Comments on: The Flow Hive: Worth the Hype?

By: Theo Matsiko

Theo Matsiko — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 17:30:59 +0000

Great invention!
Where do I get this Bee Hive. I need five, I’m in Uganda.

Thank you.

By: Larry Banachowski

Larry Banachowski — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:30:39 +0000

A lot of speculation by those who don’t own one. Please don’t post if you are not expecting some backlash. It is nothing more than a honey box. It is not the main deep, which they do provide. It is not for the commercial bee keeper. The flow portion is for the honey run. I take mine off at the end of the flow. Otherwise, it is a standard hive. You do not need an extractor which offsets the cost for the setup. I have had mine since inception and have never lost a hive in the winter. Standard bee keeping applies. This is just a means of extraction to relieve stress so the bees don’t swarm.

By: Beekeeping

Beekeeping — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 14:10:49 +0000

This is an amazing idea that you have shared through this article. Thank you for sharing this amazing information through this article.

By: Joan Ribbons ☃️☀️

Joan Ribbons ☃️☀️ — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 00:25:03 +0000

I’m excited to see this honey collection system!
It reminds me of one I recently seen in Indonesia; where bees fill larger man made bowls with honey! I was excited to see that on a Cooking show a couple months ago. Ever since I’ve been thinking of how to reproduce that one!
Now I don’t need to engineer one as this one tops that one (I think 🙂
I am willing to try one in my hives here is Wisconsin, USA
This may even spur on more innovations!!!
I’ll think of a way to cap the spigots to keep unwanted pests away!

By: Johann

Johann — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 02:33:00 +0000

The flowhive will give beekeepers and especially new beekeeper the impression that hey do not have to check on the bees. Either way you have to check the honey frames to see if they are capped or you may introduce honey with to much moister and the whole batch of honey will ferment and go bad if that happen or worse yet make someone sick or kill someone.
Aren’t you so pose to check the hive before harvesting honey to see if you may have diseases in the hive that could hurt humans. ?

By: Daniel Brannan

Daniel Brannan — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 15:41:43 +0000

I have three Flow Hives. As a back-yard beekeeper, they are perfect. Harvesting could not be easier. I still inspect right after each harvest … and in the late fall before “putting them to bed” for the winter.
This year, I got to split a hive successfully after noticing four queen cells being made in the brood chamber below. (The flow hive frames are in the super with a queen excluder in-between.)
Thus far, I’ve harvested six gallons of honey from two hives. I’ll leave them to it at mid-summer for their own stores to make it through the winter. I also supplement them in mid-January with syrup. They get treated for mites with powdered sugar in the spring and summer whenever I see mites on the bottom board or when inspecting. In the late fall they get treated with mite strips.
The take away is that there’s little difference between the Flow Hive method of bee keeping and the traditional method except for the extraction. When I balanced the extraction equipment costs against the purchase of three Flow Hives, it was a wash. So I figured that the less hassle of harvesting outweighed all the other criticisms. But for a big producer with ten or more hives, I’d say stick to the traditional methods.
But for a backyard producer who sells less than ten gallons a year at a local farmer’s market, the Flow Hive is perfect. I love mine and the bees do too!

By: Eddy

Eddy — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 09:05:15 +0000

WOW, Clearly some folks don’t like a bit of competition. I own TWO Flow Hives, one is 2 years old and the second is 1 year old. I am not a COMMERCIAL producer. I do not recommend this type of hive for COMMERCIAL production, and I do not believe the concept was aimed at COMMERCIAL producers. Commercial producers deal with very large volumes of honey, thus negation the whole Flow hive concept from the get go.
IMHO, Flow hives are unbeatable for backyard bee keeping. I believe that was the sole purpose of their invention. Back yard beekeepers have no desire to spend huge amounts of money to purchase the required equipment to harvest the honey. This is where the Flow Hive comes into it’s own.

Robbing may be a concern. (Who is going to “rob” my hive in my back yard ?
Exorbitant cost. (YES, agree, very expensive, but Chinese knock offs are available, and IMHO, work just as well)
May not be appropriate for colder climates (other than Australia, where it is produced). (You do realise, it DOES get COLD in Australia too ? we even have SNOW in summer. L.O.L.)
Possible legality issues. (Please explain what these legal issues are.)
May encourage predators, and give them even easier access to honey.(sorry, no predators in my back yard, and anyway, predators can access ordinary hives just as easily.)
May be more efficient at honey harvesting, but may be more disruptive to the “superorganism” that is the hive. ( How is the Flow hive more disruptive than opening the hive pulling frames out, cutting wax off, spinning the frame and then replacing it ?)
Bees may not have enough space to properly move and clean the hive.(There is the RECOMMENDED spacings available in a Flow hive, just as there is in a none Flow hive.)
As such, the Flow Hive system with its enhanced production has been likened to battery-caged hens.(Explain the claim, “enhanced production” as I can assure you, production is no more enhanced in my Flow hives then in any other.)
In-hive pests (such as varroa or hive beetles) may be different in different climates (ie: United States vs. Australia, where the Flow Hive was invented and produced). (The pests your reffering to, can also establish themselves in a Flow hive as in an ordinary hive)
Disease: Plastic may absorb chemicals (such as miticides) used in consequence.( Don’t use any chemicals anywhere near my hives)
The tubes (if improperly sealed) are a pipeline for ants, wasps, or raiders.(The tubes do not stay fitted to the Flow hive, they are only inserted to harvest the honey. When flow ceases, tubes are removed. area wiped clean, and plugs reinserted. Ants are just as much of an issue as they are with an ordinary hive)
Images don’t really show the possible interaction between bees themselves and the deposit jars.(What interaction of the bees with the deposit jars ?)
May rob the hive of too much honey when bees need it most.(Anyone nurturing a hive takes an interest in their livelihood and well being/health. I do not believe for a second, such people would harvest ALL the honey in a flow hive, thus ensuring the starvation of the brood)
Inexperienced beekeepers may think this is a simple solution and/or believe that it will eliminate the maintenance that accompanies beekeeping. ( Very good subject. In the two years I’ve had my Flow hives, I’ve stuck my head into the brood boxes TWICE a year to check on things. Again, my hives are not a COMMERCIAL situation, therefore the requirements of COMMERCIAL do not apply.)
A worry about moisture content in the honey produced (ie: the need to still inspect hives, which defeats much of the purpose of the flow system).(refer to above comment)
Bees prefer naturally-built comb, not plastic. May stress them out and/or disturb their natural seasonal cycles.(have not found any basis with my hives to sustain such a claim)
For what it’s worth, my responses to the claims made against Flow Hives.

By: Clay W. Hansen

Clay W. Hansen — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 23:31:17 +0000

I purchased Two flow supers three years ago. The season in Maine is very short. So, since it’s unnatural foundation, the bees take forever to prep it. However, what little honey I did Get was easy to extract. In addition, the honey had a freshness to it that my other honey didn’t. Overall I would only use this on a wintered hive, one that has two established brood boxes.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 18:01:59 +0000

I am new to the bee keeping scene so I have a question. With the flow hives the brood box is on the bottom and the second box shown is your super. What needs to be done for winter as far as food? Do you add another box for their stores? Do you stop robbing the super at a certain time? Im puzzled.

By: Eddy

Eddy — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:47:42 +0000

I’m a novice beekeeper. I’ve always wanted to have hives of my own, but the cost of the equipment always put me off. Along comes the Flow Hive, which seems to fit the bill of not requiring centerfuges and strainers ect, ect.
I jumped in and bought my first Flow hive, only later, did I discover it was a knock off, from the original. This posed a few issues, but nothing serious.
The biggest was no frames supplied for the Brood box. These needed to be purchased individually. The second issue was the Bees, it was extremely difficult to source a supplier where I could obtain a viable colony. Ultimately, I found a commercial Bee keeper who was willing to SPLIT a hive and supply me with five frames and a Queen.
No one told me, the brood would have to be established before the Flow hive could be placed above the brood box. I put the Flow hive on top, and nothing happened for 5 months. Some folks suggested placing wax in the Flow box, which I did, other than the exploring bee or two, nothing happened for quiet some time. Along came beginnings of summer, and WHAM, the brood box was full, as was the second brood box as well, now the bees have discovered the Flow hive and are busily doing what bees do, and I’m looking forwards to my first harvest towards the end of summer.
Whilst walking my dogs one day, I came across a swarm in the local park, wasted no time coming back with a brood box I had on stand by, gathered the whole swarm and took them home. They established themselves very quickly in their new home 10 full frames. I recently bought a new Genuine Flow frame box with 9 frames to place on top of this brood box. On opening the swarm brood box, I couldn’t get the lid off. It was free all the way around, but still refused to free. Putting more pressure it eventually broke free, and I discovered the bees had built honeycomb under the lid it’self attaching it to the top of the frames in the brood box. It was a large network in a star shape with no less than 7 branches branching off, and ALL full of honey, which now after breaking free, halved the combs and allowed the honey to run free covering everything underneath and on top.
A real mess, dunno how many bees I lost as a result, getting caught within the honey.
Now the thing is, ventilation is important, so it’s necessary to have a hole in the top board under the cover, how does one prevent the bees from accessing the area under the cover ? Is it O.K. to staple fly wire over this hole, allowing air to flow, but prevent the bees from entering ???
The New Flow hive has already attracted the bees, just two days after being placed over the brood box, and the bees are busily doing what bees do waxing the frames and filling them with honey.
I for one, am very satisfied with my Flow frames.