Flow beehive

[hoseromon]

I am planning on starting bees next spring and am going to spend this year learning and getting equipment. I was looking at those flow beehives. Any thoughts from anyone? I know there not cheap but if they work like designed I figure my wife and daughter could do it too with less worry of stings and less difficulty. Will it flow in cooler fall temps? Just looking for thoughts.

[histopicker]

I don't have any experience with one but understanding bees a little and how they store their honey I am going to shy away from it. I think it is very miss leading and will not work as advertised. Remember that is just the way I see it. I think people will get to much un-finshed honey that will spoil rapidly.

[hoseromon]

Thanks histopicker that is what I'm looking for is peoples thoughts. With it being new you can't find a lot of information on results.

[histopicker]

It will still require you getting into the hive to see if you have capped honey. If you watch the vids the flow hive does not uncap the honey when you operate the mechanism to open the cells. What this does is require the honey to pull against a vacuum to drain. Physical laws indicate this is very inefficient. Also by not uncapping the cells; they are assuming the bees are going to know the capped cells are empty, that they are going to un-cap them and refill with honey. You can't train bees, they are insects.

[hoseromon]

That was one thing I was wondering also was how the bees would know to refill the capped combs. Makes sense that they wouldn't realize they were empty afterwards.

[histopicker]

Mar 27, 2015 11:51:32 GMT -5 hoseromon said:

That was one thing I was wondering also was how the bees would know to refill the capped combs. Makes sense that they wouldn't realize they were empty afterwards.

You know I could very well be wrong about the way I see this product; I just don't have faith in it. I believe in the old saying; If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

[Brad H.]

I don't know alot about the beekeeping game (yet) but I do know that in order to keep bees over the winter you have to leave them with a certain amount of honey. Especially in a cold area like WI. It seems like it would be difficult to control the amount of honey that you are leaving behind for them with a flow hive vs. a traditional hive. Maybe I'm wrong, as I said I'm new to all this.

[farmertrappe]

Mar 27, 2015 12:06:42 GMT -5 histopicker said:

Mar 27, 2015 11:51:32 GMT -5 hoseromon said:

That was one thing I was wondering also was how the bees would know to refill the capped combs. Makes sense that they wouldn't realize they were empty afterwards.

You know I could very well be wrong about the way I see this product; I just don't have faith in it. I believe in the old saying; If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

I agree with Micheal, seems like a lot to go wrong or not work out properly. Bees are incredibly industrial creatures and would have those frames glued up with propolis and I wonder if that would effect hooking up the drains and the efficiency. I figure you would have to run a capper over the empty combs too get the bees working them again.

[hoseromon]

I am probly better off with the tried and true way. Just was looking for thoughts. Like I said I have a year to figure this game out before I get some bees

[histopicker]

Mar 27, 2015 19:36:32 GMT -5 hoseromon said:

I am probly better off with the tried and true way. Just was looking for thoughts. Like I said I have a year to figure this game out before I get some bees

The old way has worked for many years, still ain't broke.

[Deleted]

I've watched several videos as well, and while it sounds good, I agree with histo. Especially after showing the video to several experienced bee keepers. Gimick.

Do it right.

[bk]

Mar 27, 2015 19:53:32 GMT -5 histopicker said:

Mar 27, 2015 19:36:32 GMT -5 hoseromon said:

I am probly better off with the tried and true way. Just was looking for thoughts. Like I said I have a year to figure this game out before I get some bees

The old way has worked for many years, still ain't broke.

I'm with histopicker on this one.  But I'll continue to watch the response and experiences with the flow hive. 

Working in the tech field, I've learned not to be on the bleeding edge of technology, as it almost always involves a lot of bleeding of one sort or another - often expensive and painful.  I'll let others experiment and stick with my Langs and traditional extracting for now while keeping my ears and mind open.

[nytrapper23]

Just watched a show on national Geo on how the African bee was introduced, never had a clue. Man these bees are a ton more interesting than I could ever imagine. This is definitely going on my bucket list.

[histopicker]

Mar 27, 2015 21:23:55 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

Just watched a show on national Geo on how the African bee was introduced, never had a clue. Man these bees are a ton more interesting than I could ever imagine. This is definitely going on my bucket list.

Did it only mention them being introduced to Brazil or did it also mention them being brought to the southern United States many years before that ?

[nytrapper23]

No , only mentioned being brought to Brazil and then a mad scientist crossed them with a eastern honey bee , had a special grate on his hives to keep the queen in the hive , a new worker removed this grate and that's how it all began . They said they came into Texas , Florida via cargo ships planes etc, then they went into studying them here to control them , really interesting show.

[histopicker]

here is something posted to me on face book today about the flow hive.

Here is a narrative from a Craig's List ad for Spokane Wa:

FLOW Hive Bee Hive with all accessories - $200
I bought into this idea that I could get honey without much work or worries, so I bought a complete setup with a package of bees. Paid a lot more than for a conventional setup but the simplicity and convenience convinced me.

I found out I had been mislead and the bees required just as much care and attention as any hive of bees, which means opening the hive regularly to inspect and treat for diseases, stop swarming, feed with sugar water, etc. My bees died.

My opinion is the Flow Hive is a crowd-funding scam. Lots of unsuspecting people have "invested" money and will never see a return, lots of other naiive people will buy a Flow Hive and then learn the hard facts of beekeeping without ever getting more than a taste of honey, and the scammers will disappear. Sad.

[hoseromon]

Okay so overall should probably avoid it like the plague. That's okay I always like saving money and conventional will do that