while they are all out?

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4

if its just 1 day then they will be fine… I am extracting hives at the moment following the Sydney Red Gums and Jacarandas and I leave the supers off overnight, returning the following day… there is generally a little bit of wax to clean up, but thats it.

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5

Thanks will check weather tomorrow and might pull them out then.

6

I tried exactly that- and it wasn’t hot enough to liquefy the honey. The car was very hot too. and I left them for 3 days. But no dice.

7

Hi, great discussion to have. Some tips for success with harvesting.

You should be able to turn the key and leave it in the 90º Position this will offer some additional pressure to seperate any stubborn cells. You can also try opening and closing the Flow Frame repeatedly, this will massage honey past the crystallised sections. Also breaking up the granules. You can attempt this in portions as well if you want to see if this is effective.

I have had paper bark slightly crystallise, and found that this was effective. If you have two keys it can also help provide more pressure and speed up the alternating from opened to closed.

The longer they are left, the more the crystallising has time to occur. If it is solid, you would be best leaving the Flow Frame in the open position over a few days for the bees to clean it out and restore as a more liquid honey once more. Sadly you might need to soak the Flow Frames to melt through the wax and honey. Opening and closing to clean them out. No more than 70ºC/160ºF hot water.

Let us know how it goes.

–Kieran

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