Last night I decided to crack open the package and assemble my Flow Hive box (the light version with 4 Flow frames). I've assembled a few hive boxes and frames in my life, so I know my way around a workbench. Some unbiased observations: 

- I can see where part of the high price comes from - there are many little wooden pieces, well-lathed handle knobs, etc. This is more of a display piece than a workhorse model. 

- The cut was so-so; the pieces didn't fit well together and some splintered (it's cedar wood). Same with the pre-drilled holes - some turned out to be just pin-hole sized, so the provided screw ended up splitting the end, requiring me then to re-drill all the holes, since I couldn't trust any of them. Let's attribute it to startup growing pains, but having splintered the frame 5 minutes after starting the assembly didn't put *me* in the right frame of mind. 

- The little window on the side is cool; basically, the whole thing can be viewed as an observation hive on steroids. I can easily see bringing bee novices to such a hive and showing them how bees are moving inside by simply removing the wooden covers. No need to dress up, smoke and open the hive. But, will that plastic window last? 

- The box can be assembled in only one way and because one short side has a huge semicircular cut, its rigidity is compromised. This is *definitely* not a commercial-ready solution. This box can last in the hands of a careful hobbyist, but it won't last a season in a commercial operation. 

- The idea behind the cut is to provide access to the Flow frames; the frames are supposed to be flush with the cut, in order to close any gap between them and the box. Well, see the point above about the so-so cuts - the gap is about 3 mm and most importantly, one has to literally secure 4 screws around the frames in order to hold them in place - no predrilled holes for those, so you just have to eyeball it. There are two small blocks of wood provided, about 1.5 cm x 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm with a pre-drilled hole and a nail. Their purpose it literally nail them beside the plastic frames in order to close the gaps at the top of the box. The blocks must be nailed into the top shelf where the frames rest and there's about 1-2 mm of space for the nail, so the risk of splintering the edges is 100%. That's a really bad design, because these blocks will be history in a matter of weeks of manipulating inside that box. I also don't see any novice hobbyist being able to put it all together easily or at all. And I still haven't figured out how to close that gap without caulk. 

Now, for some clearly cool stuff from a design standpoint - the Flow frames themselves are wicked clever! I've read the old patent for the frames that used metal to implement the same split-cell idea, but this is above and beyond what that original idea was. I also did not realize from the videos that Flow frames are not a single unit: they are composed from vertical segments, each the width of about 1 standard comb cell and they are pressed together by a tight steel cable. Ingenious. They are flexible, so they bend somewhat. Regardless of what happens to the Flow Hive, that sliding mechanism will inspire somebody to design it into other ideas, not necessarily bee related. 

The bad part of the frame design are the plastic end pieces that close the access holes for the tool that splits the cells and the drain tube. If beekeepers are capable of constantly losing a large, brightly colored hive tool, imagine what will happen to small, clear plastic pieces - you drop them anywhere in the grass and good luck finding it! I predict a lot of duck tape use to close those holes after the plastic pieces are gone, :-) 

Overall, I'm ready to paint it now, but for sure this will be just a single-hive curiosity. I was always intrigued by the observation hives, but don't have the resources or time to invest in setting one up. This comes a close second with those side windows, though if I really wanted just that, I could cut out holes in my existing boxes for a lot less than the cost of a Flow Hive. As an experiment, we will see, but I can just as easily see it ending up mounted on a wall above my stuffed black bear (don't ask, a non-returnable gift from well-meaning relatives). 

Przemek

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html