This might sound dumb. I have just ordered my flowhive and await arrival. So my question - when your bees have filled the honey chambers as denoted by all the cells being capped with wax, right and the honey view being full. So what happens to the wax when you have tapped the honey off. Do the bees remove it and begin refilling the cells? Or do you have to remove the flow cells and clean it off?
No question is dumb, especially when you’re learning.
The bees remove the cappings from the now empty cells and start to refill…
Also, don’t use the rear indicator as any sought of guide. Think of it as a novelty viewing opportunity that likely bears no link to how full your frames really are or even how capped they are…
thanks for the info. I am currently watching as much and reading everything i can to learn. Very excited to bee adding a hive to my permaculture property. We have many bees here already but not sure where the hive might be located or if it is a formal hive or wild one. Any ideas how I can tell? Also is it worth while harvesting the wax capping for rendering to beeswax for use around the property?
Bees fly up to 3mi/5km from their hive so your bees could be coming from anywhere within that radius. Assuming you’re in Stanthorpe QLD I think you’d be in pretty good bee country (@Peter48 could comment better than me) so I wouldn’t even bother trying to work out where they are coming from. I would suggest you ensure your hives are eventually registered.
As for harvesting the cappings…off a flow frame I wouldn’t bother but each to their own. If you want to harvest cappings get a hybrid super and prepare a few frames for crush and strain - you can take cappings that way. You’ll likely find that you get enough burr comb and/or crazy comb to keep you sufficiently occupied anyway, and you can in your second or third season you can decide how you want to manage your hive and get what you want.