At first I thought these guys were joking, until I read that they were doing
a kickstarter to raise money.
Now I wonder if they can profitably manufacture this.
I'm not so sure that this has been thought through completely by these
fellows, as I have seen what happens to uncovered honey in a beeyard.
I'm also not so sure about what other insects (ants) would think about a
2-hour window where honey slowly fills a container.
I suppose one could rig a sealed jug into which the tubing runs, passing
through a hole in a cap, and solve both these problems.
I wonder what would be done with the fall flow, which is often not below 18%
moisture until it is a bit chilly.
I am willing to try almost anything, but I still have multiple cases of
"Honey Super Cell" fully-drawn plastic combs, if anyone would like to make
an offer. (In both "deep" size, untouched, new in box, and also ones lightly
used combs that I precision cut on a table saw and installed into medium
wooden frames.) I suppose they would be of most value to someone who wanted
to assure themselves that they were raising "small-cell" bees.
http://youtu.be/0_pj4cz2VJM
Publication of patent application showing basic concept:
http://images1.freshpatents.com/imageviewer/20140370781-p20140370781
http://tinyurl.com/mdpmdpu
=============================
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 FlowT 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
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