Hi beekeepers, this morning we put 6 national nucs into a flow hive extending with thin screws .We also added two empty frames . Any idea when we will have honey ?
In a typical year in Ireland there is a Spring flow, a June gap and then the main honey flow is in July.
Is your nuc a 2020 nuc or a nuc that has been overwintered from 2019? If its a 2020 nuc, the main objective should be building up the colony size this year, although you might get some honey.
Adding lengthening screws is a good solution to make National frames sit in place initially but i feel you should transfer to Langstroth as soon as possible. Otherwise you are liable to get a mess of burr and brace comb as the bees try to fill all the gaps. I would place the two empty frames (langstroth) on the edge of the brood nest so that they get drawn and laid up and when that happens repeat with another two…
Also, depending on your location, be aware that ivy and rape crystallise hard and may not be suitable for flow supers.
Hiya everyone,
I see we are a small community of F.H. in Ireland. I did my beekeeping course last year 2021 with the County Louth Beekeepers Association. I purchased my NUC the end of July. Just trying to figure out my plan of action for this year.
I would like to pick your brain @JimM 
When would be a good time to put the flow hive up? (I have the Flow Super that fits with a national hive) Knowing that the spring flow could be rape, which crystallizes very quickly. I was planning on putting on a conventional super for that flow? Would you then put the flow hive on in June for them to start drawing out the comb (would you give them a 1:1 sugar feed to help with that)? Or do you put it on in July when the main flow is happening? Then harvest and take it off before the ivy flow in late August/ September? Then perhaps put a super on for that, obviously depending on their stores?
Any advice, tips and tricks that anyone has experienced, would be greatly appreciated?
Thanks a mil. 
Hi Alison, Just to clarify that I don’t use a flow super myself. I confine myself to general beekeeping chat here. I know your association and they are very good and active, though things are different since covid.
Some people say that they can harvest rape honey in a flow super if they harvest it quickly, but I think the safest thing is to use a traditional super early in the year. It might be that they don’t store much honey then as they will still be in expanding mode and feeding new larvae etc.
The main flow should happen in July and this will probably be blackberry which should flow fine for you.
I would be wary of feeding sugar though I understand that you need to get wax drawn out before they start filling the flow frames.
Perhaps a tactic might be to place a traditional super on for the rape season and when this seems to have been drawn out you could add the flow super above it at that stage. A lot will depend on the strength of the colony and also the weather and nectar resources at that time. Then allow then to fill the flow frames during the summer period, July and early August, and then remove everything and let them add ivy stores in to the brood box for the winter.
I assume that you have Irish black bees. They are quite happy to live in a single brood box for the winter. If there are a lot of ivy stores being taken in, you can add a super, but in this case place it below the brood box. In spring time it should be empty but drawn out and will be useful for honey.
1 Like