Flow Hive - more info

[dexter's shed]

You will need at least 3 or 4 supers. More than that during a really good flow. So unless you intend to fork out the extreme expense for each of them to be flow frame supers you will need to extract using traditional methods anyway. Another reason why I see the flow hive as impractical

but maybe not, at the moment you have your super in place and you wait until all or most of the frames are full and capped, I mean it would be too time consuming to remove one or two supers, spin them in your extractor, remove the honey and wash your extractor out, wouldn't it.....

but of course with a flow super, if it works as per the video's, lets say you have 6 frames, fully capped, you could drain off 4 within a few hours, bees figure out the honey is gone, chew off the cappings, and hay presto, 4 empty frames to fill, they start filling again, you drain off another 2, so as fast as they fill, you could remove, and being straight to a jar, rather than an extractor, single frames could be done, something I doubt is ever done the conventional way

we can praise or slate this idea off until the cows come home, or until someone in the uk takes delivery and uses it, so sometime next year perhaps

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for the advice pargyle, very useful, not sure I'll feel comfortable just getting stuck in before having a course. I wouldn't want to contribute to varroa or other pest issues unknowingly.

With regards to 'luddites' I can only reflect the tenor of discussion I found on the only thread I found about the FlowHive here. I don't recognise myself in the characterisations made through most of the thread (except perhaps "more money than (beekeeping) sense", since you rightly point out some fairly cheap methods of getting started).

Well ... I spent two years (part voluntarily and part enforced) studying before I got my bees so, in some respects, I agree with you - but there are plenty on here who dived in headlong with their bees and did just fine.

Get yourself a copy of the Haynes Bee Manual ... it's laid out in an almost idiot proof way for new beekeepers and that book and this forum would get you through the first year ... Varroa can be dealt with, a swarm or this seasons nuc is unlikely to swarm this year and you are going to get a bee buddy (with a bit of luck) if you join an association. The first year, although initially daunting, is not that bad ... year two is a more challenging year - with a flow hive you would be, to some extent, going straight into Year 2.

If you are going to get any honey from a flow hive next year then you really will need an overwintered colony in it from the start and things happen very fast in beekeeping once the season gets under way - the ability to handle a small colony this year, treat (if necessary) for varroa and get them ready for (and then through) next winter will stand you in good stead for when you are dealing with a full colony of 40 or 50 thousand bees ... and a new fangled hive which nobody on here will be able to advise you on !!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't shoot me, I haven't been through the whole thread with a fine tooth comb, but has this invention actually been in use successfully for a season in Australia?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't shoot me, I haven't been through the whole thread with a fine tooth comb, but has this invention actually been in use successfully for a season in Australia?

Has it? I think the word you're looking for is 'allegedly'
I don't call the fact that maybe one or two hives allegedly being used successfully as being a fair trial. Has it really made the mainstream news or anything? Or is the great god yootoob all we need to hail 'fact' nowadays?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

but of course with a flow super, if it works as per the video's, lets say you have 6 frames, fully capped, you could drain off 4 within a few hours, bees figure out the honey is gone, chew off the cappings, and hay presto, 4 empty frames to fill, they start filling again, you drain off another 2, so as fast as they fill, you could remove

But bees need more space to shift the honey around and ripen it - or are we thinking we can have some conventional frames and supers and as soon as the saniflo ones are empty the bees will kindly shift honey from the other into them?

 

[Ely]

but maybe not, at the moment you have your super in place and you wait until all or most of the frames are full and capped, I mean it would be too time consuming to remove one or two supers, spin them in your extractor, remove the honey and wash your extractor out, wouldn't it.....

but of course with a flow super, if it works as per the video's, lets say you have 6 frames, fully capped, you could drain off 4 within a few hours, bees figure out the honey is gone, chew off the cappings, and hay presto, 4 empty frames to fill, they start filling again, you drain off another 2, so as fast as they fill, you could remove, and being straight to a jar, rather than an extractor, single frames could be done, something I doubt is ever done the conventional way

we can praise or slate this idea off until the cows come home, or until someone in the uk takes delivery and uses it, so sometime next year perhaps

Will need more than 1 super if it is a decent sized colony for space and nectar drying. They can't dry and cap honey all on one super. It is a matter of space as well as storage. To get a large honey crop you need large colonies.

 

[dexter's shed]

or are we thinking we can have some conventional frames and supers and as soon as the saniflo ones are empty the bees will kindly shift honey from the other into them?

I'm only going on what I've seen, and my own thoughts on how I can use it, stuff everyone else, I don't feed my bees over winter like some do, they get left in the BB plus one full super, thus my flow frames if and when they ever arrive will be incorporated into a box above a super, the super can be moved up or down the hive if need be, any more normal frames over the one super I leave them, will be removed and used for cut comb, the bits left over will still be put through the crush and strain bucket, but having a few flow frames will allow me to "if it works" have honey on tap, thus saving me the expense of an extractor, will save the wifes kitchen getting sticky for weeks, will save me getting moaned at for sticky kitchen, will save me time.

most of us hobby bee keepers don't keep bees to make us into millionaire's, we do it because we like keeping bees, the old saying, a fool is easily parted from his money springs to mind, as I bet a lot of keepers pay out more than they get back, but they still remain keepers, I recently put an order in for £80 to the big firm, didn't really need the stuff, but like woman buying shoes, we have to spend "our money" on something don't we, I have enough guns and stuff so the bees are getting it for the moment,

I tend to stay open minded on everything in life, following the saying, don't knock it till you've tried it frame of mind,

 

[Ely]

Nothing wrong with an open mind. Open mindedness can be seen on both sides of the discussion, not just on the side of flow hive enthusiasts. It takes an open mind to have a critical mind and there is nothing wrong with that either.

 

[dexter's shed]

Nothing wrong with an open mind. Open mindedness can be seen on both sides of the discussion, not just on the side of flow hive enthusiasts. It takes an open mind to have a critical mind and there is nothing wrong with that either.

granted.... but, until it arrives here in the UK and is used, all of the criticism is just thoughts on why it won't work here, they are not based on fact, so for that reason, I tend to believe in what I can see, and based on the video's, it works in Oz

thinking back to the beehaus, that got a right knocking when it first came out, I noticed it had a few design faults that were changed over time, or made good my the user, but it would be nice to hear a few comments from those people, I've seen people still using them, but maybe they don't post on normal bee forums due to the negative feedback they first got

 

[Hivemaker.]

I've seen people still using them, but maybe they don't post on normal bee forums due to the negative feedback they first got

Hardly any of them post on the Omlet beehaus forum either.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Plenty of second hand beehauses on fleabay

 

[dexter's shed]

Plenty of second hand beehauses on fleabay

I could only find 2

 

[madasafish]

granted.... but, until it arrives here in the UK and is used, all of the criticism is just thoughts on why it won't work here, they are not based on fact, so for that reason, I tend to believe in what I can see, and based on the video's, it works in Oz

thinking back to the beehaus, that got a right knocking when it first came out, I noticed it had a few design faults that were changed over time, or made good my the user, but it would be nice to hear a few comments from those people, I've seen people still using them, but maybe they don't post on normal bee forums due to the negative feedback they first got

Or maybe they feel silly paying a fortune for something which is little if any better than a normal polyhive?

Or maybe they can't get it to work, and ashamed to say they wasted their money?

Or maybe they just don't inhabit forums?

Or maybe they don't use PCs.

Or maybe...

It is impossible to generaiise

 

[dexter's shed]

It is impossible to generaiise

exactly why we cant knock the flow hive till it gets here and is used

 

[madasafish]

exactly why we cant knock the flow hive till it gets here and is used

Oh no: some of the concerns - like temperature - are specific and not generalisations. Fact is, if it's cold the honey will NOT flow..

 

[wessexmario]

Oh no: some of the concerns - like temperature - are specific and not generalisations. Fact is, if it's cold the honey will NOT flow..

yes, but if the flowhive frames are in the centre of the box and immediately above the brood which is maintained at around 37C, what temperature will they be at? A little warmer than the ambient temperature outside I suspect. Frames that are pulled from a hive and taken to be extracted would probably end up at least 10C lower in temperature when put in an extractor.

 

[Hivemaker.]

yes, but if the flowhive frames are in the centre of the box and immediately above the brood which is maintained at around 37c

32/35c normally, but yes the hive temperature maintained by the bees should allow the honey to flow okay.

 

[mbc]

yes, but if the flowhive frames are in the centre of the box and immediately above the brood which is maintained at around 37C, what temperature will they be at? A little warmer than the ambient temperature outside I suspect. Frames that are pulled from a hive and taken to be extracted would probably end up at least 10C lower in temperature when put in an extractor.

Centre of the box immediately above the brood is very often packed with a pollen arch, watch that run lol.

 

[Dishmop]

but of course with a flow super, if it works as per the video's, lets say you have 6 frames, fully capped, you could drain off 4 within a few hours,

One asssumes you would be placing these 6 frames in the centre of the box?

and you would know when they are full and ready for extraction by...perhaps removing the framed for inspection..........

not like as per videos where the frames undergoing the extraction process are on on the end of a row of frames... with a window...and no bees.....

maybe, therefore, if you have to remove the frames to check if they are ready for extracting, and then put them back into the box where it then takes the quoted few hours to drain........................perhaps whilst the frames are out, just bung them in the extractor possibly??? maybe?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I could only find 2

And there's invariably one for sale on there - and as there was never that many sold in the first place, I'd call that plenty. How many do you want then?