Moving the Super Box (incorrect setup)

Sorry if this is a dumb question…I searched the forum and couldn’t find an answer to my problem, which is that (despite me setting up the flowhive exactly according to directions) the final placement of the brood & super boxes (by someone else!!!) was done incorrectly in that the superbox is facing the wrong way. I’ve only just realised and the bees have now been in about 2 months. My question is can I move (rotate 180 degrees) the super box now without upsetting/hurting the bees and if so, what would be the best way to do this please? thank you in anticipation

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Hi Guys,
The supers are generally direction agnostic however if you need to rotate 180 degrees then I say just do it… the bees won’t care. They can be rather heavy so I would suggest two people just in case. Cheers Rod

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OK, that’s good news…thanks for the tip Roderick.

I completely agree with @Rodderick, you can rotate it in one go.

If you don’t have two people, but you do have an empty deep box, you can take out 3 frames and put them into the empty box. This should make the Flow super light enough to lift on your own. Then lift off the backwards super, rotate it, then put the frames back in the same order and orientation that you removed them. This means you will have to rotate the frames as you put them back in, and make sure that the frame which had one face to the wall still has that face to the wall. Not essential, and probably a counsel of perfection, but this will minimize disruption to bees as they navigate around the hive.

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I’ve needed to lift a Flow frame super a few times now. As others are suggesting, if you are able to take a few frames out, the box will be easier to lift. My setup is a flow frame light so it’s relatively easy for me to take the normal frames out. I always give the box a twist after I loosen it. This brreaks any brace comb between the boxes.

Here’s a link to one of my videos where I lift off a Flow frame super.

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