Tilting a hive to drain rainwater out, then reversing tilt to drain honey?

California has wonderful weather, but pitiful nectar flows. However, @Dan2 has a great point. Our Arnia hive scale showed a 94.25 kilogram maximum hive weight just before we harvested. We are pitiful compared with some climates, so be prepared to lift mightily if you haven’t already tilted your hive!

1 Like

Hi Jeff, I set my platforms to “half a bubble” on the level. Thinking standard floors for a moment-which I also use, that slope towards the entrance will mean that water will drain out the front. Having said that, I have never seen water running or dripping out of a standard floor entrance. As I can’t see what is happening down at the bottom of the hive with a standard floor (and don’t want to pull everything out of the hive to look) there may be some water on them from time to time. In relation to the Flow base, the corflute allows you to check water that may have ended up at the bottom of the hive and on the corflute, any time you want. The corflute can take a reasonable amount of water on it (cohesion and adhesion principles)- presumably if it gets enough volume of water on it, of course like you say, presumably it will run out anywhere there is a tiny gap - it would definitely not be watertight. I’ve never seen pools of water on the platform under the Flow floor, (or honey for that matter actually) but regularly see some water sitting on the corflute itself. Perhaps some of that water is coming down the outside of the hive and draining onto the corflute , however I have had quite a bit of moisture inside at the top of the hives (in the carpet and on the vinyl) so for sure some would probably get down there.

In relation to the platforms, my platforms can take either a standard hive base/floor or a Flow hive base floor with its screened bottom. If the Flow super (I only have one Flow super) goes on the Flow hive bottom I have found with “half a bubble” slope going the “wrong” way, the built in slope on the base still seems enough to allow the honey to drain out at harvest time. Liquids will find their own level I guess. If my Flow super ends up on a standard floor, I will need to tilt the whole hive back towards the rear (at harvest time only of course) so there is some slope that way. That is where the car jack or enormous pinch bar come in handy.

I found one of my hives tilted the wrong way recently. A bit of rainwater mixed with hive detritus created a perfect environment for was moth. I found a cluster of wax moth cocoons under the brood frames. I quickly fixed that up. I guess a buildup of detritus on the screen bottom & core flute would hold a fair bit of water, also creating an environment for wax moth & SHB.

I found some beetles in amongst the cocoons, but no larvae, maybe because it was winter. Given the right conditions, that would be the perfect breeding ground for beetles also.

I know what you mean about the car jack, if one was to use the flow super in conjunction with other honey supers on top of double brood. That would get very heavy.

I guess I was just thinking about a standard single brood, single flow super (8 frame) configuration. In that case, I would just lift the front up & slip a piece of would under it. Not forgetting that people do heft hives in order to judge how full they are.

1 Like

Hi Jeff, yes, it is really important to get the “half bubble” slope - particularly with a driving rain against the front of the hive. You have many many hives so it would be difficult to get the platforms all perfect all the time. I use large concrete pavers on a dug in brick base to hopefully keep things secure.

I occasionally give the corflute a wipe over with household bleach solution to keep it clean. Being able to see stuff on the corflute is good (interesting tasting the clumps of pollen too) , but I’m happy also with a standard floor.

I also just make the observation that the hive I had with moisture/water condensation in the roof area had four ventilation holes in it and they seemed not to help at all with getting rid of the condensation water.

The landing pad can catch more water. I never make bottom boards to include landing pads. I see in @VinoFarm’s video where there was a buildup of snow on his landing pad. I prefer a flush entrance & I think in extreme cold conditions, I’d like the entrance to face down. That way no wind can blow straight into the hive.

That’s very interesting Jeff, although somewhat unusual perhaps?
I notice that the bees seem to like sitting on the landing pad to draw/fan air out from the hive - they find it a little harder with the Flow base because the landing board is lower than the entrance. I suppose if you get decent snowfall (unlikely here) it will cover the hive anyhow. This is a photo I took in New York for instance. There is a car under that. It would bury a hive, landing board or not!:smiley:

Right from the start I decided not to use landing pads after a lot of thought on the subject. Considering that in the wild, they don’t have landing pads. I made the first lids & bottom boards out of marine ply. Not allowing for landing pads meant that I got more out of a sheet of ply, which was fairly expensive at the time.

You’ll notice that my observation hive has no landing pad.

That IS deep snow:) I wonder how a hive would go buried in snow like that. A downward facing entrance might help if there is a decent air space below the hive.

1 Like

I have found that 1/2" PVC pipe gives the right angle (just under 5 degrees). PVC won’t eventually rot like a dowel. I put a block under the back until it’s time for the Flow harvest. When you are ready to drain your Flow super, you can tilt it to the back by just pushing it down and put a block under the front. Reverse the process to keep rain out when you’re through with your Flow super. Easy!!

2 Likes