Flow hives?

[King Scavenger]

Hi all. My wife wants to get me a flow hive for Christmas but would it be ok for the bees as I have heard that it is made of plastic and it may upset the natural flow in the hive? Any ideas before I give my wife the go ahead!!

 

[Anduril]

Hi all. My wife wants to get me a flow hive for Christmas but would it be ok for the bees as I have heard that it is made of plastic and it may upset the natural flow in the hive? Any ideas before I give my wife the go ahead!!

There are other threads.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38041&highlight=Flow+hive
Tremyfro would be the one to private message

 

[King Scavenger]

There are other threads.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38041&highlight=Flow+hive
Tremyfro would be the one to private message

Thanks for that, Anduril. I will give my wife the go ahead!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi all. My wife wants to get me a flow hive for Christmas but would it be ok for the bees as I have heard that it is made of plastic and it may upset the natural flow in the hive? Any ideas before I give my wife the go ahead!!

The Flow Forum is where you should be.
I presume you already keep bees?
In which case you know it's just a system for extracting
Let us know how you get on

Edit....ooooops 8 hives

 

[Millet]

I have limited knowledge on flow hives, however what i have read i will steer clear of them, and stick with tried and tested hives that are used in the UK.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not for me either but for people who have never kept bees I can see how the advertising is attractive.

 

[REDWOOD]

Not for me either, I could think of a better Christmas present

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Especially at the price

 

[Tremyfro]

If your wife buys one for you...and you don't like it...give it to me 'cos they are great. There have been some teething problems...but mostly they appear to be user mistakes...I suppose mainly because many of the owners of the Flow frames are new to beekeeping...so their mistakes are because of that rather than the use of the Flow frames.
There is nothing so extraordinary than seeing honey flow from the hive. It is exactly as it appears in the videos.
The frames are expensive...your wife thinks you are worth it!....but what price would you put on such an amazing experience...and you can use it over and over. My beekeeping is a hobby so the cost is immaterial.
Also....the honey is the best ever in flavour...

 

[nantmoel]

I have seen them in use and very novel they are to, however the price is very high. Why not have her to buy you an electric extractor if you don't have one.

 

[Swarm]

Also....the honey is the best ever in flavour...

Sorry Tremyfro, that is a very misleading statement. A flow hive won't guarantee better tasting honey.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sorry Tremyfro, that is a very misleading statement. A flow hive won't guarantee better tasting honey.

I think the claim is that because the honey isn't aerated in the spinner it retains more of its floral aroma. So the thing is to compare the same honey extracted both ways...It's an objective opinion of course.

 

[Swarm]

Yep, though cut comb goes through even less of a process. No guarantee with that either, the flavour will depend on what your bees have foraged.

 

[Millet]

The sweet smell of success may make the honey taste better .

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yep, though cut comb goes through even less of a process. No guarantee with that either, the flavour will depend on what your bees have foraged.

 

[bontbee]

Having tried both of the same "vintage", the honey from cut comb does, to me, have a more complex flavour than delicious spun-liquid honey. Naturally granulated seems to have less flavour again, and soft set seems to have very little flavour at all... But that's all just the way it tastes to me!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Strange, I've always thought that granulated honey had a more intense flavour hit. Everyone's palate's different I suppose

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yep, though cut comb goes through even less of a process. No guarantee with that either, the flavour will depend on what your bees have foraged.

I agree with that. I wrote a while ago about a crop of delightfully flavoured honey with an overtone of citrus from one of our beginners hives at the teaching apiary. I can only think her bees found suitably yielding lime trees somewhere in the woods surrounding the site. Next year the limes may not yield. C'est la vie.

 

[For want of a better word]

Disaster!

Have now seen three in use ( Not a large cohort of this novelty hive I will admit)
Poor beekeeping practice, the use of imported bees and not a good forage year may have skewed the results.

A total mess of dead bees and thick crystallised honey in the "Flow frames"... plus on a Langstroth type frame.

For £700 + you could buy a whole herd of goats or a lorry load of rice to give to some poor starving person in the third world... or even donate the cash to Bees for Development......

Yeghes da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

For £700 + you could buy a whole herd of goats or a lorry load of rice to give to some poor starving person in the third world... or even donate the cash to Bees for Development......
Yeghes da

...... or bees abroad even - no overheads for fancy offices and paid staff, every penny goes to the project.
Had an email last month from an Australian ILO I worked with out in Lesotho (He's into this permaculture mullarkey) he was thinking of going back out to start another project and had been offered a load of flo hives at a 'reduced' rate and was thinking of using them to start a sustainable beekeeping project with the ladies where I had been working. When I stopped laughing, we had a long and detailed discussion on the practicalities as well as cost and keeping the project running, after a deep breath and a string of aussie expletives he politely asked me to email him the plans to the JBM mark 1 Basotho Bee Box!!!!!!!!!!!!
Basically it was almost cheaper to take a child through secondary education and university up to Masters level than make a living using flo hives in Lesotho.