Removing the flow hive super for cool climate winter - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

[SnowflakeHoney]

@skeggley, I typically have a hybrid, a full flow, and a half deep super on my hive. This year the blossom in my area was less than last year so over the weekend just gone I’ve removed the full flow and half deep supers but left the hybid on (last year I only packed the hive down e-April/early May). I made a god awful mess extracting the full flow super on-top of the front loader and then (last night) have put the full flow super on-top of the migratory lid for the bees to hopefully clean up over the next day or two before I freeze them (after taking EVERYTHING including drawers out) for two days and then pack them in a plastic tub for winter. I can likely let you know in a couple of days how well the bees cleaned them ready for storage.

Last year I didn’t do this last step (on top of the migratory lid for a day or two) and had a mess to clean when I went back to the frames in Spring…

[skeggley]

Amazing how the areas can change so significantly eh Snowey. Jarrah is starting to bud up here along with some other euc’s. I’ll be leaving the supers on for a bit longer but will remove and pack the bees down once the cold and rain starts, likely they’ll pack themselves anyway.
I don’t have room to freeze frames so will give Dipel a go although I didn’t have moths in the frames last season after storage in garbage bags. My traditional honey frames in the plastic storage container on the other hand got savaged early summer. I do leave the ideal on but move the excluder up adding to the brood box. It’s usually mostly full of honey end of Autumn.

[SnowflakeHoney]

So, the approach works. In two days they had uncapped the frames and cleaned them out of any residue…

(If the aspect ratio is out it’s because I’m doing this on my phone with resized images. I’ll try and fix it at the PC later, if I remember)

One of the frames… They all were cleaned up.

The other side…

[Creeker]

Hi any advise please on how best to prepare for winter in South Gippsland, Fish Creek. Very cold and wet for Australian standards.
Last year I had a small hive and wintered them in just a single brood box. I insulated the underside walls and roof. I left the ventilated roof on. When I inspected at the start of spring they had survived however no honey reserves.
This season I added the flow super and 2 weeks ago the hive had almost capped all the flow frames. I am planing to harvest some honey next week. I don’t want to leave the flow on over winter but are concerned about the number of bee’s as both boxes are packed with bees.

Im thinking of adding another brood box when I harvest the honey and let them clean the frames off for a couple of days and feed any uncapped nectar back to them.

Is it too late to add another brood box to give them more room.

If I don’t and remove the super in a month will the bees have enough room in the single brood box.

[SnowflakeHoney]

You want to give them less room in winter. You want to pack them down. I’m not in your area but it’s sounds like a mid or late winter feed might be required for your area