I am new to the flowhive and I believe I have done something wrong in setting it up. When I open the top section where you insert the long tool to open the comb, the bees start pouring out there. I was under the impression that the bees cannot get there. It makes it nearly impossible to open the comb or do anything else. Could someone direct me to where I went wrong, please? Johan
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Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! 
When other forumites have had this problem, it was usually because one of the frame segments had a chip of plastic fall out of the frame, giving the bees access to the mechanism. I would lift the frames out and very carefully inspect them for missing chips or damage. If you take photos and post them here (use the upload tool 7th from the left at the top of this text typing window) then we can help you inspect.
If that doesn’t work, then we have very helpful Flow employees here, such as @Freebee2, @Bianca, and @KieranPI. You could also send any photos together with your original Flow order number to info@honeyflow.com and the support team will help too. 
One further thought. I just wanted to check that it is a genuine Flow hive, ordered from the www.honeyflow.com web site? A lot of the illegal copycat “flow” frames have this kind of problem.
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Thank you for the reply. I think you have hit the nail on the head. I wonder if my flowhive is authentic. I just it advertised close to me here in South Africa and went for it. Is there something like a distributor in South Africa?
I am going to inspect a little closer today or very soon and then come back to you.
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If you can post a picture of the outside of the hive, we can help you with authentication - there are some tell-tale signs. Flow does have distributors worldwide, but if you didn’t get an invoice from honeyflow.com, it is more likely than not that it wasn’t authentic. Very sorry.
Having said that, www.honeyflow.com may be interested to know where you purchased the hive, so that they can prevent others from being damaged in the way that you have been.
Please keep us up to date, and don’t give up on beekeeping. People who care are very valuable in this world, and you obviously care. 
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Thank you very much for your help. I now know that my hive is not authentic. I also contacted the suppliers and they are very helpful with a work-around. I still have to do that. As for tracing them, anyone can find them online. I walked into this ignorant and it is most likely not the only flaw but too late now.
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