The Flow hive is not a lie!
Please forgive my obscure indirect reference to the “Portal” video game (which I have never played due to motion sickness…), where the reward is a cake, and the cake turns out to be a lie = no reward…
The Flow hive really does work. It is fabulous.
What is in between your dual flow keys?
A Kleenex tissue, to keep the bees out. They were VERY interested!
Do you put that medium super down below for winter? Or is it just for extra harvest honey?
Great question!
As my hives already have double brood boxes, they shouldn’t need that super for feed. I harvest it for human use, but if they are running short of food while heading into winter, they get some of it back.
May I ask too? 
What is the wrap on the stand leg?
Well spotted! It is metal tape which I sprayed with “AntCant”. That was a product which made a barrier which ants cannot cross. Since the pandemic, I think that the suppliers may have gone out of business, but it worked very well for me against argentinian ants, which are a real pest in coastal SoCal
Thank you. I was thinking about building some stands, and now, after seeing yours, I believe my plans were a bit overcomplicated
Oh thank you that’s awesome!! I can’t wait until next year when I can actually see if my girls fill out the flow!! I’m adding my 2nd deep today the colony I got has filled out the first one from 60 to 95ish% in 4 days:)
If you are worried about the number of bees, don’t. That looks normal to me
Hi Dawn.
Do you have the Flow hive with the corflute bottom board? If so, do you remove the corflute completely during the hot summer days? I’ve read both where some leave it in the bottom slot all summer and some who remove it completely for the summer. This next week, we will be in the 90-95 degree range, so wondering if we should leave it out for the next week.
Thanks,
Trish
I have an 8 frame Flow hive Classic. I leave the coreflute slider in the upper slot all year round, except when I am doing OAV treatments for mites
If you want to improve ventilation in the hive in hot weather, watch “City of Bees”, read @JeffH’s posts (he keeps bees in a very humid and hot region), and consider making your hive entrance about 6 inches wide. According to Tom Seeley (legendary bee researcher), that is what bees choose for themselves, so we should perhaps respect their 100 million years+ experience on what works for them?
Thank you! We did drill a ventilation hole in the back top panel, hopefully that makes a difference.
Hi Trish & thank you @Dawn_SD . I never add any ventilation to any of my hives, no matter how hot or humid it gets. It’s only since joining this forum that I started paying attention to the size of my entrances. I’ve discovered that the best performing colonies are the ones with smaller entrances. So therefore I’ve reduced all of my hives entrances. In fact I’m giving my hives two small entrances. One on each side, you’ll get a clue from watching City of Bees as to why I give the bees two entrances. I wont spoil it for you.
That excellent old video needs to be watch several times, so that we can fully understand & appreciate what goes on inside a hive.
Just a short story: I was reading in my ABC to XYZ of Bee Culture how that bees are de-watering the nectar on the return trip to the hive, by holding a drop of nectar in her mouth-part, exposing it to the air.
In that video, they show a bee flying back to the hive. If you look closely, you can see a glistening in front of the bee, which I believe is the bee de-watering nectar on her way back to the hive.
