Flow Hive Harvest | Do the flow frames really work?

[@tuskegeehoney]

I agree, I have had some of my bees like the flow frames and some don't but I like the flow frames - cuts down on my work! thank's for sharing!

[@PREMIERELEAGUEENTVEVO]

When you set up a flow hive.. do you have to introduce your own colony to the Flow Hive or you leave it on ita own....

[@michellegardner6284]

Really helpful! I have bees above my garage and I want to rehome them so I don’t have to give them up. But in a way that I can manage & then move them to a better more rural location.

[@jrys23]

What do you do with frames that don’t get filled up and capped before winter? Is there a way to limit access to frames or do they typically start in the middle and work their way to the sides?

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

There are lots of different things that people do. For me, any frames that I can't harvest honey from get pulled from the colony in the fall and I leave them out for the bees to open feed on. Then I put the cleaned out frames in storage for the winter. I usually put the frames about 100 ft or so away from the apiary so I don't encourage robbing activities.

[@DennisCarlson-k6h]

Where do I get the shelf braces

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

They came with my flow frame hive order. I would expect you could buy them from the flow frame people.

[@richard1329]

How many bees die in the process of turning those keys? I assume some bees are filling the fake combs at the time of the turn. Also would it not be easier doing this at night when they asleep or does that not matter? Im considering starting a full on show hive where the inspection part of the hive is in my bar and the tunnels are drilled through the houses walls and the flow box is outside the house hence all the questions.

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

In theory, no bees die in the process of turning the keys. The cells open up and any bees that might have been in an uncapped cell won't get stuck. For the most part, the bees don't even know you've turned the keys. The cappings stay mostly in place. The bees will eventually notice and they will remove the caps and clean up the cell and if there's still a flow, they will start to refill them. You should be able to extract at night. I do it during the day so I can see what I'm doing. Bees never really sleep so it doesn't really matter to them. There will be more bees in the hive at night as all of the foragers will be back in for the evening.

[@6119misha6119]

@@FreeRangeArtFarmbro bees sleep at night honey bees sleep between 5-8 hours a day ! , i don't understand how people like you even have living bees !!! Well depends on where you live probably

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

@@6119misha6119 bro, you can be nice when you correct someone. And if you think me saying that bees never really sleep is going to cause me to kill my colonies that's simply an ignorant statement to make. If the person asking the question thinks they can open a hive at night and everyone inside it is tucked in to bed, that could be a dangerous assumption. Some of the bees, mostly the foragers will rest at night. It's not really sleep like we do, but they will experience reduced bodily activity that is akin to what we describe as sleep. Bottom line, don't be a dick when you come on to someone's channel and make a comment. Provide good information and be nice about it. We have too many assholes in the beekeeping community as it is, don't add to it.

[@dano1234v]

Have you left the frames in all winter? I want to keep to Fran’s in for the bees

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

We remove the frames over winter. I want to keep the queen away from those frames so she never lays eggs in them.

[@dano1234v]

I have 4 of them, I drained 3 and reset them , a day after I drained them the bees resealed them and started putting honey in them again, so I plan to leave them in, my hive is small, frames are 9” x 9” hold a little over 1 quart each, they were all full and capped 100 %, I also have a queen excluder below them, so the queen can’t get to them, I have read in the bee world that is a no no to leave honey in frames with excluder, but they have all their pollen and lots of honey stored below in brood frames, so I think they will not leave the queen, plus the winter in short where I live, the bees are still leaving the hive, if it’s sunny above 45 degrees, so winter is only 3 months here, I will let you know in March if I made a mistake Thanks

[@peterpanayi1088]

What i do is that closed the bottom entrance for a week orso,and i open an upper entrance towords the top of the flow supper.I also used 1 timber waxed frame instead of the plastic flow frame.That made the bees to use the upper entrance and worked on the flow frames.

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

Great advice. Thanks for sharing.

[@peterg2569]

How long does it take to empty a frame?

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

It depends. If the honey is thick and it's cooler outside, it could take an hour. But I've never had to wait more than 15 mins to empty a frame.

[@brucesbees]

Hey great job Thomas. I have thought about buying a Flow Hive or two to play with. I know of a couple of local folks here that have had success with them. But I just don’t know if I can pull the trigger due to cost.

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

Thanks! Yes, they are expensive, for sure. As I've said, they would be good for the backyard person who will never have more than two colonies.

[@brucesbees]

@@FreeRangeArtFarm #truth. But you know me. I want to try everything! Haha.

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

@@brucesbees me too... I love experimenting with different things.

[@dano1234v]

@@brucesbees I put mine one in early May, there would always be a few bees on them checking them out , come September they started filling them, capped them 100% around middle of October, I only have a small hive frames are 9”x 9” , drained 3 and reset them the next day the bees resealed them and started with honey again, they worked great, I have an 8 frame box I will covert to flow frame as well, I also used a bamboo excluder with round bamboo, it works great I watched the bees go through like it wasn’t there, better than the steel and plastic ones, you will enjoy the bees I have , I never smoked them once and did not use anything but shorts and T shirt when I entered the hive, stung only 3 times all year, the bees are Italian mutts , as a hobby I’m in no rush to enter the hive, so I sit by them for a while, they get used to you, then go slow from there, slide lid off slowly, if it’s stuck with bee glue break it loose but don’t remove it right away, just move it back very slow and wait in between moves then when it’s off wait the bees will settle down and then remove one frame at a time slowly as well, works for me, but I visit the hive almost every day, and was entering every 2 weeks , except when they started to fill the honey frames I left them alone, and will not enter until spring now, I will lift roof to monitor them on warm days, bees are enjoying to watch and learn about them Have fun

[@cindym8900]

Straps due to wind?

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

Yes, we can some very strong winds here.

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

Very clever shelf Thomas! What was your moisture at the end?

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

I wish I could take credit. That's all part of the flow hive engineering. They really are nicely designed hive boxes. It's just trying to get the bees to fill up the frames can be tricky.

[@HoneyBoard88]

Khung dòng chảy này sẽ tiết kiệm được nhiều thời gian của người nuôi quy mô nhỏ nhưng nếu quy mô lớn thì hơi bất tiện tại phải mang hộp đựng mật đến từng tổ ong

[@KajunHomestead]

❤👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@GaroSargsyan-db9sn]

Здраствуите я гаро дадяа спасиба тибе он супер работе👍🐝🐝🐝

[@ktjamlex]

Not surprised it broke - you were being a bit brutal just calm down a bit.

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

Thanks for the feedback. I certainly didn't think I was being brutal at all. It's a good lesson for everyone that you need to be very gentle with the flow frames.

[@hevchip741]

My honey doesnt touch plastic at all

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

@hevchip741 really? You use all natural comb too? What's your reason for avoiding plastic?

[@EndingSimple]

@@FreeRangeArtFarm A lot of people are afraid of BPA's or micro plastics from food matter even touching plastic. I'm not sure of the science behind that. Flowhive frames are advertised to be food safe plastics. But then there is a lot of paranoia about now. Nobody knows what's true anymore or who is telling the truth.

[@dano1234v]

@@EndingSimpledo you use straws, or bread or milk, or meat wrapped in plastic, or plastic sandwich bags etc.

[@EndingSimple]

@@dano1234v yes. I use them all. The ancient Romans were slowly being poisoned by their lead alloyed kitchenware . If its not one thing that kills you it's another. Just mention it because there are others who care .

[@sandi2005]

​@@dano1234vthat is not the point!

[@The12345condor]

Hi, Are your super flows chinese knock offs?

[@FreeRangeArtFarm]

No, they are the actual flow frames.

[@PeterThomson-i1f]

the easy way to tell which is which is the chinese knock off one has 2 holes in or near the roof section and the proper flowhive does not.

[@dano1234v]

@@PeterThomson-i1f I believe mine are Chinese, not sure what holes you are talking about, but mine worked fine, the only issue I noticed was the plug that goes in where the tube goes to get the honey out does not seal there is a little gape, but the bees figure that out right away and seal it, but when you take the honey out you can’t stop and put the plug the honey will leak into the hive, so let as much drain out as you can , if not bees will fix it right away, they are vacuum cleaner’s of honey