Glad to find this topic! Just checked our hive and am trying to figure out what’s what. We are in Bunbury W.A.
Got the bees at end December as an 8 frame brood box with 2 frames pretty full and the outside ones not touched at all with the foundation. After a month to let the brood grow we put the flow-frame super up with the supplied excluder in between. Now today the brood box is 80% full with still the northern frame not built on at all. There is some interest in the flow frame super but no wax (maybe about 40 bees crawling around in the super). There is a brown substance in the small gaps and am wondering if this is the start of waxing.
More likely to be propolis at this time of year. May be your nectar flow is dropping off. What do your local beekeepers think about nectar flow right now?
Thanks Dawn! I don’t have any local contacts as yet. Apart from the apiarist who set me up. He never seems to have problems but is on the other side of town and a bit less bushy (ie has a lot of established garden flowers perhaps). We’ve got many peppermint trees in our area and various other gums. We still know so little of the bees requirements at different times of the year, what’s expected, what’s available, that we are pretty much leaving them to their own devices. It’s been a pretty wet summer this year too.
Same problem as Nick. Just checked the honey flow super through the inspection doors and though there seems to be lots of bees, at least where I can see, they aren’t building at all. A normal super on top of the honey flow one is very nearly full. The bees seem to be walking through the honey flow super ignoring it and building in the top. We are in the Worsley area quite close to Bunbury and am experiencing a second very late and heavy flush of Marri flowers. Hopefully when the top super is full the bees will move down into the honey flow super… or maybe they have and I just can’t see it yet? I will check them again in a week to 10 days time.
Why don’t you try moving that filled super on top of the Flow
I under super when I add new ones to my beehives, it’s particularly useful if you are trying to get the bees to draw comb.
You need to create an overcrowding situation where the bees have no choice. Maybe even lose the excluder until they are actively working the Flow frames.
Sort of like one of those chicken egg laying factories where the birds would prefer a nest to lay in but can’t hold it in anymore and lay it on the conveyor belt
I’m still waiting for our flow hive to arrive.
One of the concerns we have is the size of the cells.
We based in Mpumalanga, South Africa (North Eastern part of the country). Traditionally the size of the cells used here are +/-4.7mm. With the flow hive being so much bigger (5.8mm, I think), Is this possibly going to be an issue? Trials have been done in the Cape with the Cape bee (Apis mellifera capensis), and they seemed to accept the flow frames, but nothing has been tested up north with the African honey bee (Apis mellifera scutellata) i
Is it possible to have two different cell sizes in the same hive, say the traditional smaller one in the brood box and then the flow frames with their larger cells?
FYI, I am an absolute newbie at this. The only knowledge I have is from what I have read in books, forums and websites…
Sadly the bees still aren’t using the frames at all. I removed every frame when I checked today and they were filled with small hive beetle and with a few bees attacking the hive beetle. But no wax and not a drop of honey.
The bottom box is full to the brim with bees and brood and honey.
I’ve taken the flow frames out and I’m putting normal frames in in their place to see if the bees are happy to use them. If they are then I know it’s not the oil on the box or the new excluder or any of the other possible factors and that it’s purely the flow frames themselves.
The hive next to my flow hive is a normal hive and I checked it today as well and it’s almost ready for its second harvest since I installed the flow super.
Hi Nick - the bees still aren’t using my flow super at all.
I also had a little bit of propolis on the edges and in some of the frames, which I think is their attempt to block access for the small hive beetle who’ve decided that the flow frames offer fantastic hiding places.
Bugger that’s real crap Katherine. I hope you get it sorted. One thing I’ve been thinking of is that I never washed the frames and maybe this might have something to do with it. I’m going to do a full check when I get home.
Been pondering your dilemma, but since I haven’t had the opportunity to use my Flow super yet, this is only an idea. I’m wondering if adding wax to the frames by spraying it in a liquid form to add the scent will make them start using them or even a honey/water combination sprayed on them so they clean it up. Seems like they are just picky and not used to the plastic frames and need some coaxing.
Honey or syrup sounds like a nice easy idea, and one I would definitely try. The other possibility is to use a Q-tip cotton swab dipped in a little Lemongrass essential oil, rested on top of the frames. It mimics Nasanov pheromone - the bees’ “come hither” signal…
I’ve given this topic a bit of thought. I came to the conclusion that all we need is a little patience. Bees being bees, as soon as the population builds & there’s a honey flow, the bees want to gather & store it somewhere for themselves or the next generation. The Flow frames, being plastic may not be ideal, but it will suit their purpose. It’s just the nature of bees.
Another thing I pondered was the possibility of starting them off with a half depth super with starter strips. They are perfect for cut comb. Once the half depth super is full of sealed comb, remove it & replace it with the Flow frame super. That way you know that there is sufficient population to start on the Flow frames.
The cut comb out of the half frames certainly wont go astray & it will be easy to store the half box & frames after the comb is cut out & cleaned up.
Just thought I’d give you all an update. On Saturday I took out my flow frames and left the flow hive super and excluder in place and popped a couple of regular frames with foundation in the super instead. (To check whether there might be an issue with the oil we used on the super or with the excluder.)
I checked again on Monday and the flow super was filled with bees busy working on the new frames. So that told me that the box was fine and the excluder was fine.
I’ve replaced 3 of the flow frames inside the box, along with 3 stickies and the 2 frames with foundation that the bees are already building up.
My hope is that once they’ve filled the “normal” frames they’ll start on the flow ones that are next to them. And when I extract the “normal” frames, I’ll replace with more flow frames until the box has only flow frames. Fingers crossed!
