Have you read up about quilt boxes? Do you use them already on your warre hive? If not- maybe they will help with condensation.
Semaphore, sorry to be so long in reply… yes I do have a quilt box on my warre and it’s ok. I have been thinking lately that some moisture has been getting in through the back window joint!! The wood around the frame seems to stay moist, now we are getting a few day of dry weather, it’s easier to see. I will have to waterproof those joints better!!!
The flow l have put some foam in the roof and a top entrance in the brood box… things are looking better!! I had left the brood box on over winter, I don’t think I will do that again.
All the best. S
Hi John, I’m finally back home and settled in Montana. How’s it been with your hives? I’m going to set up in a couple weeks. I was worried that I might need to consider a standard super under the Flow super to sustain the bees through our long winters. How are you doing yours and are they over wintering well?
On my first initial check on a warm spell in February I had 8 out of 10. After the cold snap I lost one more so I have made it thru winter with 7 hives. Did a split yesterday with one of my hives that is booming already. I have another that will need to be split as well. I need to check one of my hives I have at my friends place. I had two there and one didn’t make it thru the winter. So all in all I am happy.
Great! Do you use 2 supers or just the 1 flow super?
I have two hives that I use strictly flow frame supers on. I have another that is a hybrid. The rest of my hives I use traditional supers. I have put another super on the hive with the flow frames on in the past but it’s typically been during the late flow in the summer. I have found that it works better just extracting one or two frames and then letting the bees fill it back up.
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