flow hives

[greenmeaney]

I do not have one and do not think I ever will but having gone through my hives today I noticed that although low on stores there is still some I assume ivy honey left that they seem to be ignoring It's set like concrete (they have hard hats on and asked to borrow the masonary drill) So if you had rock hard honey in a flow hive how do you get it out with out damaging what I assume are delicate plastic walls on the cells? secondly how do you know that the whole frame is capped as the windows only show the ends of the bars. If you have to lift frames to inspect then you may aswell extract as normal.Do not see any advantage for such an expence.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You take the flow super off the brood before ivy blooms. It’s off for winter anyway.
Similarly you don’t add the super till OSR has gone if there is any nearby
Simple really

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Simple really

But pretty pointless

 

[Ian123]

They could also advertise them as swarm machines of course. The suppliers certainly at first never mentioned a need for a second brood, there smaller than standard langs and also not compatible with cheaper boxes(funny that)

 

[Erichalfbee]

But pretty pointless

I wouldn’t have one but whatever floats your boat. Doesn’t @ericbeaumont have somebody in his association that has a fleet of them and charges top dollar for folk to come and tap them into their own jars?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've never felt comfortable with profiting from the gullible

 

[richard_skinner]

I bought one last year and didn’t get to try it as I started late in the year. I plan to use it this year and I’m writing about my experience of it for my local association. It’s going to be a very interesting experiment

 

[madasafish]

I sold a Lang nuc to a beekeeper in our Association three years ago.
Deathly silence since.

I met someone who was planning to use one two years ago.
Deathly silence since.

Both were new beekeepers.

I am sure an experienced beekeeper in a less variable climate than our local one could make a huge success of it.

I have a feeling it may be/would be unworkable here in late July on due to wasps.

So no facts, just comments.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I have seen reports about flow hives - often it seem to be "the bees didn't use it, I'll try next year" and then not much afterwards.
Maybe they will only work for an experienced beekeeper in this country?
If they are full of set honey, they could go under the brood box and the bees should remove the honey after a while.

 

[Sayle]

I have seen reports about flow hives - often it seem to be "the bees didn't use it, I'll try next year" and then not much afterwards.
Maybe they will only work for an experienced beekeeper in this country?
If they are full of set honey, they could go under the brood box and the bees should remove the honey after a while.

I wonder how much of that is new beekeepers putting all that plastic on then making no effort to make it attractive to the bees by coating or even rubbing wax onto them. I've met people who swear by flow hive supers (the ones who use the national version, anyway, and don't go Langstroth in the UK - poor bastards that do) but they are fundamentally a gimmick. If it works for you, great stuff. It's clearly not cost-efficient, but it's cool and if that brings people joy and it works, eh. Good for them.

 

[Worker bee]

I'd never buy a plastic frame and I'd never buy a flow hive both are bin materials. In fact if you said I have a brand new flow hive and a brand new wood or polly nuc you can choose one as a gift the flow hive would be my last choice, if I had to use it I'd have the polly nuc

 

[Sayle]

I'd never buy a plastic frame and I'd never buy a flow hive both are bin materials. In fact if you said I have a brand new flow hive and a brand new wood or polly nuc you can choose one as a gift the flow hive would be my last choice, if I had to use it I'd have the polly nuc

I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Plenty of people use plastic foundation and frames and don't seem to mind.

 

[Worker bee]

I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Plenty of people use plastic foundation and frames and don't seem to mind.

It depends if you want maximum production or not. For me it's not an exaggerated comment. I wouldnt use them they just slow you down and in turn you end up with a hive that's not been pushed to its full potential. Do a trial run wax foundation vs plastic see what happens. But make it fair do shook swarms weighed and sister queens

 

[pargyle]

I've never felt comfortable with profiting from the gullible

Oh .... I don't know the bee leg warmers and the magic varroa disc were well received by the gullible masses ....and my bee hive ventilators with a discount for BBKA members went down well ...Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.