Wintering Flow hive on or off?

I have a newish nuc, building, and actually put the flow super on a few weeks ago thinking it was needed. They haven’t really moved up and now just a month away from wintering. Should I leave it on or take it off?

Hi Erin, I’m immediately thinking take it off. What stores of honey etc. are in the nuc? Mind you, I’ve just looked at your climate at Yallingup. Very mild there by the coast…

I would probably say to take it off if they have done no work at all in there and they havn’t finished building out the brood box. If you do remove it- I would put it back on two weeks before spring starts (assuming the colony is strong at that time).

Last winter we left our flow supers on - and it worked fine for us- with one caveat: the supers were mostly ignored mid-winter and became somewhat damp at times- with some mold on the frames. This winter- if I leave them on- I am going to put in some kind of upper ventilation- either a quilt box or a screened ventilation hole in the roof.

2 Likes

I’m thinking the bees are sending you a message that they don’t need the flow super at this time so I would be taking it off for the winter and so to make the hive just a little warmer.over winter. Regularly checking the hive will tell you when it is needed as the bee numbers build up in early spring. Checking for most of the cells in use for brood or stores will tell you when to expand the hive.
Regards

1 Like