Zone 3b, Lower St. Lawrence, Quebec
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Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
(Usually)
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
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Cheers
Rob.
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
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Rob Browne wrote:Looks like it is in the hive permanently. Now that would be expensive. What stops it munching bees? Will be interesting to see it when its launched but I don't think I will be lining up too quickly.
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
(Usually)
David Livingston wrote:It also relys on plastic foundation .
I do wonder if any folks thinking about this would like to hear Pauls exerlent podcast on the reverance for bees before they support this idea .
David
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
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Marty Mitchell wrote:
I have heard those podcasts and loved them. Opening up a hive is stressful on bees in sooo many ways. Now I know that thanks to his podcasts. This product would help those areas out. No more plain stress, no more smoke, no more cold air getting in that they have to work to reheat, and no more having to make the medicinal air either.
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873
tel jetson wrote:
Marty Mitchell wrote:
I have heard those podcasts and loved them. Opening up a hive is stressful on bees in sooo many ways. Now I know that thanks to his podcasts. This product would help those areas out. No more plain stress, no more smoke, no more cold air getting in that they have to work to reheat, and no more having to make the medicinal air either.
you don't think having comb torn apart while still occupied would be stressful? how about honey pouring all over the hive and saturating bees? how about all that aromatic honey attracting robbers? how about the queen excluder that would have to be used to prevent brood mush in your Flow Honey Product(TM)?
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
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Marty Mitchell wrote:
Yes. I do think it would be less stressful than choking the bees with smoke, removing the roof off of their home, blindly slicing a blade through the comb to seperate the sections, tearing the sections out, then brushing the bees aside to take their honey, and forcing them to build new sections of comb so I can tear it out again.
Marty Mitchell wrote:Honey is always going to be in the hive. As stated by David there are always going to be cells that are open for the world to smell. Honey robbers are going to have a sense of smell far greater than our own and they will find it. Bees are noisy too.
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
tel jetson wrote: one negative aspect I see regardless of how benign the design, is that these contraptions could lead folks down the path of viewing a beehive as a honey machine. put bees in, wait a while, turn a crank to get some honey. repeat. that is an attitude, frankly, that I believe has led humans to do all manner of damage to honeybees and a great many other critters, et cetera.
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
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Hi!
Thanks so much for your interest in the Flow hive. We (Cedar, Stu and our whole beekeeping family) are so excited to be letting you and the world know about the invention we have been working on for over a decade. The response has been quite overwhelming, thanks for all the amazing comments. We are working as fast as we can to complete a video that will show you all the details about the technology.
We want to tell you a little more about the Flow frames/hives, how they work, what we think this will mean for beekeeping and where we are at with producing them.
How do the Flow™ frames work?
The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells. The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells as usual. When you turn the tool, a bit like a tap, the cells split vertically inside the comb forming channels allowing the honey to flow down to a sealed trough at the base of the frame and out of the hive while the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface.
When the honey has finished draining you turn the tap again which resets the comb into the original position and allows the bees to chew the wax capping away, and fill it with honey again. The Flow frames are inserted into standard bee supers (boxes) in much the same way as standard frames, however the box itself is modified by cutting two access doorways in one end.
When the frames are inserted, the ends of the frames now form the end of the super. This allows access to the operating slots and honey pipe outlets.
You can see into the hive
Each Flow frame is designed with a unique transparent end allowing you to see into the hive. This means you can watch the bees turning nectar into honey and see when each comb is full and ready. Both children and adults get excited seeing the girls at work in their hive. Importantly you will be able to keep an eye on colony numbers thus giving you early detection of any problems within your hive.
Please note: it’s important to check the hive for disease and look after your colony as per usual. This does require keeping an eye on your bees and opening the hive and inspecting the brood if there are signs of pests or disease. Beekeepers usually check their brood once or twice a year. If you are new to beekeeping you will need to seek help from experienced beekeepers.
It’s a fantastic learning curve.
The extraction process is not only easier but much faster with a flow hive
The whole harvesting process ranges from 20 minutes to two hours depending on the viscosity of the honey.
Usually the bees don’t even discover you at the back of the hive. If you notice that the bees have discovered the collecting jar or bucket you can always cover the extracting pipes or make a lid with a hole for the pipe/s.
There is no more heavy lifting
The harvesting happens right at the hive without moving the super boxes at all. No more injured backs!
Undisturbed bees makes a happier, healthier hive
Because the hives are not regularly opened and pulled apart to be harvested, the bees are relatively undisturbed and they experience less overall stress. Although this may seem trivial, bee stress is a significant factor contributing to the strength of a bee colony.
Opening a hive also risks potential introduction of pests and disease. It’s nice not to squash bees in the process of honey harvesting.
The risk of stings is lower
Because the bees are going about their normal business while you are harvesting the honey from the back of the hive. We have found that the bees usually don’t even notice that you are there.
We still recommend you use a bee suit or veil if you are inexperienced, don’t know the particular hive or have a grumpy hive. A hive that is usually calm can be grumpy at times when the nectar flow is very slow.
Where to from here?
After many years of prototypes we now have a robust design that we have been testing for the last 3 years with beekeepers here in Australia as well as in America and Canada.
Now we want to share it with you.
The official launch of the Flow hive is on the 23rd of February
We are launching on the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com.
Through our launch we hope to raise the funds to get this project off the ground and start producing and delivering these hives to you within the next four months.
Apparently, if a lot of people pledge early, then the whole thing snowballs. Conversely, if the pledging goes slowly then the project is less likely to fly. In our case we hope many people who want a Flow super to add to their beehive or who want a whole Flow beehive (the bees have to be obtained locally) will pledge on the 23rd or 24th giving us a chance to reach our target and start production.
The early pledges get an additional ‘early bird’ discount off the already discounted price giving an extra incentive to pledge quickly.
We’ll send you a reminder when the Kickstarter crowd-funding time begins on February 23rd, and we will be putting some more videos on our Facebook page and website soon.
We are also making a FAQ page on our website to answer all the great questions that are flooding in.
All the best!
Stu and Cedar Anderson
Our website is http://www.honeyflow.com/
Our FB page http://www.facebook.com/flowhive
How permies.com works
What is a Mother Tree ?
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873
Ernie Schmidt wrote:I was lucky enough to spend a weekend with Michael Bush several months ago. Having gotten to know him I trust his judgment on bee matters. After seeing his endorsement of the product on their website, I emailed him and asked if it was the real deal. He said he received a set up and is impressed with it. Even after that I must admit still being cautiously skeptical.
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
It's never too late to start! I retired to homestead on the slopes of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. I relate snippets of my endeavor on my blog : www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
(Usually)
David Livingston wrote: I just have a veil too , Su Ba and hardly ever use smoke
I am going to suggest a competition how much will this super "super" cost
I was going to suggest something like and remember its for the super only
Early bird exclusive offer .....( lots of other advertising flannel ) .... only be fore three days time ...(more advert flannel) 40% ...10% ... (more flannel )
299$
Any other suggestions ?
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
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This is what I was thinking at the time I typed this, it could change with better facts.
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
(Usually)
Zone 3b, Lower St. Lawrence, Quebec
The options are endless. Put a hive on your roof and pipe the honey right into your kitchen at the press of a button.
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
Come join me at www.peacockorchard.com
Heidi Hoff wrote:The Flow Hive kickstarter is going nuts. Good for them. I wonder if the discussions here, on Facebook and elsewhere have helped allay some concerns for the well-being of the bees.
I would want to keep hives primarily to encourage pollinators, as at max I would want 10 pounds of honey per year. So I was looking at the various packages they offer and thought perhaps the best strategy for me would be to buy three Flow Hive frames and buy an eight-frame Langstroth hive locally. I could monitor the flow frames and tap them perhaps late in the season, and simply leave the five standard frames alone. So the bees would have at least 5/8 of their honey as their over-wintering supply, and I could feed some of the harvested honey back to them if ever it was needed.
I regard raw honey as a medicinal and a special treat. At our rate of consumption -- maybe two tablespoons per day on average -- the yield from tapping three flow frames just once a year would be plenty, with some extra to share with friends. I would regard the hive as simply providing shelter for my hard-working pollinators, so that my orchard and garden would provide more abundant yields.
Thoughts?
Chasing that dream and enjoying every minute of it!
(Usually)
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873
If I did this I would take the Flow combs and use two combs max per box. Putting those two on the outside of the hive box so I could see the full comb through a large window. It would be easier to judge when it's time to do some cleaning too.
I am saying for this product to be successful the buyer must first be successful at beekeeping. Just a hint for keepers wanting to give it a try - wait a year or two before procuring this product. There will hundreds of used ones sitting in dead hives at give away prices and some sitting discarded in apiary sheds.
Zone 3b, Lower St. Lawrence, Quebec
find religion! church
kiva! hyvä! iloinen! pikkumaatila
get stung! beehives
be hospitable! host-a-hive
be antisocial! facespace
The knights of nee want a shrubbery. And a tiny ad:
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
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