Ok, ok, I’ve posted bits and pieces but here’s my story:
I’m in Sydney, Australia and my bees are kept on the concrete roof of a garden shed (an old brick ‘outhouse’ actually) . The get full sun from sunrise until lunchtime then shade until another burst of sun in the late afternoon. The bees fly above the yard over the clothesline (no bee poop stains so far!), trampoline and chickens, not annoying anyone.
I received the Complete Flow Hive in Sept 2015 (so the start of Spring), I had a strong 5 frame nuc ready to move in within a week or so. The brood box was ready to have the Flow Super added within two weeks or so. The bees were up in the Flow Frames almost immediately and storing honey not long after (within days). I was able to harvest 2 frames in December and got about 6kg. I’ve harvested 4 more times since then (usually 3-4 frames at each harvest getting 3 kg per frame = about 9-12 kg per harvest)
I’ve decided to harvest into a 10L bucket with hole cut in lid and food grade PVC tubing running into it. I inserted a honeygate at the bottom of the bucket. I did this so I could easily dispense the honey into smaller jars inside the house. It keeps the bees (although they aren’t that interested actually) ants and leaves out of the honey while harvesting. It fits nicely at the height of the hive and easily fits 4 frames worth of honey in it (5 at a push). I only have one tube running at the moment but am probably going to cut another hole in the lid and harvest 2 frames at once next time. It takes about 30-45min per frame to drain the honey although you can read in my other posts about why I take a bit longer to let the honey drain.
For my first harvest, I wore the full get up of bee protection gear which was crazy overkill. Not a bee came near me, all going about their business inside and at the front of the hive. Now when I harvest I just wear normal clothes, no veil, gloves or anything and have not had a problem whatsoever. I have more issues with flies, mozzies, ants (note the cinnamon jar in the first photo below) and spiders than I do bees in my backyard!
It was interesting to see how fast the bees react to the cells being emptied. As the harvest is completed you can see them through the rear panel start breaking down the caps and start repairing and refilling almost immediately. On one occasion I opened the hive and inspected the day after harvest and was surprised at how much honey had already being replaced in just one day after being emptied.
Here’s some photos of the first harvest from start to finish. I do have a video, but 1. its too big to upload and 2.its certainly not winning any awards for cinematography 
Enjoy:
<img src="//cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/2X/4/48c1e4126d7d26a608e38d39982167d11c88ec98.jpg" width=“690” height=“460”
