So, just did an inspection. I love inspections this time of year (and comparable time in spring). Low to Mid 20s, no windā¦I reckon I could do them in my birthday suit and be fineā¦ Anywayā¦
4x flow frames and 6x traditional frames ready for harvest. Iāll take the FF and 2x traditional frames.
Currently have a clearer board in place and intend to remove the Flow Super today. Iāll leave the hybrid in place for another two weeks or so (mainly to help manage freezer cycles in preparation for storage and for the colony size to get a bit smaller)
Frame 1 was a mix of honey and brood. Frames 2 to 5 were solid brood in various stages. Frames 6 was a mix of nectar/honey, brood, and pollen. Frame 7 was mostly pollen with a little nectar/honey. Frame 8 was solid nectar (multicolor)
No drone comb or drones to be seen. Colony size seems to have decreased a little from the last inspection but not enough to pack down to just the brood box yet.
I discovered yet again another red back almost as big as a puppy. Seems bees donāt mind Redbacks and Redbacks are well nourished in the hive.
Bottom board was pretty clean
I took the time to stick my head under the hive and noticed not only spider egg sacs but also wax moth larvae in the lower (unused) channel, which I killed. (I only use the upper channel for the bottom board insert)
According to the load cell, during these warm days the hive is gaining 200-350g a day. On the colder days it lose about 250-270g a day.
Interestingly, at least for me, is that each season going into winter the bees seem to bring in a wider range of pollen, whereas during spring and summer I tend to see a more consistent colour profile. I donāt think this is just a reflection of what is in flower.
Thank you for sharing your observations. it is interesting to know what is going on in the neighbourhood.
I hope to inspect next week while weather is still holding and pack them down to doubles. I will share my observations.
Wellā¦ Friday is the first day when I am going to have a chance to get to them at all. Probably, just removing supers thenā¦ We will see how it goes.
I did and inspection last weekend but was unsuccessful, too much propolis, only me doing it, with another inside house without suit. Harvested 2 frames and collected about 4-5kgs. Checked 2nd newer hive and the frames were all glued to the lid and as I lifted lid honey was leaking everywhere - gave up. Need extra pair of hands to help with scraping off propolis so I can put on super. I will leave it on all year round as with hive no. 1.
Also hive one has super, asp box and langstroth box all 8 framed. Will harvest again tomorrow - if thunder storm does not arrive. In Perth. Any volunteers in Scarborough area??
Phew, it was a busy week, and even with some elements of excitement
Weather was not particularly good for conducting full inspection, so I had to limit it to a quick under cover look and at entrances observation. Results are quite interesting. First of all, bees look noticeably better since I moved them from suburbia. They are fatter, more shiny and have heathier appearance in general. What surprised me, one of colonies, having an empty supper a month ago, put about 15-20 kg of honey in it. Second colony produced half as much. Third, which I started in the end of summer in Apimaye insulated hive is doing reasonably well. Its original purpose was to see how far into the season I can push things in this type of equipment and they received a second brood box with wax foundations a month ago. I planned to remove it if colony did not touch it, but to my surprise they built three frames and filled them with honey. They still too light and going to receive thick syrup today to support their effort
Speaking about excitement. I had a chance to meet guys from local branch of State Emergency Service. Someone was injured and they needed a place to land an ambulance helicopter. Since we have a rare in area cleared block of land and probably with best access from road, they landed it in our paddock.
Whole operation with injured fellow pick up went very smooth and in very professional manner. In fact so smooth, that neighbour who came latter to ask what happened thought it was some sort of training exercise.
This is the first winter Iām going into with my flow hive.
Some notes on my hive
located in my backyard close to the Wanneroo area in Perthās northern suburbs
flow hive 2 with 8 frame broodbox and 6 flow frames
swarmed in mid March but numbers building up well with new queen
each flow frames has about 20% capped honey
last inspection a week ago with lots of brood and larvae and just about a half frame honey in the broodbox and a frame full of pollen
Initially I thought I would keep flow super on for winter but after lots of reading and questioning myself I decided to remove super for winter (mainly because Iām worried about mould in the flow.frames) thinking Iāll harvest the honey and feed it back to the bees.
I drained two frames today and was amazed how much honey/nectar came outā¦About 4.5 litres
Now for my questions :
I am now questioning whether I should be feeding all of it back to the bees and if I should be draining all the other frames as well to feedā¦ Or just leave super on and let them be.
Alsoā¦once all frames are drained if I do remove the superā¦is it a good idea to wash them with warm water and dry them thoroughly before freezing and storingā¦or is washing not necessary?
It is an option, since we do not have bees clustering 24x7 whole winter here. In really cold climate cluster eats its way through the stores up and then to the back of the hive. Having a queen excluder in the way of the cluster is bad idea. With our climate, I believe, it is not as bad, but still not ideal.
Another thing. It seems that keeping flow super on hive during winter reduces frames āmileageā. Bees have a tendency to propolise every crack and this plus wax leads to washing frames in something horrible or horribly long washing.
On other hand:
While it is not critical for colony survival in our climate to have big winter stores, remainder of those stores in spring affects colony start up. Colony is able to evaluate its stores and adjust brood production accordingly. Our goal is to put them in mode āletās multiply like there is no tomorrowā. For that colony has to have approx. 8-10 kg (approx. 3-4 full frames) by the end of winter. On top of this colony needs something for winter consumption. In this climate, I would aim for at least 10-12 kg (4-5 full frames) of stores in the beginning of winter.
If you put a couple of frames of pollen on top of that, all this equates to 6-7 frames of winter stores. But you have 8-frame setup which leaves you with 1-2 frames for everything else. Not too bad for winter but almost nothing for spring expansion.
So, what to do immediately?
Drain super, see how much have you got. Wash frames, after good washing freezing is not really needed. Do you have a pressure washer?
But:
Which means that water content could be high and honey not suitable for at room temperature storage. Feed all you can back to the colony. At least 7-8 kg. Put the rest in fridge and start to eat it
Monitor hive for weight during winter. Heft it before and after feeding to get an idea about weights and do it occasionally (say once a month) to make sure it does not get too light again. Feed if needed.
What is next?
Aim for keeping a strong colony. They are healthier and collect more. Strength of a colony is measured in kilograms of bees. Equation between meaning āstrongā and amount of kgs changes thought the season. A colony containing 2.5 kg of bees in the beginning of the season is a strong colony. But at the beginning of major nectar flow strong colony means 4-5 kg, at peak - 6-7 kg of bees. Serious guys like @Doug1 may aim for a colony over 10 kg as a āstrongā one, but it requires more intensive hive management strategies than average hobbits is ready to be involved in.
The way to estimate weight of bees. One FD Langstroth frame fully covered with bees on both sides accommodates approx. 0.22 kg of bees.
Letās look at your current setup. 8 + 6 = 14 frames x 0.22 kg ā 3.1 kg of bees are needed to cover all frames. Practically it may fit some more, but there overcrowding begins resulting in:
An additional 8-frame FD box may provide accommodation for another 1.7-1.8 kg of bees. Which totals close to 5 kg. Still not a particularly strong, but much better than 3.1 kg at a peak of honeyflow. An additional box is not a guaranty against swarming, but reduces chances quite well. 2 additional boxes even better
If you donāt have it yet, buy a sugar refractometer, the one that works in upper limit of the scale (58-92%?), They are 21-25 dollars on ebay. Better to buy one with calibration block and oil, so you can calibrate it yourself. It would help you to find water content in the honey you have at the moment and make a better decision about what to to do about it. It could be useful in the future too.
Iāll go ahead and extract the remaining frames this weekend and feed some back the hive and monitor the weight as per your advice thanks.
I have just last week received the additional box I order from flow to use which Iām planning to add in late spring / summer when colony size requires it. Will then have broodbox plus conventional super and flow super on top.
I think this will allow me to rotate frames from the brood box and next winter use as honey stores by removing the queen excluder and flow super, therefore having two boxes without flow super to see the winter through.
I have a pressure washer and will be getting that out after I drained all the supers this weekend - is there a risk of damaging the flow frames with a pressure washer? Is the idea just to get all the honey and nectar out I assume (not all wax I assume)?
Yes, there is. But here common sense should be applied. If a pressure washer is an industrial unit that lifts paint from metal and punches holes in timber, I would be anxious to use it on relatively thin plastic. Also, I would take into account how much do I know about what to expect from my PW at certain distances and settings.
If you have just used the Flow super for one season, I doubt that it needs pressure washing. I normally harvest the frames, leave the super on the hive for 2 or 3 days for the bees to clean up the honey, then remove it for winter. I freeze the frames for 24 hours to kill off wax moth eggs (there will be some!) and then store them in the super box in my garage, wrapped in hessian to keep out wax moths and pests.
You donāt need to worry about the wax to start with, the bees will polish up the frames next season, tidy the wax and reuse the cells. Over time, it seems that some people have noticed reduced volume of honey, perhaps from wax accumulation, but I doubt that you will have trouble after just one season.
Second box really works well for additional storage. There are other uses you may be interested in while your hobby progresses. For example, drone comb management.
@Dawn_SD is right about necessity of using pressure washer in the first year. But I see it a bit differently. Dirt blaster head wonāt be necessary, but PW with usual lance is convenient device to wash things of awkward shapes. And you have it already.
Why to wash at all? People on this forum report problems with jammed frames. This happens after 3-5 years of usage. I believe that regular maintenance may push this timeframe further. But I could be wrong.
If you prefer to go with freezing - it is an option too. But freezing frames and leaving timber parts alone, I think, defeats the purpose. Greater wax mothās eggs hatch after 5-35 days, depending on temperature. So you need to keep frames separate from the box for at least 35 days to avoid reinfestation. I, personally donāt care about wax moth problems in flow frames. Let them choke on plastic. But what I take into consideration here, pure wax has very little nutritional value for wax moth larvae. They mainly after other stuff in hive - brood, pollen, honey. For example on wax blocks larva may hatch but it does not grow consuming wax from the block. That is why good washing is not too bad idea. Worst case scenario - wash frames again before putting them back in service. Wax frames - different story.
The decision too is about whether you run it as a single brood or double brood. There are pros and cons to both and it is worth thinking through and choosing one that suits your beekeeping intervention/inspection frequency approach.
Is that guy, Mr Postcode Honey, serious?
Are there any long term beekeepers from the Perth region that can confirm that the cycles we have experienced in the last 6 years are unheard of in years gone by? My understanding is that our flora is opportunistic and not regular which is what Iāve put the differing seasons down to.
I remember a few years ago was the worst season on record however it seems to be the worst every few years!
At least I got a harvest this season, definitely not my worst.
