New and confused. Purchased my new setup/NUC from an established Apriary and he has fallen off the earth, so getting no help from him. We have had the brood box in place for 6 weeks and things are going well, all frames are 2/3 full. I added one super two weeks ago but when I checked it yesterday, there were lots of bees in it but no sign of any nectar nor other activity, just a lot of bees ‘hanging out’.
We had a terrible cold spring, extremely hot July and now in average temps. When should I expect to see honey buildup in the super?
Hi Ken, welcome to the Flow forum. A few thoughts for you.
Starting from a nucleus in June is pretty late in the season. Don’t expect to get any honey at all this year. Sorry. The main nectar flow will be in March to June. Sometimes there is a bit of a late flow in August/September, depending on local forage, but that is minor compared with the Spring flow.
In your climate, you should really consider two deeps for brood. The bees will need that food to make it through winter. You should always build up the brood boxes before adding a honey super, even with a Flow hive.
Don’t add a new box until the existing boxes are at least 80% full and totally covered with bees. That way the hive has enough bees to use, heat and defend the new space.
This forum is searchable. There are hundreds of posts on how to get bees to use the Flow super and what to expect. Here is one that probably answers many of your questions: How to encourage bees to fill the Flow Frames
Please consider joining a local bee club. Local knowledge is extremely helpful regarding nectar flow timing, local diseases and pests etc. I would suggest that you don’t mention “Flow” hive, just say you have a Langstroth hive (it is true). Even better, see if somebody there is willing to mentor you - it can be extremely helpful in the early days.
Keep asking questions. Search the forum and read as much as you can. Bees are fascinating creatures and we are all still learning new things every day, no matter how much experience we have. Once again, welcome!
As dawn pointed out getting honey in the super in the first year is not guaranteed.
BTW Dawn in our area it seems that the earliest NUCs are available is the last week of May, but more commonly first and second week of June. I had to drive 7 hours to get early NUCs May 29th of this year,
Also in southern Ontario there seems to be quite a mix of single and double deeps for brood. I think the great lakes moderate the winters enough that some apiaries are getting away with single deep brood boxes. I’d suggest asking some local beekeepers on what they are using, and their overwintering success.
Here is a link to a Canadian beekeeper blog. He is big time commercial but also great teacher. I would subscribe to his channel and look at his past videos. https://youtu.be/yr0aMlVNogQ
