There could be several reasons for why your bees are not expanding into the Flow Hive super. Some of these reasons apply to all hive styles. Bees, for example, will not build new comb when they are unhealthy, in a nectar dearth or at certain times of year. But getting bees to accept plastic can be tricky and so sometimes a colony will refuse to use the Flow Hive super even when conditions for building are good. So, how can you make your Flow supers more attractive? Read on to find out what worked for me.
Are the Bees Ready?
Before putting your Flow super on, make sure your bees have filled their brood nest out. A healthy colony in spring will do this in a few weeks time. Depending on your area and the strength of your colony, you may need to feed your bees to help them achieve this progress, but once you add your Flow super, it is time to stop feeding. You should wait for your bees to build on at least 6 out of the 8 frames in your brood box before adding the Flow super. I actually recommend letting your bees build out two brood boxes before adding a Flow super so that you and the bees have more flexibility. If you want to follow that advice, you should add a second brood box first and once that is built out, you can add your Flow super.
Preparing the Frames
Cell Formation
Make sure the cells in your Flow frames are in the correct formation. They should look like regular hexagonal cells, but with small gaps in the top and bottom. If the frame key has been turned the cells will be in the harvest formation and will look like vertical, zig zagging channels.
Adding Wax
Just like with plastic foundation, the bees will be more receptive to your flow frames if they are coated in beeswax. I applied the beeswax by melting some in a double broiler on the stove (don’t walk away from beeswax on the stove– it’s flammable) and then using an old paint brush to apply. When painting on the melted beeswax, hold the frames upright so that wax does not run down the cells. You just want the wax on the face of the “flow comb”. Other people have had success just by rubbing burr comb over the frames or by spraying them with sugar water.
Progress
If you see the bees filling in the cracks of the cells with beeswax, good news! That is the first sign that your bees have accepted the flow frames. If there is a nectar flow happening, you should start to see them fill the cells. They seem to start on the center frames in the center of each frame and they work their way out. So, if you see honey from the windows, you are likely very close to having full frames of honey!
Troubleshooting
I have found that some bees are simply less willing to use the flow super than others. If you are not seeing progress and all the above has been considered, you might try moving the flow super to a different colony.
Want to learn more about how tips and tricks for Flowhives, check out my latest online class. It’s all about hive inspections and there is a special section on Flowhives.
HELP!
I am new to bee keeping and we have 2 Flow hive. The brood box was just about fulll so we went ahead and add the FLOW top. I then was doing some reading and realized that in Ontario we should likely have 2 brood boxes in order for them to survive the winter. NOW what the bees are already going the FLOW. Do I remove it put on a new brood box and leave the FLOW not he ground so they make their way back to the hive to build comb and fill with honey for the winter? Or could I add the new brood box so it goes existing new and then the flow? Will they automatically start forming comb and fill the 2nd box first? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Are they just in the Flow Super or have they already started to fill it with nectar? If they aren’t using it, just take it off and putt the frames out and sweep the bees off and back into the hive. If they are using it already, you can leave it on and add the second brood box to the bottom of the stack.
Hi,
I put a flow super on about 3 weeks ago (I rubbed beeswax over each panel beforehand). I can see that the bees now are working on filling the gaps in the comb. But they really do seem to going quite slowly. Is it just a matter of waiting?
Yep, and its also time of year and how many flowers are available to them.
Hi Hilary,
I took a couple of classes at your house last year and finally got my bees in late April this year.
Your classes were great and gave me a good start for my new adventure with my air bee n bee, mine is a flow hive.
To make my bees interested in the flow frames, I simply sprayed them down with 1:1 sugar water. They loved it and quickly accepted the flow frames. Now two months later, at the end of June, my flow hive is about 70% full of nectar/honey. The center three frames are filled and capped. For the two frames outside those, the bees have reached the cells viewable from the front and are filling them with nectar. I assume they have started capping in the middle. The outer two frames have lots of activity but little nectar apparent so far. At the rate they are going they could have all the frames full by the mid July (if they still can find nectar).
I have never done this before. I don’t know what possessed me to use the sugar water spray. If anyone else tries this or has in the passed, I would like to hear if it worked for you. Since this a single case with no placebo in the test group my one off approach may of actually had no real effect and the bees would have accepted the flow frames anyway. Being a beginner beekeeper, I have just enough information to be dangerous.
I have heard of that method working as well. Nice work!
Good afternoon. I currently have an abandoned wood structure home on my property that we are wanting to tear down. We have not done so because a very large section has honey bees in the walls. I am trying to educate myself and wanting to harvest. Questions…can I transfer them if I bought flowhive? Do you have any suggestions for me as I have never done this nor have any knowledge of beekeeping.
Yes, they can be transferred to a flow hive, but I would don’t recommend that you do it yourself. I would find a beekeeper who is experienced in doing cutouts to help you.
Hi, I’m not sure how to ask this question but. Here I go I have a flow hive and my brood box is full so I put on the super flow box. I didn’t look closely but are the combs supposed to be all level by row for just by shape of comb I noticed them being high low high low am I making any sence to you? I didn’t know if that would throw them off or if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. My box really didn’t have much for instructions.
Hi, I am not sure I understand, but I encourage you to get on the flow hive website they have a lot of resources.