Bees are treating flow frames like they would the brood frames depositing honey around edges and not touching the middle. This took place last year as well. The first year they filled entire frame with honey. Any recommendations?
Welcome to the forum. This is fairly standard behavior when colonies are building. We see that with traditional frames also.
I would suggest to still harvest the honey, however after inspecting the frames to make sure that there is no watery honey in the empty area. I wouldn’t harvest any frames without first physically inspecting them.
Hi,
I think you should try to encourage bees to fill the entire flow frame with honey try rearranging the frames to place the partially filled ones in the center of the hive where bees are more likely to focus their efforts. Additionally ensure that the hive is healthy and that there is ample nectar flow.
Thanks
Thank you, since the middle area is completely dry i think i will harvest the little they have capped and then spray some sugar water on them, rearrange them and see if it helps?
I don’t think that sugar water spray will help. Rearranging could help. The bees have it in their mind to leave that section open for the queen to lay eggs in. It’s hard to stop that without adding a second brood box, maybe an ideal. Or you could open the brood box up by removing some brood, by way of a split, or using some brood to bolster a weaker colony.
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Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. I will try that
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