Beekeeping

[FlasherZ]

A gallery of Flow Hive photos was posted. It gets more and more intriguing.

Flowâ„¢ Gallery - Flow Hive

I agree. I think they've got a big winner on their hands here. I plan to pick up 1-2 supers, myself. Pricing is going to be key, though - if they want $100/frame, I don't mind getting out my capping knife.

 

[bonnie]

I agree. I think they've got a big winner on their hands here. I plan to pick up 1-2 supers, myself. Pricing is going to be key, though - if they want $100/frame, I don't mind getting out my capping knife.

Pricing is key, yes. They do show a super with a mix of frames though - at a minimum, would be nice to have a couple in one super. If it's close to overflow, you could quickly harvest those frames and buy yourself a little time.

New item on the website, Letters, with an exchange with one of the people doing the testing & quoted on the site, where he talks about what he may have to change with these supers. A partial quote:

In recent years I've had all the same size boxes and I try to leave them honey for winter. This may change my view of some of how I determine what to leave them since these are deeper combs and can't be used for brood I don't think I want them to cluster in them over winter. So I'll have to work out the details of how I will use them as far as when to put them on, take them off, drain them, how many mediums to have on below them etc. In other words, I'm pretty sure I'll be using them, it will just be too useful not to, but exactly how that impacts my total system I'm not really sure, until I've tried to work those details out.

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If this is affordable, I wonder how many more people will become interested in keeping bees. I have two friends who are thinking of establishing hives now that they've seen this. (Though I've reminded them they'll still need to open the hive on a periodic basis.) It appears to completely eliminate the mess and labor that goes with harvesting honey.

Things like this are truly disruptive and could make a difference in the overall bee population if widely adopted.

 

[FlasherZ]

I've made it a policy here in the midwest to have two deep boxes reserved for the brood nest and the honey stores the bees get to keep. Every super I add to that is mine.

I'd probably make the flow super the next one up as a fixture from March to October.

I agree with you on the adoption comments, I think that's what my state inspector is worried about - plenty of new beekeepers that she'll have to teach about disease and such.

 

[bonnie]

I agree with you on the adoption comments, I think that's what my state inspector is worried about - plenty of new beekeepers that she'll have to teach about disease and such.

Offer beekeeping lessons in your area! Beekeeper Mike Beekeeper Mike, A Family Business Serving the Bees and You. does that. And go to some schools, etc. to teach the kids about bees. Kind of like we do with EVs.

 

[wycolo]

Thanks...... (Found it on Hulu Plus, not Netflix)

NFLX has the DVD. (I'm not a streamer).

Don't think these films covered the FlowHive, they just pulled out the frames, knocked off the bees, and scooped off the honey(combs). Is this old way innately hygienic?

I feed hummingbirds in the summer and avoid the wasps.
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[FlasherZ]

Offer beekeeping lessons in your area! Beekeeper Mike Beekeeper Mike, A Family Business Serving the Bees and You. does that. And go to some schools, etc. to teach the kids about bees. Kind of like we do with EVs.

Oh, we do that - we have a local beekeepers' consortium that hosts classes. Part of this, I'm sure, is just her worrying about adding to her strained inspection workload.

 

[slipdrive]

Offer beekeeping lessons in your area! Beekeeper Mike Beekeeper Mike, A Family Business Serving the Bees and You. does that. And go to some schools, etc. to teach the kids about bees. Kind of like we do with EVs.

Education and support is indeed a real need. Here in several Colorado Counties, new relaxed zoning regs allow for up to two hives in every suburban backyard(!) (also up to five chickens!). Used to be allowed only on Ag lots. Most people are smart enough to find expertise and resources, but some of course won't. All are thinking of ways to keep this under control and a positive outcome for all.

 

[bonnie]

fyi - if you check the site for the Flow Hive, the kickstarter starts at 4pm tomorrow (Sunday) PST. The Monday start time that has been listed is if you live in Australia.

 

[FlasherZ]

fyi - if you check the site for the Flow Hive, the kickstarter starts at 4pm tomorrow (Sunday) PST. The Monday start time that has been listed is if you live in Australia.

Thanks for pointing that out. I plan to get in there a bit early myself, before the Americans go to it on Monday morning.

 

[bonnie]

Hopefully I'll be able to get in early - going to be in SF tomorrow, so timing may be problematic.

 

[bonnie]

Launching on Indiegogo now.

 

[bonnie]

As to why the change in funding platforms, here's an excerpt from an email they just sent out:

The only problem is the US dollar issue. They won’t allow us to use US dollars, as we are in Australia.

If we had anticipated the response we would get from the US, we may have set up a US company so we could use USD on Kickstarter. Now, the only way we can offer Flow™ in USD is to swap to Indiegogo.

USD is required to manufacture on this scale, and the obvious choice is to manufacture in the US, as the boxes are expensive to ship overseas.

We will still continue with our small manufacturing setup in Australia for those that want Flow™ earlier.

Indiegogo reached out to us and showed they could support our revolutionary invention, by throwing everything they have behind us, to achieve our funding goals. Thanks guys!

 

[jerry33]

As to why the change in funding platforms, here's an excerpt from an email they just sent out:

I've found Indegogo to be a good venue. I've supported several items from there and so far no disappointment.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

I'm a convert to Top Bar construction, but am for any effort that improves and increases involvement with and awareness of bees. Happy to see that a flow frame could be adapted into a top bar hive, and am already starting to envision a TB / Flow arrangement...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_top-bar_hive (this page has issues)

 

[bonnie]

And I'm a convert to natural beekeeping - avoiding situations that require feeding, medication, etc. Michael Bush's book, The Practice of Beekeeping, along with his talks (available on youtube) converted me. The Practical Beekeeper, Beekeeping Naturally, Bush Bees, by Michael Bush So I was particularly pleased to see his early endorsement on the website, along with a skype session & a letter to someone asking what he thought about the Flow hive.

 

[bonnie]

Great thread over on the bee forum (Michael Bush is posting there, since he's had one for awhile to evaluate):

This product is like you took some plastic comb (not foundation) and cut it into strips down the center of the cells and then after the bees have fixed the cracks you slide every other one down an half of a cell. This makes a zig zag path all the way to the bottom with air coming in the top. The flow of honey actually pulls the honey above it and the air fills the space. So basically there is a path 3/4" by 1/4" for the honey and the air to follow from top to bottom.

 

[bollar]

Great thread over on the bee forum (Michael Bush is posting there, since he's had one for awhile to evaluate):

Tough crowd over there. Reads like ICE manufacturers talking about EVs.

 

[FlasherZ]

Picked up two of the early delivery full 8-frame supers.

 

[bonnie]

Picked up two of the early delivery full 8-frame supers.

Me, too!

 

[GasDoc]

Picked up two of the early delivery full 8-frame supers.

I picked up one also. Going to start a second hive this year.