Beekeeping In A Flow Hive: Will It Really Work Or Fail?

I'm interested in the flow hive because they live in the city. How do you feel about it now? Almost a year after this video?

I really want to get one of these. Have no hives and no bees, and really want to get into honey harvesting. Is it true if you buy a hive the bees will come?

I really like my flow hive. I’ve been keeping bees since 2001 or so and never spun a frame. I’ve done Ross Rounds, comb, Flow. I used a bunch of plastic sheeting in the beginning but am removing it as hives collapse etc.

I do very little hive management and just let them do their thing. Most of my colonies are strong so I let them make whatever comb they want, worker or drone. Then when I want some honey I slap a Flow super on a strong colony.

Hello this work for stingless bee?

Too many plastic pieces to loose or break for my taste ! And replacements are not cheap !

My shop teacher just yelled at you !!THAT NOT A PRY BAR ITS A LEVEL!!!

You don’t need to clean up any of the honey, the bees will do it better that anyone.

Hi Bro.
What do you think between flow hive box and normal box ?
Can we do industry with flow hive box ?
Pls reply me
I’m from VietNam, Asia.

Do you need any other set up I saw boxes in the back?

Где купить такой улей?

Apis cerena indica bees are comfortable with this type hive ??????

Self managing honey bank?

I think my bees have read the plans for the flow hive.
Every time I harvest, they zoom round the back of the hive, and commit suicide in the jar of honey, unless I cover the tube and jar with cling wrap. They even fly into the space where you fit the handle to crack the comb. So, I always take the handle out straight away and put the top plug loosely back into it's place while harvesting. It's loads of fun though, and no effort at all.

Do you not have to put the key in and then rotate the other way to fix the hive?

I have had a Flow Hive for around 5 years and spent over 1k on bees and the hive and not a drop of honey yet. That would have bought alot of honey 😂

after watching your videos I see that you have many beautiful hives... would you suggest the Honeyflow for a novice?

I am a bee farmer. I need a box. Please help me to get the box.

How will the refill if the other ends are capped?

You sound like Casey Kasem!

On the first one, I’m pretty sure you didn’t open it all the way the first time, and then when you went to open it all the way you ended up closing the first 3/4 that you opened initially

If you use a level for leverage you're messing up your level. Don't do that. Don't teach your kids to do that. Then again this explains why all the houses built since the 60s are aging as poorly as they are.

Watching you use your level as a pry bar sends shivers down my spine.

Wherw can I purchase?

Are these any better than the Langstroth hives? Ewwww the fly!!

If you set up the level by holding it level above the roof of the hive, that will give you an idea how much you need to go, then if you know how many threads per inch, then you can just turn the screw, how many times, to equal how far you need to go. So, if you need to go, 1/4", and you have 24 threads per inch, then just turn the screw 6 turns. Then check again.

When that fails, just go back to the video above. 🤣🤣

Is this useful, anyone use that...??? ❤ advice plzz ok or not

Don't mess up your feet adjustment! Just put a 1 inch board under the feet on the side you want higher...

I laughed when someone asked if I used flow hives as a side liner. I said nope costs too much for 50 to 100 plus hives.

Do you have to do anything to the frames before harvesting again or will the bees get right back to work?

Excellent video

once you take all the honey out, do you have to clean to remove the caps? or how would that works?

here's a tip for you, if you get more than one flow hive, use two keys when opening the frames as well as doing it gradually, i find it helps especially if the frames are a little stiff from use over time, i leave the keys in position when harvesting a frame and give them a good 30 secs in place when closing. they can leak a little honey beneath the hive on the very first harvest, but the girls will clean that up quickly. i have 5 flow hive +2, not sure why you'd use that spirit level when you have the flow hive +2 since there's one built into the hive for the 3 degree tilt angle, it's on the left side of the base of your hive.

You don't have to do that. It's already tilted.

In a flow hive, what do you do when the honey granulates

Not one bee?

Don't the bees put propolis around the caps? I would think there is a risk of the plastic caps breaking because of it.

I have a bee hive above my attic that has been present for years and I am very attached to my bees. I think I want to get the same Flow Bee Hive and move them to a rural property so they can continue to be my lovely bees! Thanks for the video! The comments are informative as well! Glad I stumbled across this! 🌻🐝🐝🍯

Found that a ziplock cut in one corner, shove tube into ziplock corner and with a rubber band/ hair tie secure bag at the mouth of the jar.

No fíes nor bees.

I've seen others using two (2) cranks simultaneously ... wouldnt be better ?

I usually get about 2.5 quarts per Flow frame. If the hive is tilted back properly the tubes will be completely full while the honey flows out. Also, I find it easiest just to keep some plastic wrap handy if I need to cover the top of the jar while it's filling up.

Its not a level anymore its a pry bar from now on.

I’m not a beekeeper, but the bees kinda assigned me to be one 😅, so I’m trying to learn as much as I could now. 😆🤪 I’m about to order one of those to give these bees a proper home. They’re in my kitchen vent right now, so just image the sound of sticky honey coming from the fan every time we use our overhead microwave. 😂 Killing them is not an option, (it will break my heart) so if you “can’t beat them, join them.” 😊😊😊

Pretty sure that level is just fine. It is made of I-beam construction and if you look at the placement of the level I seriously doubt if there was any damage. Maybe use a fulcrum next time. Archimedes would then look down on you with pride. lol lol Anyway thanks for the education on the flow hive.

My ladies kept flying into the honey so much that I had to watch the whole time to make sure they didn't get caught in the honey!

Use a sink screen for honey to go through into the jar to stop bugs, etc

Hey David, have you ever thought about doing a video on how to get your bees through a hot summer? I'm not a beekeeper yet but I currently live in California where it gets up to 115°F in the summertime.

Looking good. Still waiting for my flow frames to fill up. Maybe waiting for spring.

That was so cool! Thank you for sharing. I think I may need to get one.

A good thing to demonstrate prior to harvesting was to pull frames out to show how much is fully capped.

Looking at how much honey you harvested none of the frames were fully capped.

The rear view harvest window is not an indicator that frames are ready only that the bees have filled the frames from the rear.

A Flow frame holds around 1.5ltrs of honey so around 2.5 gallons US.

Nice to see you having fun with the Flow Hive I've several and for around 5 years now.

Great for backyard beekeepers although lifting a partially or full deep Flow super off the hive to carryout inspections isn't easy.

Demonstrating harvesting off the hive is also good as it'll show the leakage you get back into the brood below so my advice is never harvest all frames in one go. Do several then a few more with a couple of days in-between.

I've had colonies abscond due to the severity of the leakage from the Flow frames. The individual sections ultimately cannot prevent liquid leakage after cracking the frame open.

If you have the pest management tray in you'll see the leakage in the tray that's dripped over the entire brood chamber.

If you don't have the tray in it'll fall through the metal mesh floor and can encourage robbing from other nearby hives, wasps or hornets.

I thought it was interesting that all of the cells were not 100% full prior to capping.