> It's interesting that he's trying the "flow" frames in a "regular" hive.
This is a configuration suggested by the makers of the product.
This is called "Flow Light" - 3 or 4 frames your put into a standard box:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your
-beehive#flow_light
http://tinyurl.com/q999xxp
> Has anyone done a fair, honest assessment of the setup that the Aussie
guys are pushing?
That video would be both fair and honest.
If you scroll down a bit on the page I liked above, you can see a photo of 3
Flow frames and below, 3 photos of them "in use", with the leftmost being
the mix of Flow and standard frames attempted in the video.
In defense of the Flow hive, I did not see very many bees in that hive in
the video.
With so few bees, I would also expect that Ross Rounds would have been
similarly ignored.
As he said it was September in the video, given the low population, that
hive would be a hive that I would consider combining, if it was not a varroa
collapse victim.
This is a basic problem I see often - people just do not see hives that are
wall-to-wall bees on a regular basis any more, and they have no basis for
comparison.
Here is an example of the same configuration as presented by the Flow Hive
team.
There are significantly more bees in the hive:
http://youtu.be/MrRzp78NHcc
But for a video entitled "Flow Hive Brood Check", they blow it right off the
bat:
At 50 seconds, the young lady says "How long has it been since we peeked
inside? It's been a... couple months now?"
The Flow Hive fellow replies "Yeah...
At 3 minutes even, the fellow pulls out one of the Flow frames, and says "So
this one did have a bit of burr comb because we had the other combs beside
it." Admitting that there is a basic bee space issue when mixing frames in
the same box.
At the start, the young lady asks if she is being a "responsible beekeeper"
by approaching a hive without gloves.
Not sure what to make of that statement, nor am I sure what to make of the
Flow Hive "expert" working a hive in gloves, when it is not one of 50 to
work that day, AND in gloves that are clearly far too large for him.
The gloves alone make one wonder how long have these people have _actually_
been keeping bees.
Starting at 7:20, it gets very surreal:
a) A smoker is puffed, although it has clearly gone out. Perhaps time was
short, and they did not want to stop and light the smoker to reshoot.
b) Bees on the outside surface of the hive are brushed with a glove up onto
the top bars and edges where a queen excluder will soon be placed, rather
than being left alone to reenter the hive themselves.
c) Then the smoker is again used, despite still being out, apparently to
"smoke" bees off the edges of the box where the queen excluder is about to
go... should we take up a collection to buy the poor fellow a brush?
d) But after all that prep, the queen excluder is slapped on without
clearing bees out of the way, you can see it being used to shove bees of the
top surface of the box closest to the camera.
e) Then the honey super is replaced, and the frames of honey are then
returned to the box - but wait a sec - open frames of honey were left just
sitting there exposed for the entire inspection?
f) At 7:40, a bunch of LEAVES is being used as a "brush". Yes, the poor
fellow cannot afford a brush. Perhaps another kickstarter fundraising
project is in order here...
g) But at least someone re-lit the smoker!
So, I'll ask again - how much beekeeping have these Flow hive guys REALLY
done?
Gotta go - football.
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