beekeeping

[watertrade]

This.

Hot.

http://www.facebook.com/flowhive

We are very excited to introduce our new invention that allows you to enjoy fresh honey straight out of your beehive without opening it. It's far less stress for the bees and much, much easier for the beekeeper.

Launches tomorrow 11am. Is getting good reviews.

You can fit 2 Flow supers on top of a non-modified Langstroth brood box from the looks of things, as long as the frames are deep

If it's as good as it looks it does have a couple of on-flow impacts of interest:

If beekeeping becomes idiot-proof, more idiots will keep bees and not look after them, potentially providing a pool of pathogens and pests

If European beehives proliferate they could potentially knock native bees back a way. European bees start foraging much earlier in the day than the locals.

These are not negatives which would stop me from coveting and purchasing a Flow hive, any savings I make in time and money stuffing round with extractors etc I'll put into providing native hives for the locals

I managed to get an invite to the launch of the flow hive, somehow I was at their house with the development team ( dad and son), the media and a few big names in the Aussie bee world. (I'm a nobody by the way)

it was very exciting. once they clicked the start button the money started pouring in. they were getting about a thousand dollars a minute and now its at $3,114,274 US dollars. everyone was blown away. its a very nice product, I wish I had thought of it and spent the last ten years designing it.

I couldn't help but feel that I had just witnessed these two people on the path to becoming very rich.

[teonanacatl]

Great idea, Im not sure I understand its popularity though? Its too early for major honey producers to be switching over. I see problems with hygiene. Was harvesting honey the thing that stopped more people keeping bees? I doubt it. Would you buy one WT?

[watertrade]

I

Great idea, Im not sure I understand its popularity though? Its too early for major honey producers to be switching over. I see problems with hygiene. Was harvesting honey the thing that stopped more people keeping bees? I doubt it. Would you buy one WT?

I have mixed feelings about it. harvesting honey was and is always a pain in the ass for me. it takes time, lots of heavy lifting, cleaning getting stung etc... these frames remove all of that and make it easy to get jars of honey on the go. what people probably don't understand is that they will ( or should) still have to open the hives up and check for disease, without inspection from inside the hive knowing when the honey is ripe is next to impossible. a rigorous method of use will make them useful. But in my opinion anywhere between micro and massive scales they have limited utility. I think on a commercial scale they could be quite useful and cost effective.

The honey doesn't oxidise as much compared to traditional centrifugal extraction so it tastes 'fresher' ~ cleaner.

Where these frames have most appeal I think is in suburban beekeeping where you can just take a jar of honey as required and in front of your friends. the responsible beekeeper should do all the other stuff involved in keeping bees too.

People in the beekeeping community I speak with think this will encourage lazy and irresponsible beekeeping which will ultimately be to the detriment of the keepers and the bees. this could also be partly a reaction from what is a very tradition heavy practise.

in short - probably a good and fun additional product to add to any beekeeper. and I will use them in at least one of my hives just for fun.

[teonanacatl]

Excellent thanks

The bees cannot clean up inside the frames though right? So there would be honey residue in there ripe for bacteria and fungi?

[watertrade]

once the frames are put back into their normal position the bees can get into each cell and clean it out but they can't get into the main body of the frame.

In theory... only fully ripe capped honey should be extracted. if this is the case the osmotic pressure and other chemical factors I don't know about should preserve the honey indefinitely. As a guide you only extract capped honey which has a moisture of 14 - 21% and stable for storage. How do you know if the honey is capped?? open the hive and have a look! the flow hive team argue that if the frames on the outside of the hive are capped the centre frames will be too. this is true. but once you 'flow out' those internal frames and the bees start refilling them how will you know when they are ready. this is where a good method would have to be used. something like, all the frames would need to be extracted at once to ensure the honey is ready. (the bees fill up the cells from the centre out like the layers of an onion.)

The honey could crystalise inside the frames too which would require a clean out - but that wouldn't be a big deal.

[teonanacatl]

The honey will absorb moisture in a humid environment and soon wont have the right osmolarity to stay fresh. Let us know how yours goes! If I had the money and the hive numbers Id probably buy one for fun.

[watertrade]

The honey will absorb moisture in a humid environment and soon wont have the right osmolarity to stay fresh.

hmmm, right. that could get a bit funky.

I'm not sure when I will get mine - it will depend very much on if I get freebies to try or have to buy them ;)

I will probably have results by this time next year?

[watertrade]

The honey will absorb moisture in a humid environment and soon wont have the right osmolarity to stay fresh.

what factors affect this? just relative humidity? would the % moisture just continue to approach the humidity if it's in a non-sealed container?

Edited February 27, 2015 by watertrade
improvement

[teonanacatl]

The term is hygroscopic and there is usually a point till which it will absorb water (equilibrium is reached) and yes this will depend on the relative humidity. Found this nice graph.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LyraEDISServlet?command=getImageDetail&image_soid=FIGURE%201&document_soid=AA249&document_version=71486

So Id say its safely below 21% when relative humidity is below 65%.

[teonanacatl]

Well my swarm is making comb (checked last night) and they are collecting pollen so Im assuming the queen is laying brood now too! Have a big honey flow from Melaleuca's in my swamp so that should keep them busy and give them a good start!