Today I harvested for the 7th time this year, getting about 2-1/2 gallons each time. I am amazed!!
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G’day BBBob, let me be the first to congratulate you 
well done.
Thanks Jeff! 17.5 gallons this year is way beyond what I expected.
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Wowzer. Well done.
Some years I’m lucky to get that from one hive in a whole year
How many FH supers above the queen excluder were you running?
Let me do the maths. One gallon = 4.5 liters. That = 78.75L
78.75x1.5 = 118.125 kilos of honey, that is incredible.
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I was one of the original FH purchasers and go the super with 6 FHs in it.
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Yes, I consistently got 21 pint (24 oz) bottles per harvest and so got 7 x 21 = 147 bottles!!
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Here is a 1 minute video of one of my harvests.
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Well done BB, lots of flow hivers will be interested in those reinforced flexible hoses. Plus will be a bit jealous, also wondering if you got any spillage onto the brood.
Jeff, as far as I know. I do not get any spillage. I was worried that I would have a lot of bees that would get into the bucket but I usually end up rescuing 3-4 bees that get into honey in the bucket. I picked up the hoses at Home Depot and they work great since I start to harvest and just come back 30-40 minutes later and switch them to the next two FH.
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Wow, that is fantastic Bob. Your flow hive is working exactly how it’s advertised to work & more. You must be thrilled
Good luck with your bees into the future, cheers
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I wonder about spillage too, especially seeing all the bees bearding outside and the tubes were full to the top.
Congratulation on your amazing harvest.
I see you were running on two brood boxes as per the video you posted. I have the following questions:
- How many frames do you run on each brood box, 8/9?
- What are you using wax foundation / plastic or foundation less frames?
- Which part in the world are you located?
- What was the period of your harvest?
- How many hives do you have at your apiary?
- Does your hive require winter preparation?
- If you hive require winter prep, do you feed the hive to make up for the honey you harvested?
I would like to hear from you.
Many thanks for sharing your results.
I’m sure Bob is in Texas.
No luck with yields like that in the uk ( unless on OSR maybe) too many beekeepers so forage has to be shared
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Nor in SoCal. With our dry climate, most beekeepers average 20-30lb excess honey per hive per year. This year was particularly good, and I got 27lb, followed by another 8 or 9lb of ripe honey. I also extracted about 12-15lb of unripe honey before removing the Flow frames and gave it back to the bees.
Much of Texas is wetter than southern California, getting hit with tropical storms and monsoon weather. Some of that flows through to Arizona, so although one thinks of Arizona as desert, they can actually have a better nectar flow than we do. All of this is so fascinating and part of keeping bees is understanding your local flow. Great stuff. 
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Thanks Dee,
I exploring the idea of going with triple brood box next year, all the successful beekeepers in my club are running triple or quadruple brood boxes and they have amazing yields and less likely of swarms happening.
I have build my two hive to two brood box this year and both hives are very strong at present.
Though it will be a tall tower with a Super on top.
Paras,
<<How many frames do you run on each brood box, 8/9?>>
8 frames.
<<What are you using wax foundation / plastic or foundation less frames?>?
wax foundation frames mostly. I had 4 foundation less frames
<<Which part in the world are you located?>>
Around the Houston, TX area (Katy, TX)
<<What was the period of your harvest?>>
I put the Honey Flow on top of the two brood boxes Feb 15th after letting the brood develop from May thru Feb from a nuc. What is amazing is that I have split that hive twice this summer and put in 9 new frames which slowed the honey production some. The first split was just after I took that video.
<<How many hives do you have at your apiary?>>
Just 2. One from a split this summer that is developing now. I gave the other split to one of my employees
<<Does your hive require winter preparation?>>
I just put some foam to restrict the entrance so that the colder air out during winter and help keep the heat in. Houston gets below freezing occasionally but does not stay there for very long.
<<If you hive require winter prep, do you feed the hive to make up for the honey you harvested?>>
They are already starting to fill the Honey Flow frames again now. If they don’t fill it soon, I will not harvest again this year and they will have enough honey for the winter. I am reasonably confident that they will fill it again over the next month.
Hope that helps!!
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Paras,
I would highly recommend two brood boxes. It takes longer to get the initial production but it makes the Honey Flow produce more honey per frame. I have two brood boxes on my other hive as well. The bees are just now starting to prep the flow frames. I may not leave it on for the winter if they don’t get more accomplished over the next month. It leaves too much empty space for them to keep warm.
Bob
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Looking great!
I use the same set up but I’ve got a lid with holes in it. I cover holes I’m not using with a golf ball. That way no bees and no dust can get into the honey. Recently I added a stainless sieve to the top of the bucket to strain the honey- there’s barely anything to catch but it does get a few particles of wax and such (caught two ants last time…). Then I can decant straight to 1 kg buckets.
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