Hi, the inspection tray at the base of my flow hive is stuck fast. Despite my best efforts I cannot dislodge this. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Carolyn
I’ve had several trays on various makes of screened bottom boards refuse to budge. Attempts in situ resulted in tray destruction. My approach now is to put the hive on an alternative base, so I can free up and clean the stuck one in the comfort of my workshop.
Mike
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Which model of Flow hive do you have? The Flow hive 2 has a different bottom board from the Classic. The 2 has a plastic tray with compartments, and the Classic has a coreflute slider. Just not sure which one you are having problems with. 
That’s a good idea. Thankyou.
It’s the number 2 type tray. It seems that the bees have got in there and built comb?!
That helps a lot, thank you!
If it is wax comb in the tray, you could do as @aussiemike says, and switch the whole bottom board while you fix it. Once it is off the hive, I would do what you can with a hive tool to remove the wax you can see. If the tray still won’t release, you could try pouring some very hot water around the edges of the tray to soften any wax in the grooves, then try to pull the tray out while it is still warm and soft. If it is propolis, you will need a different approach.
Once you have the tray out, carefully inspect the wood around the perforated metal floor. Several forum members have found places where the bees have chewed a hole at the edge, which gives bees access to the tray area. That needs to be fixed before you put the bottom board back under the hive.
Finally prevention. You really need to remove the tray every 1-2 weeks. If you do that, you should detect any wax debris, comb, hive beetles, propolis etc, before it becomes a huge problem. Clean the tray up and replace it. Periodic inspection of the inside edges of the top of the bottom board is also helpful to find holes before they become a big problem.
Hope that helps! 
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Thanks so much. I am away for a few days and will get to it as soon as I get home. I will have to do something similar to my flow frames some of which are stuck fast. I will be busy.
Carolyn
Back home and onto it today. What do I do about the bees in there? Will they just go back into the hive if I encourage them away from the tray/base?
If you can lift off the metal perforated bottom, you should be able to shake them off. If it is stuck, just leave it well away from the hive until it is almost dark, and they should have flown back to the hive (unless there is brood in the comb, which is unlikely).
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