I have 2 flow hives. #1 is not as strong as #2. I would say that #2 has progressed to at least double the bees of #1. The flow hive of #2 is filling up fast this week and I was very happy to see the cells filling with honey. But today when I looked at the flow frames the lower 2 chambers on the right and the lower two chambers on the left (where you attach the flow tubes to harvest the honey) were half full with honey??? The two lower center chambers were empty, no problem. All frames were “closed” and double checked when installed. It does look like my hive may have settled a little toward the harvest side of the frames (not a lot). Has anybody else experienced this and what should I do???
Hi Don,
Are the drip back/drain back holes clear behind the end caps?
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When my flow frames first started filling up I noticed this happening and I cleaned out the drip back holes after my first harvest, five harvests later have had no further problems, the bees seem to clean out the drip back holes themselves now.
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I have not had that problem but thinking the drain back slot is blocked up by the bees. I suggest quickly fitting the drain tube and taking the honey out that is in the chamber, remember the 5 degree of tilt to the hive. When it has completely drained the chamber use something like a small nail to open the slot at the bottom and end of the chamber so the bees can clean up any last drops.
Then close up and check it again every few days and I think the chamber will stay dry.
Regards
Hi Don,
I think you may be referring to the issue of a blocked leak-back point.
Please have a read below, and try and clear those leak back points.
On occasion honey will drip into the trough while the bees are filling the cells. This happens when the bees don’t do a completely thorough job of waxing all the joins in the cells. We have not found this to be an issue as the bees will still finish off the comb ready for you to harvest. If the honey is building up in the trough this can be easily fixed if you wish.
The Flow Frames are designed with a leak back point feature to enable any honey that does drip down inside the trough area to be recycled by the bees inside the hive. However if the leak back point gets blocked by the bees the honey may build up inside the trough and sometimes spill a little onto the metal strip. You can rectify this by removing the honey trough cap and inserting a Flow Tube or a small stick, to clear the bees wax and allow the honey to be recycled into the hive once more. Sometimes spinning the cap around a little is enough to clear the leak back point without removing the cap. This may need to be repeated several times to resolve the build up.
If this is continually happening you may need to remove the frame and have a look to see if there are any alignment issues. If you are concerned please feel free to send through some photographs to info@honeyflow.com so we can assist you further in troubleshooting this issue.
Faroe
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Sorry for the delay in replying. Thanks to everyone for your assistance. The drip back holes were indeed blocked. Cleared them out and everything is good. Bees are HAPPY!
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Hey Don, if you appreciate the good advise given to you then you can click on the heart at the bottom of the answer, it lets us know that you have understood the advice and you like the answer.
Regards