Picture shows honey collecting near plugs. Too much of an angle on hive or normal?
B8,
I wish I could tell you ! Are any of the frames capped yet. Looks like a few or section of these frames are diffenantly leaking but doubt it’s due to the few degrees of angle.
Guess others with operation Flow-supers will hop on this with some ideas n thots soon. Don’t panic !
Have a great weekend.
Gerald.
Thanks for the reply. No caps yet.
It can be normal, but there are a couple of other issues to consider:
- Are there any offset cells? If they are not all nice hexagons, the bees don’t seal them very well and they can leak. The fix is easy - just put the Flow key in the upper slot, and turn it 3 times. Once in the left of the slot, once in the middle and once in the right. That will close any open cells, and shouldn’t damage any sealed cells that were correctly closed, as long as you only put the key into the upper slot.
- Are the wires tight? If not, the frames may have bigger gaps than usual and will flex more in the hive creating leaks.
- Is a row of cells out of place with the bottom edge skewed to one side of the frame face? You may need to take the frame out to correct this, but it isn’t hard.
Good luck, and please let us know what you find. 
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Thanks for the checklist. Just in case, I went ahead and turned the key as you described. I did not feel anything out of place, but I covered that one just in case. All the flow frames are filling up and I will inspect when the rain stops to check some of the other items in your list. Appreciate the tips.
Thanks!
In addition to what Dawn has suggested, you should remove those end caps and either drain the nectar/honey in the trough in to a jar or back into the hive. Its only a small amount in each trough so it shouldn’t be an issue. Don’t leave this liquid in the trough, it will ferment to turn your next honey extraction sour.
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I’ve got the same problem: Leaking Flow Frames, how to solve when in use? - #3
Except that the nectar is also leaking out of the end caps…(!)
Could you please explain this a bit further? I do not quite get what you mean to say there. Cheers!
Hi Nathan, Sorry to hear about your leaking Flow Frames.
I have passed your details onto my team leader who will be emailing you in the next couple of days to try and resolve this issue with you.
Please check for any emails from Flow in the next couple of days.
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Hi Faroe,
I have a similar issue (probably a few others do as well). It’s not a bad leak, but I’d like to address it if possible. Perhaps you can follow up with any resolution to this problem here so others can benefit too? Thanks!
I would to like add that I initially had some leakage, it was not significant enough to be concerned about. I opened and drained the trough, made sure there was an adequate slope on the hive to be sure any further leakage would drain to the access point so the bees could lick it up. After subsequent harvests all leakage has stopped. I believe this happens occasionally for virgin frames where the bees haven’t 100% sealed up all the gaps.
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I think you are right there. The bees try to fill all the gaps, but sometimes there are little gaps. The bees will in time fill these gaps with wax.
As Rod has said, check your access point so the bees can recycle the honey. If the honey building up in the trough, pull out the cap and make sure the little leak back point is free from wax so the honey will drain back to the bees to reuse.
You can also loosen the cap a little to make the gap bigger or spin it around a bit to break any wax to help the honey leak back into the hive. The upside is you can taste the honey.
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Hello everybody,
I’ve seen a couple of threads about this issue, but have some additional questions.
I have a leaking problem with my flow frames, too. The bees are really busy filling up the flow frames with nectar, and at a couple of the flow frames, it is leaking out. It seems to come out of the part where you would put the tube for harvesting, you know, where there is the round closing part.
Also:
*What are my options to solve this now that the bees have already started to fill the flow frames?
*Should I rely on them closing the caps?
*How would they be able to close the caps afterwards, while they are already filling the frames up with nectar?
Thanks!
You could take the leaking frame out of the hive and adjust the wires with it on a tray to catch any honey leaks.
I presume you mean “gaps” rather than “caps” (as in caps over the Flow tube access point). If so, they will probably close the gaps eventually, but I would still check the wires first.
If a cell is repeatedly emptying, they will seal the gaps with wax.
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Dawn,
I’m sure glad I’m at the caboose end of this learning curve. Aliot of issues have slowly surfaced n most very solvable n have reasons. This formal n Flow-hive support seem to be TOPs !
BTW… How’s your Flow doing. You having any good nectar flow this season ?
Been making a couple sets of entrance reducers. One for me n one set for another Cali beek. At least I have a hive for final fit … Not sure my girls are happy with me as I try to test the fits ! 
Have a great rest of the week,
Gerald 
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We had a very nice nectar flow in March and April, before I got my nucs. The nucs arrived at the end of April, and the flow has gradually dried up since then. They are still finding nectar, and I haven’t had to feed, but I can’t imagine that we will be able to harvest this year. I would rather build up a healthy, strong hive and get them off to a fast start in time for the flow next year.
Dawn,
I’m with you at not introducing my new Flow-frames. I have to Flow-Super on presently for decoration. My crownboard is screened n have the QE above that for storage only ! I’ll pull the box n store this winter too.
I ordered two deep 8 framers yesterday n per E-mail I should see these by end of today (Thursday). I’m going to cut it down to shallows n use the lower remaining 3"s for Quilt boxes for my Flow-hive this fall/winter/early spring. Beethinking didn’t have any Cedar shallows. If my Flow-swam hive keeps growing I’ll need to add at least a 8 frame shallow super … We get a later summer flow of English Ivy but have been advised it not a nectar for Flows as it easily crystizes so might not be good in the flow-frames. I’ll take their word for it n stay with a box of shallow frames with some drawn wax. I’ve frozen the frames for a week so should be totally free of moths n few other pests if they were infected. I didn’t see an issue but not taking a chance.
Love my 
’s. Have a great Thursday !
Jerry 
. Out mowing early as we have some rain n lower temps coming in with a new Wx system by noonish. Bye bye 
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Sorry to hear you have leaking frames. I wonder if all your cells are aligned correctly. This was mentioned in another thread (can’t remember where sorry).
Dawn gave some good info - If most of your cells are aligned but there are a few lines of cells that are not aligned correctly, try to put the Flow key into the upper slot of the frame and turn it a few times. Put it into the left of the slot and turn, then the middle and turn, then the right and turn. That should realign everything. As long as you don’t put it into the bottom slot, it shouldn’t disturb what they have done with the correctly aligned cells.
Maybe you can try that and see if it helps 
Thanks a lot the replies and suggestions, especially Dawn and Faroe 
I’m pretty sure they are aligned well, but it does not hurt to double check it.
Here’s what I have done…I simply lifted up the wires and put a piece of wood underneath it to tension them up, like so:
When checking for leakage today, I did not find any. Looks like it is solved.
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I hope that solves it for now, but maybe your wires are a bit loose. Another job for winter, in that case! 
Ah, no, unfortunately it did not solve the problem after all. Today when taking a look, I found a lot of nectar in the collection trough of a couple of frames.
What additionally worries me, though, is that the nectar leaves the flow frames alltogether…it is leaking out of the round closing thingies (where you would put the tubes when harvesting).