Hello
Looked at my hive today and there are a few bees in gap where the pullout board sits on the Flow Hive at the bottom. Probably around 30 or so. Is this an issue? Lots of bees around the hive as well.
Please remind us what hive you have? Flow hive classic, Flow hive 2, 2+? They all have different issues… 
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ah yeah sorry!
I own the Flow Hive Classic.
In that case it is probably an issue with the mesh in the bottom board. Here are a couple of threads where it has been discussed. Unless you want to take it off the hive and fix it, I would just suggest putting the slider into the top slot until you get time to fix it:
With the one I had, eventually I replaced the mesh with a finer grade, and my other hive has a solid bottom board instead.
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If your classic flow is an early model, you could sometimes find gaps in the mesh as I found in the thread that @Dawn_SD shared. “Early model” is probably the wrong term. However at some stage they switched over to a mesh that wont let bees through. If you have early model mesh, it’s easy to identify, because the wires are easy to move & you can see obvious gaps in it that bees can fit through. The updated mesh is more obvious that bees wont fit through.
I also suggest leaving the slider in the top slot, better still, convert to a solid floor.
cheers
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I have put the slider in the top slot. Today was a good temp to inspect but it has been windy and rainy.
Thing is though I don’t know if I am being robbed. Maybe the bees in the bottom board were mine going into a new entrance. When I changed it I did noticed louder buzzing than usual. And there were bees trying to get into my feeder either through cracks or the ventilation holes on the top. I am worried this might become a big issue!
Hmm this does sound suspicious for robbing. I’ve managed to quell robbing episodes with a large damp towel draped over the whole hive, which should leave only a small and darkened gap near the entrance so residents can find their way out. Returning foragers who live there will be temporarily thrown off but so will the robbers. This gives the guards a critical advantage. You should also reduce your entrance down to one small one, and place a robbing screen on after the attack subsides, preferably at dusk. You can buy these but I made a very effective one out of bent window screen or fly wire as they call it in Aus. Here’s a link to a short video of how to make it:
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Thanks Eva, I reduced the entrance last week to around a 5 cm gap. Hopefully I will see different results tomorrow
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Quick update, yep it looks like I am being robbed. Looked at the hive this morning and found this
Lots of bees on the landing pad. Some fighting and what not. Some ants have gathered at the bottom and were eating a dead bee.
Also this at the back, bees trying to get into my feeder.
So how would I prevent this before it gets too bad? As it is already bad it seems