Wondering if once honey is actually “in the flow-hive”, is there a right, or wrong, time to harvest it? Put another way, can I wait for whenever I want, (like come home from an extended trip well after honey is in flow hive), to harvest the honey? If not, why?
It needs to be capped and thus will be preserved for ever BUT the bees need room to store more honey so if you don’t take the honey off without giving them more supers they may run out of room start storing honey in the brood nest and swarm.
Uncapped honey generally is too high in water content and will ferment on storage
Another consideration in addition to @Dee’s comments is season. If you are now in Fall/autumn in your location, you really should harvest and get the Flow super off. Otherwise you may come back to a well-propolised setup, which will be very hard to harvest.
between the thought and the action lies the shadow…
Propolis was ruling in the flowhive for a while BEFORE honey. I am on an extended business trip remote from home and when I was back in September, the hive seemed full o’ bees but still no honey. Then I left again. So now returning next week to see either a. propolis continues and no honey or honey (capped or not). 1st year for me and still way new at this (trying not to let the bees in on this!). They are always busy and seem very happy, but not sure about why flow hive wasnt visually with honey on outer foundation (adjacent to visual window). I hope its because of minimal flow and bees "just getting used to " the flow hive and not some crazy issue with propolis build up. Dont really know how to differentiate if when I come home I see bee activity but no honey–>minimal flow/timing vs propolis build-up. I just am hoping when I finally return home that there will just be honey. If there is honey and propolis, maybe just leave it for them? and prepare hive for winter and revisit it all again next year.??
Thanks all.
As Dawn says…if you have a Winter the flow frames have to come off and you must make sure the bees have enough stores to survive till the following Spring.
What is it like in the brood box. When did you last look into it?
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I have a super ABOVE flow hive filled with honey. Havent looked in
brood box for a while. What am I supposed to look for in there? Maybe
see if honey is in there or not???
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Dee [1]
October 20
As Dawn says.....if you have a Winter the flow frames have to come
off and you must make sure the bees have enough stores to survive till
the following Spring.
What is it like in the brood box. When did you last look into it?
Hi - based on your question& replies I’m guessing you may benefit from a bee class if your travels permit…and please pardon the assumption if I have this wrong - but many new beekeepers attracted to the Flow hive were under the impression that regular beekeeping activities aren’t necessary with a Flow hive. Not true. It’s regular beekeeping, modified by your climate and with some technical & timing tweaks to do with the flow frames (propolis…) with all good efforts rewarded with ease of harvest 
Anyway, winter is coming…Dawn & Dee know what they’re talking about…
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Wooooo Ray !
I have to smile here a bit 
! You kind of got the Cart ahead of the horse. As others have already advised ( Dee n Dawn, etc )… You need to get the Flow-Super off. Get the QE off too or your going to loss your queen thus colony as the winter cluster moves to the winter stores of honey. The queen can’t get thru the QE n will be separated from the workers that feed her n keep her warm all winter.
As Eva has suggested … A class or two on beekeeping is a MUST … Just reading your notes … You’ve been extremely lucky with the colonies lack of you being a “Bee-Haver” n not a “Beekeeper”. Not trying to put you down bro but bees do need a bit of checking or you seriously could lose that precious colony this winter.
I live in foothills of Puget Sound n have winterized my three healthy colonies, I’ve removed the QE, Flow-Super, made sure they have aduquate winter supplies of honey n/or winter patties…up here near Seattle I add a moisture Quilt too. I’ve also checked my bees for excessive destructive varroa mites n treated. These nasty little critters can whip out a hive quickly if left to run their course un-checked.
Good luck bro n get a class or two under you belt as well as a mentor is very wise n helpful,
Ta ta,
Gerald
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