Hi Tracey,
Take a look if their proboscises are sticking out, if so, it’s likely to have been poison or chemical spray that wiped them out - where that came from I’ll leave for you to investigate…
If their proboscises are not sticking out, there may have been another cause.
Sorry to hear about you bees - very sad.
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A little task for today. Replacing some queens with commercial stock to see how it compares to my local “Morangup beauty” variety 
One was particularly well behaved. Just made few steps out of the cage on the comb and started laying.
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Hi Tony,
I got a nuc hive about8 weeks ago from Magic Bees in Baldivis.
Very helpful and professional.
They have an excellent reputation.
Heddyjan,
 I collected a swarm and now have 5 hives, only one flow hive though.
Tony
Have been hearing of lots of swarms around here lately and am not surprised as I see many abandoned hives, Flows included, in back yards when I walk the kids home from school.
Checked the hives yesterday and found full supers already and got a kiss on the neck for my troubles. BiteAway bites on the neck.
Sunday is the warmer day so will be preparing tomorrow by cleaning equipment and emptying buckets.
How’s it all going down the Hill Sandgropers?
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Did an inspection yesterday. Harvested 3 frames (equivalent of 2.5 frames for how they were filled and capped) but only got a shade over 4kg of honey (my only harvest so far; other frames uncapped and only partially filled). These are the original flow frames from the Indiegogo launch so I’m yet again going to agree that capacity reduces as time goes by (as discussed in another thread here).
Very few drone cells, which was surprising.
Hive and colony were otherwise healthy. Didn’t spot the Queen but plenty of brood and eggs so she’s there somewhere.
Oh, and my little boy (3yo) thoroughly enjoyed the inspection and my little girl (19mo) seemed fascinated too.
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Harvested 4 Fframes today, all were left on over winter from 2 different colonies while my son poured tubs in the shed cleaning up old stock buckets making room for this new batch.
I have never tasted honey nicer than freshly harvested from flow frames and I’d forgotten the taste and was nice to be reminded so early in the season. One set was the original founding frames and I was expecting a smaller harvest as @SnowflakeHoney mentions the frames seem to hold less over multiple harvests combined with the expectation of crystallised honey and was pleasantly surprised by the volume yet to be weighed.
Normally I Flow harvest suitless but wore the Flow veil hat after getting pinged
last visit and was glad as one started bumping me when keying the frames so threw on a jacket and gloves which turned out to be a good idea as, I’m assuming the same bee, landed on my glove and stung it straight away, no messing around. Weird, just the one grumpy bee and it showed no mercy, all the others behaved themselves.
Anyway, all went well, the day was warm, the honey flowed well and as usual, no problems with the Flow frames.
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It has been a wild season so far of lots of swarms to catch and lots of nectar.
I harvested a FFrame a couple of nights ago and received 3.4kg.
The WAAS Hive Monitoring Portal is up with data recorded and shared from 20odd hive scales at the moment from Margs to GinGin. Hopefully more people will share their WiFiScale data. It can be accessed through the WAAS website, Navigating to the hive monitoring tab. But here is the direct link
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My hives are confused with the wet spring we’ve been having…
Newbie beekeeper in Dianella. Added my super and flow frames to the hive 2weeks ago, after the 4frames of NUC bees pretty much filled out the rest of the brood in about 7wks. We’ve been keeping an eye on the flow frames through the viewing windows and the super is packed full of bees!! Planning to do a full inspection of brood and super this weekend with the warmer weather. Cautiously hopeful we may get our first harvest in Jan. Can’t wait, super excited.
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Welcome and happy beekeeping
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A question for my W.A., specifically Perth region locals. Do you guys provide shade for you hives from the summer sun? Due to council regs, my hive is shaded to the nth/est but fairly open and in full summer sun from midday (sun overhead) through very late arvo, sun low on the horizon. The hive entrance is essentially 100% shaded, but the right hand side (when looking at the hive on the hive entrance face) is fully exposed to the sun and the rear (harvest side) of the hive is a bit angled to the arvo sun.
Now that it’s starting to warm up, I’ve noticed LOTS of bees hanging out on the hive entrance, shaded side in the later afternoon, which I’m presuming is to reduce heat through lower body mass inside the hive.
I’ve got some plans for shading the exposed side, but thought I’d check here first for thoughts as I’ve seen some hives in pretty exposed areas (i.e. full sun). Appreciate all advice!
I wish I could provide shade to the hives, but it is not what I can do at the moment. So I am trying to get away with better insulated hives and position them the way where trees provide at least afternoon shade.
Look at the high temperature graph from the last summer at my place SOR. It is a shade temperature.
Imagine how much it was in direct sunlight. 18-22 mm of timber does not provide good insulation, especially when the box sits in the full sun. If you can provide some shade, even temporary between December and April, do it by all means. Bees will need to work less to survive.
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Hi Perth people.
I need some HELP.
I harvested from my glow frames yesterday.
I was really patient this time round and waited till all the frame at the exposed window at the front was full and capped to drain it.
But the honey has gone into the hive in the process. Very unhappy bees. I found hkneh in the tray at the bottom.
The bees all left the hive and hung on the outside for the day, but I was assuming they would head back in, but even with the rain and wind last night I have worked up this morning and there still on the outside of the hive. What should I do.
Its frustrating cause the last few times I have harvested I have checked the frames prior, but it disturbs the bees and then surely defeats the purpose of the flow frame. So followed the guidleine of the window back window to be full and capped and should be ready. Well obs not.
Please help if anyone has experienced this.
I feel terrible for the bees. x
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I also feel terrible for your bees 
I think it takes a while for the bees to clean the sticky mess up, hence the number of bees waiting outside for this to happen. Not to mention the brood being exposed to hive beetles (if that applies) & possibly chilling during that period, with so much of the colony away from normal duties.
What folks are doing is to harvest in around 25% increments, with only 2 frames in one day, so as to not flood the bees in one go, to spread the flooding out, so it’s more manageable for the bees.
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Thankyou for the reply.
So is it a common thing for the hive to get honey inside? I don’t like that. Might start harvesting with frames out of box if so.
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I have never had the major flooding issue, sure I’m sure some honey escapes the cells when harvesting and I sometimes see the bee numbers increase outside the hive but not excessively, the numbers increase when I’m inspecting the brood too.
As Jeff says incrementally opening the frames and ensuring there is ALWAYS an air gap at the top of the outlet tube to release back pressure is, in my opinion, essential to minimise flooding. Also, only harvest 2 frames per hive at a time also just in case.
Yes, removing the frames before and for harvesting defeats the purpose so I do neither and have, so far, not had issues.
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You’re welcome Tracey. You need to talk to @Bianca , @Freebee2 or @KieranPI because they can help you troubleshoot the issue. Harvesting out of the box is not what Flow recommend.
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Thanks Greg & Jeff.
Tracey, could you please email info@honeyflow.com so we can properly troubleshoot this issue with you? It will be helpful for us to have all of your information to hand while we go through some questions with you.
We look forward to assisting you.
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I’m not sure if I’ve read this correctly but it seems you have previously harvested your frames, but you don’t say whether you experienced flooding.
In my experience the flooding tends to occur when the wire tension is too loose, their are open cells and/or their isn’t sufficient tilt leading to back pressure.
I’m sure the flow team will help work through why it occured.
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