I also do the vertical splits, however I use a split board / snelgrove board. This is because I am rearing a new colony. The demaree split also works fine if you don't want to expand to colonies. Also highly recommend having 2 brood box set-up otherwise you would be have to swarm control every time. We have 8 FH and had a great year with the honey. We use the flexible food grade pipe and harvest into Honey Buckets. When drawn completely you are getting slightly over 3kgs per frame. If you planning to use one bucket for all the frames then make sure you have a large bucket.
Paras Shah when you use a 2 brood set up and do the demerree split do you give them 2 new brood boxes and put the 2 old ones on top of the flow frames?
Don't forget when you first crack your frames on the flow hive to only put your key in halfway otherwise it can get messy real quick...saying for a friend😳😁
Hey Laurence, love your channel mate!! I did a demerree on my hive 6 weeks ago. I followed all the steps from your previous video. Brilliant technique!.. so after all the brood hatched, I put a crown board at the top of the hive instead of the queen excluder so that the bees see the old brood box as outside their hive and start to move the honey down. Fortunately the number of bees at the top have reduced but there are some still storing nectar and some capped honey. In this video you said, take the top box off and wash the frames.. how do you wash the frames?.. to be fair they are old dark frames so I'd like to get the honey and throw out the frames or perhaps use them for swarm traps? What are your thoughts? Thanks heaps
I'm new to the game, however, I was wondering why you don't just put another brood box on top of the old one - thus leaving the FH Super at the top? What's the reason behind having the super inbetween broods? Also, will it be possible to have two supers on top of each other?
He is trying to only keep them in one brood box. If you add a second one on top the queen will use the whole space. And if you use a queen excluder between both brood boxes, they might not create new brood in the bottom one, since the old brood nest is still close by. With the honey storage in between, the top one will be more or less ignored.
I have a couple of small swarms in Nuc boxes. One of my flow hive super colonies is filling its national 14 x 12 brood box well. I was thinking of taking one or two frames of capped brood out, replacing with foundation. The capped brood I would add to the Nuc boxes to boost the swarms. Do you think this would help reduce chances of swarming? Last weeks check had no sign of any swarm cells.
Thanks for another great video Laurence, do you give the top box a top entrance or just let them go down through the flow frames to the bottom entrance?
Hi Laurence. Great until told to wash the combs from the original brood box. What does this mean and how do you do it,please? Can’t find any info on this anywhere. Thanks david
You do not have to find the queen. Simply shake all the bees from the original box into the box with foundation. Therefore the queen will be in the new box and all the nurse bees will migrate up into the top box.
They won't create the additional brood if you put it above the excluder. The aim is for top box to be ignored, middle supers are filled with honey and the new brood box is filled with brood.
I think it's in case you miss an emergency cell in the top box and a virgin queen emerges. You don't want her to mess with your original one. (Very late answer, but perhaps someone else sees this video with the same question)
I also do the vertical splits, however I use a split board / snelgrove board. This is because I am rearing a new colony. The demaree split also works fine if you don't want to expand to colonies. Also highly recommend having 2 brood box set-up otherwise you would be have to swarm control every time. We have 8 FH and had a great year with the honey. We use the flexible food grade pipe and harvest into Honey Buckets. When drawn completely you are getting slightly over 3kgs per frame. If you planning to use one bucket for all the frames then make sure you have a large bucket.
Paras Shah when you use a 2 brood set up and do the demerree split do you give them 2 new brood boxes and put the 2 old ones on top of the flow frames?
Highly recommended using a flexable pipe off the spout and a demijohn to extract. Gets rid of robbing.
You've seen the next episode? 😉
Don't forget when you first crack your frames on the flow hive to only put your key in halfway otherwise it can get messy real quick...saying for a friend😳😁
Been there over flows the channel.
@@bzhoneyalanb8613 Makes a hell of a mess.
I love power of twos :))
... 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536 :)))
Thanks for all your Flow hive advice. Keep up your great videos.
Hey Laurence, love your channel mate!! I did a demerree on my hive 6 weeks ago. I followed all the steps from your previous video. Brilliant technique!.. so after all the brood hatched, I put a crown board at the top of the hive instead of the queen excluder so that the bees see the old brood box as outside their hive and start to move the honey down. Fortunately the number of bees at the top have reduced but there are some still storing nectar and some capped honey. In this video you said, take the top box off and wash the frames.. how do you wash the frames?.. to be fair they are old dark frames so I'd like to get the honey and throw out the frames or perhaps use them for swarm traps? What are your thoughts? Thanks heaps
This was very helpful! Thank you.
I'm new to the game, however, I was wondering why you don't just put another brood box on top of the old one - thus leaving the FH Super at the top? What's the reason behind having the super inbetween broods?
Also, will it be possible to have two supers on top of each other?
I am wondering the same.
He is trying to only keep them in one brood box. If you add a second one on top the queen will use the whole space.
And if you use a queen excluder between both brood boxes, they might not create new brood in the bottom one, since the old brood nest is still close by. With the honey storage in between, the top one will be more or less ignored.
I have a couple of small swarms in Nuc boxes. One of my flow hive super colonies is filling its national 14 x 12 brood box well. I was thinking of taking one or two frames of capped brood out, replacing with foundation. The capped brood I would add to the Nuc boxes to boost the swarms. Do you think this would help reduce chances of swarming? Last weeks check had no sign of any swarm cells.
Hi, Just wondering why you paint hives in a camo style? Sorry if you have covered this elsewhere but I am a new subscriber
If it's not a reactive measure, when do you start doing this?
Thanks for another great video Laurence, do you give the top box a top entrance or just let them go down through the flow frames to the bottom entrance?
Hi Laurence. Great until told to wash the combs from the original brood box. What does this mean and how do you do it,please? Can’t find any info on this anywhere. Thanks david
I know for a demaree we need capped brood in the new brood box, but why?
I'd guess it's to attract some of the nursing bees down to the "new" brood box.
You do not have to find the queen. Simply shake all the bees from the original box into the box with foundation. Therefore the queen will be in the new box and all the nurse bees will migrate up into the top box.
what if she is on the side wall?
@@BlackMountainHoney Ah, forgot to add brush bees from the box side!
why do you need the big gap between top and bottom boxes ?
why not just lift it up straight above the bottom excluder
They won't create the additional brood if you put it above the excluder. The aim is for top box to be ignored, middle supers are filled with honey and the new brood box is filled with brood.
@@BlackMountainHoney i see now thanks. .i have that problem with 1 of my hives.
Why is the second Q excluder needed?
I think it's in case you miss an emergency cell in the top box and a virgin queen emerges. You don't want her to mess with your original one.
(Very late answer, but perhaps someone else sees this video with the same question)
Is that a queen at 2:45?
No. Those bigger bees were drones. If you can see the queen on the outside, something is wrong.