A Seasoned Opinion Perhaps...

[Tremyfro]

A good article on the Flow.

 

[Little John]

Be advised - that the webpage: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/is-the-flowhive-bad-for-bees/
contains 25Mb of data - one graphic alone is 8Mb. Somebody clearly needs to learn how to construct efficient webpages ...
LJ

 

[Tremyfro]

I only read the article...which was posted separately from the website I think. I could work out how to post it onto here from Facebook.

 

[Little John]

Wasn't a criticism of yourself. As if ...

Just a 'heads-up' for anyone with a slow connection - and a bit of a dig at those sites which are so unnecessarily 'graphics-heavy'.

As to the article's content ... I'm not entirely sure what's of value there. It's a good summary I guess of the various viewpoints re: this invention - but I don't think reading that article it is going to change anyone's mind.

I think prejudice is exactly what it says: pre-judgement. And I for one decided my views at the very first announcement of the Flow-Hive: as being expensive, unnecessary, may encourage beginners to adopt sloppy habits, and risks viewing the honey-bee as simply being 'a cog in a machine'. That view - indeed, that prejudice - hasn't changed, and no amount of reading from an American in California (more prejudice ... !) will change that.

But - thanks for taking the trouble to post that link - it was worth checking out.
LJ

 

[Anduril]

A good well balanced article. When I first started beekeeping 37 years ago as a teenager, the class I attended had people with different ideas of why they wanted to take up beekeeping. Some had bought a house and bees came with it (WBC hives), others were diy enthusiasts and had made their own equipment and others were interested in the bees themselves. I was the youngest on the course, but there were no retirees. I used plastic frames back then, (the red pull apart ones). There was no Internet back then.
As the article, the flow hive removes the time needed to extract the honey and as she states for rooftop beekeeping it would be ideal as it cuts out the heavy lifting of boxes. Something that Dusty Rhodes could invest in perhaps. A flow hive for me it would mean more time in the apiary running off the honey, which would mean more equipment to carry in the car (buckets and tubing). A flow hive now has its place in beekeeping along with the beehaus, plastic frames, poly hives and many more. Whichever route you choose in beekeeping you have to have a support network.

 

[Tremyfro]

On the other hand...whilst you are attending other hives in the apiary...you can drain off the honey into a bucket. No carrying supers back and forth. Not that I am into persuading anyone to try the Flow.
I have one and thought it was great last year...saved a lot of mess and time extracting, moving bees out of supers, carrying supers for extraction and back to the hives...then the big cleanup of all used equipment. Yep....money not withstanding....a useful invention.

 

[Anduril]

One problem with that it you leave the container unattended then it may overflow.

 

[Sean.]

I would be concerned with OSR, how to check the water level, and know if they have capped the honey? As well as is this going to encourage robbing from other hives, as they smell the extracted honey?

How many bees get crushed, if any when closing the device?

Nice idea, needs to come down in price, and be more suited to larger scale bee keepers.

 

[Tremyfro]

One problem with that it you leave the container unattended then it may overflow.

Then it will be a Flow overflow....
Use a big tub. Actually you will know the maximum each frame can hold....as you drain the frames singularly or in multiples you will be able to use the right size bucket.

 

[Tremyfro]

I would be concerned with OSR, how to check the water level, and know if they have capped the honey? As well as is this going to encourage robbing from other hives, as they smell the extracted honey?

How many bees get crushed, if any when closing the device?

Nice idea, needs to come down in price, and be more suited to larger scale bee keepers.

1. OSR is liquid when you harvest it...whether from wax or flow frames.n
2. Use your hydrometer to check water content.
3. OSR doesn't always need to be capped before harvesting.
4. Robbing can only occur if you spill honey...why would you do that? The honey flows straight from comb to bucket....no exposed honey...so nothing to rob.
5. No bees get crushed as the cells are designed to avoid this.
6. Agree about the price....if you can't afford it...you can't have it. Same with cars, golf clubs, horses etc.

 

[eltalia]

Be advised - that the webpage: http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/is-the-flowhive-bad-for-bees/
contains 25Mb of data - one graphic alone is 8Mb. Somebody clearly needs to learn how to construct efficient webpages ...
LJ

G'day LJ... thinking we may have history I post a heads up as I did not share your bandwidth experience a
month or so ago - perhaps someone updated the page? I grabbed it using a Galaxy tablet running Android
with that "eat it all" browser, Firefox.

As to value, LJ, I wholly agree and 'said' so. Some time put to work in subbmitting a piece, and just now yet another.
I do read the Flow [tm] pages regular like... cheers.

Bill