so it was my first Honey Harvest today and I made sure everything was ready and going to operate properly in regards to putting in the drain tubes the correct way etc…
but in the end honey still went inside the hive… but not a large amount I guess…
but this is what happened while draining the Flow Frames… 
Has every thing returned to normal?
How much honey per frame did you get?
not yet…
just looking in the hive now - @ 7.50 pm I’ve noticed what looks like a lot of moisture in the hive… the plastic looks fogged like when you have a shower…
there’s still thousands of bees on the outside 
I got 8 Kilograms of honey out of Four Flow Frames
@Andrew Is it hot there today - could they be cooling down?
Ummm Bit above my pay grade now
Andrew,
Looks like bearding but it’s been along time since that’s happen since I’ve been away from beekeeping many years. What’s your temps n relative humidity ?? I see it’s SUNNY but is you air humidity no DRY ? Doesn’t look like Swarming ? Hmm, is there good ventilation up thru the hive. I seem to have more question than answers but you are OUR eyes, ears n onsite observer … Give it time to maybe clear. With plastic frames sweating or an internal dewpoint has been reached. Let us know if n how long it lasted. Some of these bleeks on here are pretty SAVY n experienced but need info to HELP ! Don’t PANIC ! It’s experience n a learning curve. Be watching for more pix’s ( maybe some clear close ups n further notes)… Gerald
I made a comment in the other thread where you posted this. David (my husband) thinks the bees ran from a “wax quake” when the cells opened:
About the moisture. You say you got 8 kilos from 4 frames. Cedar usually says 3 kilos per frame, so there could be 4 kilos pooling/left in the hive. If there is a big pool of honey in the bottom, I guess that could be causing some of the moisture - did you get a look at the corflute board?
Hopefully everything will be fine today, and the bees will be happily back to work. Thank you for sharing your experience though, we all learn from it. Please keep us updated!
If the segments on one of the flow frames was not held together peoperly when you turned the key it would have drained straight into the brood box? I have noticed from other posts that there had been some issues with this.
Hi Dawn,
in the lead up to the drain everything looked perfect as you would have seen in pictures…
I had the hive apart a week or two ago due to concerns about the frames not being completely full… so I wanted to check this… the super box was so heavy when I lifted it off… full of honey with just some capping to finish off…
overall, there was not a great deal of honey that went inside the hive as I pulled the bottom board out… there was some on the side of where I first drained which spread down the right side of the bottom corflute when I pulled it out…
the bees did not move until I opened the first two frames… then they took off outside 
later on when I checked after a million bees were on the outside I noticed that the frames and window was fogged… it was a nice clear dry day
night I pulled the roof off to get more air flow and at this stage half of the bees seemed to have gone back inside… but when I pulled the roof off I found the rest of the bees in there… 
at 10pm last night about half the bees were still on the front of the box… this morning, 90% of them seem to have gone back inside…
I’m not sure about the 3kgs per frame… I got two on average and it all seemed equal across the frames…
the honey is a good thickness and tastes great… everyone here seems to like this summer honey better than the Spring Honey… the Spring Honey seemed more “Floral”
Sounds like the bees have settled down. I bet they will go down from the roof when they are sure another wax quake won’t happen! 
This is a great learning experience for all of us. Thank you for the update.
Dawn
Hi Andrew, I’m pretty sure that the fogging is normal at the end of a busy day. I see it inside my observation hive, only late in the afternoon. I figured it was the bees processing & dewatering that days honey collection. I never thought of it as fogging though, more like condensation on the upper portion of the perspex.
I’m thinking that the bearding was just a coincidence. Hopefully that’s all it was. I wonder if you have too many bees for the amount of room they have. It could be time to think about swarm control.
Dawn ! Wax Quake ! What is this !? Never heard this term before. Is this phenomenon something to do with Flow-frames. Interesting. Waiting for your note or comment. Gerald
Just imagine you are a bee sitting on a capped Flow frame…
An enormous powerful being approaches your hive, and inserts a piece of metal about 20 bee heights above you…
They start to rotate the metal bar, and you feel the wax below your feet shake, judder, crack and shear. The cappings sheet you are standing on starts to slide and shift a bit - not far, but this is very unusual. Time to make a quick exit, so you can live to forage another day!
You just survived a wax quake! 
Yaaaaah ! Okay … I get it now 
. I know how weird an Earthquake feels n sounds like. Just not place to run ! I’ll have to keep this bit in my brain so I’ll remember when it happens to me ! Thankz Dawn …
well I leaned another lesson today…
there’s still bees outside the hive but only around 10% of what there was yesterday and they’ve gone back into normal mode of foraging hard and fast delivering the goodies to the hive…
the bees cleaned up the honey that was on the screen slide so I though that I would put it back in this afternoon after work…
it seemed a little hard going in and I first thought that it must have been the sticky honey… but there was a bees buzzing backwards and forwards looking at the corflute so then I though… hmmm, I hope I just didn’t squish a heap of bees that may have been underneath… 
so I pulled the board back out and zing!!! a heap of angry bees came flying out at great pace…
I got stung 4 times on my legs … 
it would have been more if my legs weren’t hairy 
so out with the betadine and a good soaking around the sting areas…
I think i’ll steer clear for a couple of days now…
Aww, so sorry. 
How effective do you find betadine? I heard that toothpaste is good - given that bee venom is acidic, I suppose that is logical. Hope the stings feel better today.
Dawn
Andrew,
Guessing a day we don’t learn something new or review is not a good day ! Guessing that was more than a valvable lesson. Working around those little critters is always best with some clothing they can’t get thru to your body. It does HURT !
I’ve done some work without the suit but feel much more restful n calm if really working inside the boxes. Sounds like you took care of the stings okay and no allergic reaction other than it hurt like H… ! Been there done that little act before.
Now relax n meand you brain then check again in a few days. I like to just draw up a chair n watch for a bit n see how the hive is progressing without diving inside. Lot to learn just observing too.
Enjoy your bees ! We all have off days,
Gerald 
. I did this little peek inside the other day without my suit. Lucky I didn’t get nailed ! 
the betadine works best for me…
other old wives tales that I’ve used have been 100% useless…
a good soaking of betadine on the area takes the “sting” out of it and settles it quickly from a sharp pain to a mild sting…
I used to sit and watch my bees regularly… they’d land on me for a rest etc but once the second hive went in they became a little bit more “frisky”, lets say…
you know when they give you that message to “go away” …
mind you… since I’ve had the flow hive I’m always taking a peak through the windows to see whats going on 
Hi Dawn,
just got my flow frames and have turned them 90 degrees with steel bar as instructed.
My question is, it turned so easy in the top slot I’m wondering if it did what it was suppose to do.
It looked the same as the other frames I had yet to turn.
Have I done it right? Do not want the Bees to think this guy has no idea.
Cheers…Bodie
