Hi folks,
I added a second brood onto one of my hives, after I had added the super and they were starting to fill with honey.
I haven’t done an inspection since I added about 2 weeks ago but I’ve noticed the flow supers have been virtually emptied of honey. Note tonnes of bees are in the super and the activity is great in the day.
Is transferring honey from the super down into the second brood normal?
Absolutely. They like being organised and crowded, having the new space in their home would have unsettled them. Just because you’re calling it a brood box doesn’t mean that’s what they will use it for. They haven’t read our books. 
Generally they will surround the brood with honey as an insulation especially when it starts to cool down.
Not sure about your area? Are you coming to the end of your season?
Im in Barbados, Eastern Caribbean so we dont have any winter at all. My understanding on tropical flows is basically non existent so no idea whether we are or not, just that it is the rainy season here (even though we hardly get any rain).
Appreciate the quick reply though and if you or anyone else can enlighten me on flows in tropics that would be awesome!
I’m in a sub-tropical climate in Queensland, Australia so I might be of some help to explain what you have happening.
It is simple really and happens regardless of the climate. Honey is moved about in a hive so that there is a constant supply of honey close to the brood area. Honey is also used to insulate the brood and so the outer frame in a brood box is actually honey stores.
Adding a second brood box as changed the lay out of the frames and so the bees have moved honey down from the Flow Frames to be stored in the brood box. That is very normal behavior. In late Spring I have brood out to the inside of the outer frame but the outside of the last frame is always honey.
I hope that explains it clear enough for you.
Now that you have added a second brood box the Flow Super has been moved to the bottom of the list for storing honey in the bees thinking, it is too far away for storing honey to feed the brood when you have introduced a closer location - the second brood box.
Considering your climate, and each to manage their hives as they prefer, but I wonder why you have gone for a double brood box, which is normal in a cold climate, and didn’t decide on making splits to increase the number of hives you have. Food for thought.
Cheers and welcome to the forum Morgan.
Awesome thanks for that Peter. That definitely does ease my concerns and makes a lot of sense.
Regards the second brood, the hive was so strong and I had read a lot about double brooding the flow hives that I thought I would give it a go to make build up honey reserves over the long term faster.
Is it generally recommended to stick to one brood with the flow hives in more tropical zones?
Cheers!
A double brood box is needed in colder climates to add to the ‘body heat’ in the colony to keep the cluster warm, but what I do in what I suspect a very similar climate is to use a single brood box and if that hive is getting too strong I make a split to make another hive and so produce more honey. I’m now building past 20 hives and aiming for 50 as there is a big demand for my honey. I make a $ from selling full complete hives and from honey. When I say complete hives I mean a full working apiary hive, brood box and super producing honey. there are guys about me selling nucs and even swarms but I have no trouble selling a complete hive to those that want to have honey sooner rather than later: if that makes sense.
For me making a split and a second hive produces more honey than a single “super hive”, but you may have to wait for the splits to really get booming again. Bee keeping is a lot of forward planning and a bit of wishful thinking as well. 