Hello everyone,
Newbie here and it’s my first winter with bees. Sorry for the long question but I felt more detail might help a more relevant answer.
I’ve got a flow hive 2 setup with two full brood boxes (honey stores and brood) and I am located in Victoria Australia (Greater Bendigo region).
I find that my particular area has a microclimate that is approximately one month behind the center of Bendigo, noticeable in my crepe myrtle flowering and my oriental pears turning red.
My hive orientation has its entrance due north and is buffered by deciduous trees (birch/ash/oak) on the east side and a rock rose (cistus 1.8mH) that buffers the west winds.
I recently (1month ago) put the flow hive on to give them more room as I was concerned the bees didn’t have enough as they’d fully filled the bottom two brood boxes and were building what seemed like lots of additional comb (bridge?) and filling it with honey.
I did a quick check today and they are very active over all the flow frames propolising it up and have approximately 2 flow frames with nectar(?).
I’ve got a work colleague who has previously left his flow super on over winter which was half full of capped honey and he had no problems with mould and made no mention of trouble with the queen.
My concerns are - mould as there isn’t many fully capped frames and has been on a small
Secondly - I’d read that the bees move up (either their food or just their bodies) during winter and was worried they’d leave the queen behind and she’d die etc.
Lastly - I’m worried there’s not enough space for any more expansion (and today there were yet again more orientation flights), and if I take the flow super off they’ll potentially look to swarm when spring approaches (and I’m afriad of that haha).
I’m surrounded by heavily tree’d Australian state forest and I’ve noticed the yellow box has only just begun to blossom now.
Additionally I’ve got correa, escallonia and banksia flowering, as well as a LOT of viburnum budding up to bloom soon as well as heaps of salvia coming out now also. I have an acre or so of paddock that I’ve told my partner to not mow because it’s covered in dandelions.
I also have a large winter flowing magnolia and some camellias.
Four weeks has yeilded appx 2 frames of nectar, given there’s a lot to flower shortly should I let them keep working and not disturb them or is the queen in danger if I leave the flow frame on?
I’m not currently interested in taking any honey from them, I just want them to have what they need to remain strong and happy.