I am a beginner starting with a Flowhive 2 in upstate NY. I am curious about how to winter the bees. I see most remove the Flow Super in winter. Is there enough honey in the brood box for the bees to get through winter? Do you add a 2nd brood box or do you always feed the bees through the winter? If feeding, do you give them dry sugar? Candy? Sugar water feeders would freeze I would think. Thank you for any insight.
Definitely do not leave your flow super on during the winter for a few reasons - the honey will candy and the queen will likely lay eggs in there since you’ll have to have removed the queen excluder.
I overwinter with a single brood box. You can look up the university of Guelph YouTube videos on single brood box overwintering… they’re not far from you geographically or climatologically. Many/most people do add a second brood box and make sure they they are well stocked for winter.
Candy or dry sugar over winter, but only for emergency feed if they are light. The bees won’t take syrup once the temperatures get below about 50°F.
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My current lineup of three hives includes a single deep and two deep+mediums. The latter configuration is what works best for me here in southeastern PA near PHILLY!!! GO BIRDS 
Ahem, back to beekeeping.
The single was a late split that I didn’t super, and has needed periodic feeding since November. One of the other two has also needed feed, and more frequently because the colony size is larger and because was robbed in September. I have found that Dadant AP23 winter patties are a straightforward and simple way to feed my colonies in winter when needed, because they’re more nutritious than plain fondant and easier to handle & place on the top bars than dry sugar.
The video @chau06 posted is well worth watching. I would add to what he said about only feeding in emergencies, just to clarify - what you want is to ensure that you’ve left the bees with the right amount of their own stores so you are less likely to have to feed. But, you should absolutely not hesitate to feed if you see any signs they’re getting through their stores too early:
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When you heft the hive it’s too light, and spring is still weeks or months away
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When you lift the lid the bees are all right underneath in the topmost area
I use an extra inner cover between two shims to create headroom for patties, plus insulation under the lid. I also wrap my hives with thick rolls of insulation called bee cozies. Temps in winter months here can swing from 5F to 50F, so insulation is very important. Smallest, mouse-proof entrances under slatted racks have also been helpful in blocking wind and rain.
All that said, your wintering success will truly rest on your varroa mite strategy from spring on 
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Thank you, great video too
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Thank you for the feedback
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[PROLOSO Rapid Bee Feeder Round Hive Top Plastic Bee Water Feeder Beekeeping Supplies]
I’m in upstate NY too. I use the above product to feed my single brood box just before winter. 2:1 sugar to water, and the bees love it. Probably fill the tray four or five times. They drink it dry in about four hours. My hive looks good through January with the few new sacrificial bees noticed just outside the entrance every couple days. Hive is insulated with 1.5 inches of styrofoam all around, and about 8” of snow on top, lately. Good luck.
Thanks Tom, I’ll check them out!
After a few days in the 60°F range, bees had been collecting some aconite, crocus pollen, and maybe some early maple… it is winter again in my neck of the woods.
A quick check last week revealed that single deep hives are 5/5 this winter so far but the crunch is about to hit as the temperatures fluctuate when the bees have started their ramp up. Fortunately, all 5 hives seem pretty heavy still.
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Wow, good luck with those Nor’Easter storms! We are getting a smattering of Pineapple Express storms here, but yours is much more dramatic. I would be getting my stethoscope on the hives if I lived in your region… 
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Wonderful, Alok! I’m cautiously happy to report 6/6 survivors here too, here’s to making it past the next few cold weeks 
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I’m also a new bee keeper and this post has been super informative and helpful in getting my flow hive 2 ready for winter. I have 2 questions though that are not covered:
1- the inner lid cover has the hole in its center, that gets plugged for winter, yes? I did see a post that one person uses a second lid to help in feeding, so i assume the top most inner cover is plugged.
2- my flow hive 2 is on the hive stand (legs), do I need to insulate the bottom of the hive since air will flow underneath it? I got a hive wrap and will insulate under the roof with 1.5" insulation board, but underneath the yellow tray I am uncertain about.
Thank you in advance for any and all help! This forum has been very helpful this first year with our hive, such a great community!
I should note that I’m in Nebraska and our winters can get very cold. The last few years we’ve hit -15F more than once.
Some people put a shim (very shallow box) above the inner cover and then put either dry white sugar or fondant in the space above it for winter feeding. The inner cover helps the bees to feel that the roof space is outside the hive, and is not suitable for making comb when spring starts up. It isn’t foolproof though, so you have to keep checking in the spring! If you are going to feed that way, you need the hole to open. Otherwise, I close it off with a thin tile piece - it works well.
I haven’t heard of people doing that, and I think it might be quite tricky. One easy thing that you could try is putting some of that insulation board in the tray, if you can find any thin enough to fit when cut to size. Otherwise just put the tray in upside down and close all the vents to reduce any drafts.
Welcome to the forum!
Did you remove the super and queen excluder? Definitely do that asap if not. Any honey in it should be harvested before storing it. Do a search for how to store Flow frames for more info.
Did you monitor and treat for varroa this season? It’s very important to do a fall check and potentially treat because mite populations increase rapidly at this time of year, just when bee numbers are reducing. Lots more info to search if you need it.
Is there just the one brood box or did you put a second one on this season? If yes to the second box is it a deep or medium and how full is it with drawn comb and honey? If the bees are in just the one deep your kit came with or that plus a second box that is not well stocked, you’ll need to feed starting now. You may also need to put dummy boards into the second box or remove it and store it altogether depending on how much the bees were able to fill it this season.
That might be I Dawn clarified this a bit and I’ll explain exactly what I do and recommend:
Replace the peaked Flow roof/lid with a standard Langstroth outer cover (8 or 10 frame according to your hive size), because you can put a brick on top to prevent wind from blowing it off. Also, the weather will take a toll on your paint job and those slats are known to be leaky.
Get 2 feeding shims like these, making sure they match the frame size of your hive:
https://www.betterbee.com/feeders/shim8k.asp
Sandwich the inner cover between the 2 shims, so there is space to put feed on the top bars and space to put the insulation board under the outer cover. There’s how that hole gets blocked
To feed you can use honey from this colony (never store bought or from another apiary), plain white sugar with a few drops of water - just enough to make it clump, or winter patties (not regular pollen patties which have too much protein for this time of year):
Here’s what I use -
https://www.betterbee.com/bee-feed/wp10-10lb-winter-patties.asp
Once you have this set up, you can either tape or bungee sheets of green board around the outside of the hive. Be careful not to block the entrance, which should be reduced and have a mouse guard on it.
I don’t have a Flow 2 and I switched all my colonies to solid bottoms with slatted racks. So, do as Dawn said re: the tray and vents, and consider ways to block wind if the hive is exposed in a very open area. As I recall, Michael Bush resides in your neck of the woods and once wrote that he doesn’t insulate, but explained that his many hives are right up next to each other in rows so they have some protection. Some people put bales of straw up next to theirs, and if you do that just make sure you have a mouse guard!
Check on the bees’ progress with consuming whatever feed you put in on a weekly basis at minimum - one of my colonies is in two mediums which is like a single deep, and I have been feeding it every 2-3 days already because of the drought here. You’ll get an idea of how fast they consume it and replace accordingly. When you do it, you can remove the outer cover and then with your hive tool, lever up the inner cover, upper shim and top insulation as one slab, leaving the bottom shim in place. It helps to have your feed ready so you can slide it in carefully and efficiently with least heat loss and without exposing the inside of the hive to the elements. This is a big reason I like to use winter patties 
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Be aware that the inner cover and top shim will be prone to sliding apart unless you hold them firmly together while levering. To improve on this you’d need to give the bees a chance to propolize the new equipment down, which means leaving out the insulation so the center hole in the inner cover stays open for a week or two. If you decide to give that a try, put the piece of insulation on top of the outer cover and hold it all down with the brick. This will help prevent excess condensation when temps drop at night. Put the insulation inside as previously described before it gets really cold.
Thank you both so much for all the great information and helpful links! I want this hive to thrive, it has done well this year. We didn’t put the super on, but rather a second deep brood box based on recommendation from a neighbor due to the amount of bearding the bees were doing in the heat and the hive population. I moved one frame up to it but they only built partial comb on both sides so we took that box down for the winter. I have not treated for nor noticed mites in the hive on inspections. I already got a winter wrap but will definitely order your suggestions to get our girls thru the coming cold. Thank you again, any and all tips and suggestions are welcome! This forum has really been a wealth of information!
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You’re very welcome, glad to share - I wouldn’t have come this far without this forum myself!
Please do an alcohol wash to check the numbers, and plan your treatment accordingly. Some folks like Apivar strips and some prefer to vaporize or dribble in oxalic acid. There are specific steps to each type and as usual, this forum is a great resource. Mites are endemic - but you won’t necessarily see them with your naked eye - so doing nothing will almost always result in colony deadout.
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Thank you for all the info, I ordered lots from betterbees, this is my setup. Does it look like its ready for winter, besides the wrap? I added the enterance reducer, put a shim on top of the brood box, a pattie on the frames, on top of the shim is the inner cover (with the center hole plugged), then i have an insulated inner cover and the standard harder outter cover (combo from better bees). At what point is it best to put the wrap on the hive? Our current weather is highs in the upper 50s, sometimes 60, lows in the upper 30s.
