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Sugar Mix, Wax or Both in Honey Super?

#1

Hi Folks- My first time posting on here…read a lot but never have posted. I’m in my 3rd year of Bee Keeping but first year with Flow. I’m in Eastern Nebraska and I added my Nuc in mid-April and added the 2nd Brood Box when the first was at or above 80% full. My 2nd brood box has taken off extremely well and I’m ready to add the Honey Super.
My question, (which I see has been answered in a variety of ways) is:

If I just spray the plastic frames with 1:1 to mixture will that draw the bees up…or is adding wax a definite way to go? Has anyone had success not using the mix or wax? I don’t have wax available and would have to purchase some, which I’m hesitant to do? Thoughts?

#2

Hi @Sven. You will surely find a bit of extra wax or burr comb in your 2 brood boxes. Just scrape off the top of your frames and press some bits of wax into your flow frames. Just a bit here and there. I prepared a quarter cup of sugar water and brushed it randomly on some frames. A little bit goes a long way. No need to melt and roll I found. The bees were in the frames straight away.
You are always better off not to introduce any bee products that are not from your own hive.

#3

Hi Webclan- Thank you for the suggestion! You are correct, I believe I do have some extra in the brood boxes I can use. I was thinking I would have to do the melt/roll technique. I’ll put your suggestion to work straight away!

#4

Just going by experiences of some people I know around my area, you shouldn’t need to do anything.

#5

Sven,

They just might jump up there no sweat BUT … I’ve got two n taken a paint roller of melt wax to mine n the minutes before adding Flow-super I’d spray the frames down liberally !! That’s been helpful for me personally n seem to be a general method up here in the ole Northern Hemisphere climate. I will ! If there is no major flow you won’t get them to do much more than sip up the syrup n head back down stairs until pushed up by lack of room below.

I’m up here is cooler Pacific NW near Seattle. So no flow no GO !

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Good luck n hopefully happy harvest too,
Gerald

#6

I didn’t do anything, just added the supers and they did fine, but if they were hesitating the wax would probably help more than the syrup, but the syrup might help as well. I’m not a fan of essential oils, but John Seets, who sells fully drawn PermaComb, says that syrup with Honey Bee Healthy sprayed on the plastic helps. PermaComb seems to be the exact same plastic as the flow frames.

#7

I did both but while I was spraying the frames 1 acre away from the hive up at my house, the bees were coming and landing on the frames while I sprayed. I don’t think they would have had any problems just settling in. By the afternoon there were 0 bees visible in the side window

#8

I added FH when the bees where bursting at the seems. Took a couple of weeks before they really took to the frames and that was in a strong flow.
I guess you could spray with some sugar water or buy a cheap small roller, melt some wax and lightly roll away. From reading posts on the forum, this seems to really encourage the bees to take to the plastic frames quicker, your choice really

#9

I used burr comb from the hive and melted it then brushed it on the frames. It did not take long and the bees were up on the frames and sealing up the cells. Ultimately @Michael_Bush is right. Sometimes the bees will go up and start storing up there and other times they need some nudging.

#10

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Appreciate everyone’s feedback! I just wanted to follow up and say they went up there on their own without any incentives! Things are progressing nicely :slight_smile: