Hiya mate, how many brood frames are in the hive now?
Hi Greg,
Only nine brood frames, they were placing honey only in the two outer frames, and of course in the roof, so I gave up waiting for them to build up numbers any more and went for the flow frames instead. Iāll keep an eye on them and if/when they start to build brood in the outer frames Iāll consider adding some more.
I am starting to think that eight to 10 frame brood boxes are sufficient for this region.
Having said that I added an extra brood box onto the standard Flow Hive and the girls there are still using and working the Flow Frames. Iāll see how the dual brood Flow Hive progresses during the year. If they abandon the Flow Frames after they build up the cells in the upper brood box Iāll do a split and take the extra box off.
Hi mate, as you may know I have a WSP above the 8 frame brood box, below the qx and have found it mainly used for honey stores. This also mitigates the arc in the super. I have 1 colony with the qx below the WSP and it is the best performer so far this season with a harvest already.
I think, with 8 fr boxes, the extra room helps at times but is a bugger to inspect.
Looking forward to see how the long Lang goes at yours before I consider them.
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I am seriously looking to a redesign to make management simpler and reduce build complexity while continuing to maintain the design philosophy. Iāll probably make this happen next winter.
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Went for a deep dive in the double brood flow hive today. I had some old brood frames I wanted to switch out.
My view as of today is that up here on the scarp my bees do not want a second brood box to increase colony size and I could place the queen-excluder on top of the bottom brood box and turn the second box into a honey super only. I would have done this however the frames I swapped up had a lot of drone brood and I didnāt want to trap them in, or drill an upper entry into the boxā¦
I swapped around a number of frames today, disposing of one old black combed frame and collected four fully capped frames of honey from the middlebox. I never checked the top flow super but based on the lack of room for honey storage below, I will check and probably rob the flow frames later in the week.
This is my best season for honey to date. I hope the summer dearth is not too harsh and that we get bumper autumn as well.
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I really happy that up here on the Sunshine Coast of Qld single brood boxes is normal, a lot easier than down at Richmond and Mudgee in NSW when to have a hive get through Winter it was double brood hives.
Have you considered using a lead pencil to lift one end on the top brood box for a couple of weeks to let the drones escape.
Iām having good spring rain and a reasonable nectar flow, much better than this time last year.
Cheers
Yes, I have just taken nearly 20 Kg of one hive, a first to get honey this early. This is my 2 brood box hive and my single brood is not doing near as well with nothing to rob.
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Good point 
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I was up in Midland on Saturday morning and they had cut comb cups and frames. My darling wife bought me a full set of frames and cups to fill an 8 frame super for a combined, birthday, wedding anniversary and Christmas present.
I used wax to hold them in place and then discovered that if I place a piece of 10mm timber on one side everything stays in place without the frames falling out. Lesson learnt 
I was going to move the queen excluder down to pack the girls down to a single brood box and run the second box as a super. When I went in this morning there was so much beautiful brood I decided to leave everything as is. The pictures below show the frame with the least amount of brood.
I then decided I would swap out one of the flow frames in my long hive for the cut comb cups so I could watch the progress on the live camera I have in this hive. Low and behold, the girls are making excellent progress on the flow frames, so I decided to leave well enough alone there as well.
There is still plenty of nectar coming in, it really has been a great spring and early summer this year.
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Good to hear mate, like you I go in with a plan and end up having to revise my plan.
Howās the brood going in the long hive? Glad the Fframes are getting some action. I recall you were planning to requeen, is that still your plan?
Hi Terry, so how do you get the comb with honey out of those plastic frames? Do you have to cut it with a knife?
BTWā¦ that comb honey was heavenly. Iām actually now regretting that I have the full flow hives, and not hybrids so I can make some myself.
Hi Greg,
After changing out the old comb for some fresh your queen has found a new lease on lifeā¦ Or they kicked her out and replaced her. Either way I will not be replacing her this season.
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You can leave the comb in the frames and buy boxes to put the filled frames into. The problem with this is that you will have outlayed around $3.00 in plastic plus the cost of labels that wonāt come back. Having said that, with a nicely printed label and all boxed up, the product looks very professional and you may get a premium price at a farmers market. The biggest advantage of this, of course, is quality control and NO MESS
Cut comb honey is selling on Facebook for around $10.00 per 400 - 500 grams in a 150-gram container. The containers cost a couple of cents each if you buy from a discount store. On a standard Langstroth frame of honey, they make about $120.00. The issue with this is quality control.
If you cut the comb out of the cup it leaves a row of cells at the top and the bottom with the end product looking like it was cut from the frame. That being the case you may as well saved yourself the effort and just used a standard frame.
From a marketing perspective, if you had enough cups, you could encourage purchasers to return the cups and containers and give them a small discount on their next purchase.
Pros and cons for both I guess. Either way, it is going to be in plastic. Iām not optimistic people will return the cups for a discount and not sure whether they will endure repeat use.
I have a theory regarding packaging. You either get it really professionally done, potentially hiring a graphic designer for the label. Costs money though.
Orā¦ you leave it really simple, handwritten labels, rough cut combs, and give it that boutique look - low volume - individually handmade - artisan feel to it. You probably get even more money than the professional looking one for it.
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My 350gm glass jars, repurposed jam jars, which I charge a $1 deposit on rarely come back. Even from regularsā¦ To buy new are well over $1 and one can only eat so much jam! 
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I wouldnāt be surprised. Itās a throw away society.
If youāre not fussy on having a consistent shape of jar, you can sometimes find free jars on Gumtree.
I never ever throw away my empty glass jars and I bunch them up and offer them for free on Gumtree. They are usually gone within days.
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Heyā¦ I had a look in the cupboard and I currently have a couple of dozen 350ml clean empty jars. These are the standard shape jar like the one in the photo, and I should also have the lids.
Theyāre yours if you want them but havenāt had time to remove labels yet. Weāre up Kalamunda way often with the kids and I can drop them off, or pick them up from here. Let me know mate, donāt be shy.
I agree, but thereās some good initiatives and movements out there countering this. Look up āRepair Cafesā, āRepair Labsā and a few others that escape me.
Iām not fussy, but my wife is. So she made me buy these jars. $1 ea - not a cent overā¦ @skeggley
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/6-preserving-jars---300ml/2408813
They are 300ml, I fill with 350g of honey. Weāre in the process of making Christmas themed labels to gift our honeyā¦ This is going to be the most cost effective Christmas to date 
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That is true and very encouraging Fred. But weāre not there yet, in reality it is still a drop in the ocean and waste is increasing, not decreasing. For example Apple headphones are now disposable, once batteries fail. I still use headphones my dad bought me 30 years ago - I just replaced the foam pads a few months ago. BTW, we buy are stuff from these ladies at the Wasteless Pantry:
I have to admit that honey looks slick Fred. My issue is not with the cost of the jars, that is arbitrary. The way I see it is why should I throw away a perfectly fine glass jar, and buy another? I see it as senseless waste. And I wonāt say anything about the carbon footprint of importing air filled jars all the way from Chinaā¦
Ok, I wonāt bore you more with my rants, you get the drift, this waste madness is unsustainable and a pet issue of mine.
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agree, and unfortunately as a consumer, most things are done out of convenience, and I feel the corporates feed off this, so when I go to the supermarkets, I āfeelā powerless to make sustainable choices with regards to packaging, plastics etc (I am noticing a lot more platics making its way into the bee keeping industryā¦ it will be interesting to see where plastic products end up in a few decades timeā¦)
Iām not bored, but we are probably a bit off topicā¦
Thanks for the link to Wasteless Pantry āin the hillsā, great to know they are in the suburbs as well.
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