How to encourage bees to use the Flow Frames

As an update - I waxed up my flow frames on the weekend and installed the flow hive yesterday. Looked in the observation window this evening to see bees on the outside frame head down and working on the cells - so I am taking that as a positive early sign!

A helpful hint might be to wax the frames whilst they are on a level surface. I got a bit carried away and may have ended up with a bit of a flow frame jigsaw puzzle to solve…:blush:

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Hi - I did the same a couple of weeks ago and have the same result. The bees are busy closing the gaps in each cell of the Flowhive frames. I hope to see some honey appearing soon in the frames.
I made sure that the frames in the brood box were 80% full before placing the Flowhive super on.

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3 weeks ago I stole my wife’s fry pan and just melted the wax straight from the heat source and painted it on the flow frames.

My double brood box was bursting at the seems when I put it on and they went straight in the super and got straight to work. Now after 3 weeks I did a full inspection and opened the super and removed the middle frames and could see that they were about 30% full of honey and lots capped too. So bee patient and it will happen soon.

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Oh boy… You do like playing with fire, don’t you? :smiling_imp:

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If the wires came off and the frame fell apart, there are some fantastic videos made by Flow to help you put it back together. Shouldn’t take more than 15-20 mins even the first time. :blush:

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I checked my brood box and guessed it was around 80% before putting the super on. One of my outside frames was a new foundation frame and it had capped brood for most of the inner side and the outside was being filled with nectar. Some of the brood seems to have hatched as there seemed to be heavier traffic around the hive entrance over the past week and I am enjoying watching the bees fill in the gaps in the flow frame.

I was thinking of checking the brood box next week as it has been 3 weeks since I last checked - I might lift one of the middle flow frames to see how it is looking if I do - unless people think you shouldn’t disturb the bees for a certain time after putting the super on?

Thanks Dawn - I struggled for a while and got my son to help me holding the frame after I reassembled it so I could get the wire back on. I did have a problem with one of the wires kinking up so I resorted to grabbing some fencing tie wire and making my own which seemed to work. Now I will go and watch the videos to see how I should have done it…:slight_smile:

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During swarm season, super or no super, I usually check the brood box weekly. Otherwise you won’t get a chance to intervene, and all of your hard work can disappear in a black and gold cloud… :blush:

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Here is the link, in case it helps. :wink:

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I’m looking after a flow hive for some friends - we caught a swarm and put it into the brood box and they are going amazingly well. My plan is long term… once this brood box is almost full, I’ll add another brood box, then wait until that one is almost full too and then add an ideal-sized super for them to move up into to make comb and honey, then when that is almost full I will put the flow super in between the two. I’ve been reading how some of the bees aren’t taking to the plastic very well, so I thought if I did it this way, they would still be going up through the flow frames to get to the comb and then when it is full ‘upstairs’ they will move down to flow super. That’s the plan anyway! I’m not expecting to get the flow super on until next year and I’ll let you know how the plan works :slight_smile:

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Thank Dawn - I was probably a bit complacent thinking that because it was a new split and we were coming towards the end of the Swarm season (assuming September to December in Oz) that I wouldn’t need to keep checking the hive weekly - I’ll have a look this weekend to see what is happening!

@JeffH recently replied to my question on swarm season and says it kicks off end of July not long after the shortest day.

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Makes it look easy! My flow frames have more than one twist in the wires and that is where I came a bit unstuck as when I tried to get more tension on the wires by adding more twists, one of the wires started kinking which almost makes me think I may have got the wires the wrong way round. Hopefully I won’t be pulling another flow frame apart again any time soon!

The first week, I tried with the bare frames, after a week of no activity, I removed the Flow Super, then proceeded to use the rub method. While next to the hive adding sugar water, the bees were already landing on the frames. This week there is quite a bit of activity and they are already starting to seal the comb. So I can verify that the rub method does work really well.

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I want to add that this hive is in the city of Los Angeles on a rooftop of an apartment complex, no hive beetles yet, I do see signs of mites, but I’ll let the bees handle them, since this is supposed to be VSH-Italians. The current mite count is low, so they should be just fine. The temp here stay consistent year round, the bees are out foraging all the time. I originally planned on waiting until spring to add the flow Super, but my hive is becoming honey bound, so it was a choice to add a medium or give it a try. With the recent rains there’s a lot blooming here, about 75% of the returning bees are packed with pollen. Not bad for December in SoCal, now the valley where my other hives are located, they have slowed down in comparison, because to the large temp swings from day to night, I will wait until spring before adding a Flow to them.

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I used the waxed roller method, so easy, and instant results.

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In Fremantle, West Australia, my brood frames were 80% full of brood, pollen and honey, and bee numbers were growing rather quickly. They had begun to build comb in the roof! I rubbed (softened) bees wax onto both sides of the (new, empty) flow frames and dabbed lemon grass oil onto 3-4 places inside the flow frame box. One hour after placing the flow frames on top of the brood box the bees were inside the flow frames sealing the comb. The naysayers wouldn’t have liked looking at bees getting onto plastic frames so quickly - but I certainly did :slight_smile:

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where do you purchase your equipment to do the wax rolling? wax and supplies not sure where to get in the US

Home Depot for the roller and grocery store for a foil tray to hold the hot wax. You can buy blocks of wax from most of the major bee supply companies, if you don’t have any of your own.
https://www.kelleybees.com/Shop/9/Home-Gifts/Candles-Soap/4645/Pure-Beeswax
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/1-lb-Raw-Settled-Beeswax/productinfo/450/
https://www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/candle-wine-and-soap-making/candle-making/candle-making-supplies/1-lb-453-58g-yellow-honey-wax-pearls

Evening Dawn n others !

I posted a short bee video clip to my FB page today. My mentor n several other Beekeepers stay in touch this way. Shortly after posting my mentor said, " your bees are about to explode !!! " … Better do a quick inspect …""" And bee were ALREADY ! My super was nearly 75% to near 80% stuffed. Lots of bees, capped brood n more. It was ready !! I quickly unpacked my Flow-Super … I rechecked it over then soaked the flow-frames with sugar-water. Looking at the distant horizon black clouds were on a mission n I probably was in their Cross-Hairs. I also had to rework a access groove for my Hive Monitors main Temp/Humidity cable n sensor. A rat tailed round rasp did quick work in the soft cedar wood.

Anyway … My Super is on for the season now … We have a medium Fruit tree n Large Leaf Maple flow too … Forward n onward !

I feel so good ! Just before the downpour I popped open the side inspection window. Saw several bees already. No forsure guarantee but at least encouraging !

Cheers,
Gerald

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