Has anyone experienced honey draining into the harvest tubes before it’s even ready? The bees are depositing honey now and slowly cappimg it but it is not even close to full yet, and I see that the tubes are already collecting (picture) the frames are closed properly but this is still happening. Anybody know whay this might be happening?
This has come up multiple times on the forum. 
The most common reason is that the bees have gummed up the “leak back” gap in the bottom of the Flow channel. To solve this:
- Remove the Flow tube access cap
- Take a cocktail stick and sweep it from about 5 o’clock to 7 o’clock in the round part of the Flow tube hole. There should be a small gap in this position, where the “tongue” of your Flow tube will fit into the Flow channel during a harvest. This is the leak back gap, and allows bees to clean up left over drips of honey from a harvest, or small leaks into the channel while they are filling the frames. The problem is that over time they fill the gap with wax and/or propolis, so it can’t leak as designed. The solution is to remove their “plug”. You can sometimes do this by just rotating the cap, but I like to use a cocktail stick, or a Flow tube to clear it.
Hope that helps!
2 Likes
I had some experience with harvesting from a client’s Flow hives. First of all, by doing a sniff test, we (my mentor & I) agreed that half the channels contained fermented honey, which we thoroughly cleaned out. Also I’d like to add that assuming all of the honey in the channels is ok to use, I would suggest clearing only one “leak back” gap at a time, so as to not overburden the bees with too much honey to clean up at one time.
1 Like
Well they sure did plug them up didn’t they! I guess I never knew that gap was there.. As soon as I unplugged it there were a few tongues going crazy through that gap. I guess now my question is- Where does the leak come from to begin with? Is that honey that the bees “fumble” and don’t put into a cell, or is it what falls out if not viscous enough or too hot etc..?
I stuck a tube in to drain each one after removing the plug (that took out most of the propolis) Thanks!
1 Like
I think like most things in biology, it is multifactorial…
Some of it happens when they haven’t quite finished waxing the plastic, but there is a good flow, so they put the honey in anyway. Some of it can be from less viscous honey, especially on humid days, or after recent rain. There are probably many other things too, but that leak back gap is there because it happens all the time.
It is fun to see them lapping it up and recycling it once they can get to it, but as @JeffH says, it can ferment if it has been there for a long time, as it is usually unripe honey. If it is fermented, the bees won’t go for it as much - unlike humans, they are not really into alcohol 
2 Likes
Well it’s a good thing I asked because it had been sitting there for a coupla weeks. When I drained it out I tasted it and it was awesome. These frames were already pre-waxed (by them) from the year before. Not humid here and definitely no rain.. Good to know how to keep an eye out for this THANK YOU.
1 Like