Theres a lot of innovation happening in the beekeeping arena aside from our project! This is a place to post and discuss new projects and trends related to hive design, hive sensors, and bee projects.

The Honey Flow Project

The Honey Flow Project is a new hive design that seems to extrude honey without needing a beekeeper to enter the hive at all. A small spout pours honey into glass jars seemingly by MAGIC! This seems like a really cool innovation, but how does it work?

Not sure, and the website doesn't give it away. When you click "find out more" (as of 15/2/2015) you are prompted to sign up to their mailing list, rather than given more info. So a lot of questions remain. (I just saw you can "Ask a Question" on the site but I have yet to do so).

The team (which seems to be a father and son from the video) suggest they will be launching a Kickstarter soon. I hope they include a bunch more information on how their system works.

Questions I am left with:

1. How does the bloody thing work????
2. Does it take ALL the honey produced, or leave some for the bees? (Big question - the last thing we want to do is starve the bees of their primary food source!)
3. Is this pure honey, or is part of what is extruded uncured nectar?
4. How much does the system cost?
5. Although it might not be as intrusive in terms of honey extraction, is this system intrusive in other ways?

I guess we'll have to wait and see. If anyone has the urge to ask these questions (or others) to the team on their website, I'd be interested to hear their response!

But either way, awesome to see some more beekeeping innovations happening out there!

It uses a partially completed comb that unlocks the cells vertically which then allows the honey to drip. This is all explained in the patent.
I think you can alternate between regular frames and these frames. So as to keep honey for the bees.
From what I'm seeing is they are targeting the hobbyist market. But I think once this is properly tested commercial beekeepers will be all over this.
Imagine, thiis would eliminate the need to build a honeyhouse, buy expensive extraction equipment.
Hives can be tapped like maple trees and extracted at ones choosing.
I think the video misleads the viewed as to the real potential of this technology.
I'm sure there's a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure this tech works smoothly.
In the video it shows honey going into jars. I think this would disrupt the hive by initiating robbing. I think it would be best if the honey went into a closed tank that can be brought back to the shop for bottling...

This is pretty cool. I personally think its way too expensive (though the Indiegogo campaign seems to prove that others don't think this), but its an awesome piece of technology. I'd be very curious to try and figure out a way to make a home-made version of these in order to make them more accessible to the average beekeeper. I think a piece of technology like this is super important and should be open for everyone, plus a little competition would be good for everyone!

I ordered 3 Flow frames to observe their functionality. I would like to re-design them and print them on my 3D printer in a smaller size (16.5 instead of 23 cm). Because of the patent law we can't make it public, but we could use it for ourselves.

Anyway, remember that for each capped frame, the bees need 2 empty frames to process the nectar. So, using 2 deeps for brood and one Flow super for honey is not feasible. Add at least one more deep for nectar processing. Or, like I will have, half a deep with regular frames, half with Flow frames. The bees will also have some honey in the brood box, you leave that to them for wintering. I would also save the regular frames in the supers that were filled with honey and place them in the brood boxes in the fall if there is no nectar flow at that time. Make sure they have enough honey to winter, if not, feed. Remove the Flow frames before wintering or feeding.

I too ordered a set of frames (4 pack tinkerer set) Hoping to design a super that will enable me to mount them on my warré. My understanding is that they can be shortened in length but not in height. Once I get specs for the cut outs from FlowHive, it should be pretty easy. Delivery due September. will be too late for this season (I live in Norway) but will incorporate it for the following season.