Honey leak behind my tube access cap

Oh ok Peter. I have just been finding very liquid honey that has a fermented smell in the channels when going to harvest in the last couple of days. When I take out the cap it is pretty gunky and I assumed the bees had waxed over what should be a small open place for any drips of honey/nectar to feedback down to the bees. i cleaned the channel the best I could before harvesting and re-opening the groove at the bottom of the front of the channel where the tube slots in.

I am puzzled about the bees waxing over the hole and you are far from the first to mention finding that. Logic says that if the hole provides honey the bees would want it open but the bees don’t always follow logic.
Try pushing a chux into the channel with it over the end of the hive key to clean out the channel, another trick is squirting warm water into the channel and moping it out with a chux. It is fiddly and probably the worst feature of the Flow Hive.
Regards

Hi Peter, can you please describe and/or post a pic of a “chux”? I’ve also noticed some buildup of honey in the channels and have been wondering how best to deal with it. Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

Chux is just the common brand name of a fairly open weaved ‘kitchen cloth’ that can be used as a washing up cloth or a bench top wiping rag bought in the cleaning section in a supermarket. They are blue or blue and white in color. I will post a photo if you like.
Cheers

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Having a forward tilt on a hive as you do with traditional bottom boards sometimes honey or nectar that does leak through to the drainage channel may not be obvious until you tilt the hive back when you set up to harvest.
I have harvested one set of frames four times and have not found the need to wash the channel yet, nor do I filter. Fframes to bucket to jar. Easy peasy, fresh no mess. It’s been said that the Flow honey tastes so good because of its minimal exposure to air.
Speaking of mead, looking forward to the end of Dry July so I can get into last years Joes Ancient Orange to ward off these cold nights. :wink:
@Peter48 I think it’s propolis, not wax that they seal the drain hole with.

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Thanks Peter - I always find it fun to hear about little differences between our everyday items & names for them :slight_smile:️ I had a very inaccurate picture in my mind of what a chux might be, thinking it was something more specialized & long-handled or something!

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That makes perfect sense skegs. That happened with a couple of my Fframes when we had to (carefully) jack ithe hive up in front after the level revealed a decidedly forward tilt from settling. I still think that the heat of the day could have weakened the cell seams and created some leakage when we lifted the front end, but I can see how collected honey in the channel that was already there might just have flowed back then.

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They look very similar to this:
https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/multi-purpose-wipes/6858925/

Looks like what I’d call a handiwipe

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Totally agree, @Eva. In the UK and Canada, we called them J-Cloths. But they look identical. :blush:

it’s simple really- the hole only provides honey to the bees sometimes. When it doesn’t- the bees see it as void to be plugged with wax or propolis like any other void. They may be logical but they are probably not clever enough to know to leave it open :wink:

Cedar answered this question for me in my first year:

https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/honey-leaking-into-trough-while-frame-appears-to-be-in-closed-position/4064

I still see it from time to time but am not too worried, I just make sure the rear of the cap is clear of a propolis plug.

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Nah, we Aussies are very basic, a chux and the Flow Frame cracking key, Also a water spray bottle of warmish water squirted into the channel is a help in cleaning any gunk out.
Regards

@Eva. That is the little suckers Dawn, amazing how much they can hold. A picture is worth a thousand word but I am not a gee wizz on computers.
Thanks

Basic maybe but very basic? Not I.

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How do you tighten the frames, I remember that there was a video on how to but I cannot find it, I have 2 flowhives for 3 seasons now, and would like to do some basic maintenance to them this fall

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@tvalent
Is this any use?

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Sorry @skeggley

I missed you had already linked it in your post…

Thank you for this - quite helpful to quickly find out what Cedar had to say when I discovered this in my flow hive today!