David and Dawn's First Flow Harvest, Southern California, USA

Flow Hive Flow Harvest Success Stories
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OK guys, I am a total newbie when it comes to video editing. I have never had any formal training - not even a YouTube certificate. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

However, I wanted to give you an idea of how we went about our first Flow hive harvest. Over 2 days, we extracted about 27lb and 5oz of honey from a total of 4 frames. None of it needed secondary filtering. The total was about 3 US gallons. The water content was 16.5 to 17.5%, depending on which part of the frame was being harvested.

My husband never wants to extract honey any other way. Only Flow frames for him! :smile:

Here is the video:

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Hi Dawn, well done. Let me be the first to congratulate you:)

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Thank you very much, Jeff and Wilma. You two are my inspiration. :blush:

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Text book harvest from David and Dawn. Well done.

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Thanks Dan, much appreciated. :blush:

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That honey looks good. Nice colour.
If I were to be so bold as to offer a suggestion.:slightly_smiling_face:
You had a huge number of bees buzzing around and they generally got in the way. I think it was because you inspected the frames and then went on to harvest. Maybe if you did your inspection the day before (that’s what I did) and harvest the next morning. I had no bees up until about the last 1/2 hr when a few did come back. Another bonus is you don’t need to dress up just ordinary work clothes. :male_detective: I think it was @JeffH who told me once he gets lower water content early morning.

Edit: The second day seemed to have very few bees

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Fantastic stuff Dawn! Great video too. The typed instructions between shots are gold for those that will extract the first time.

@busso’s advice makes the extraction less of a nuisance too, and is probably the ideal approach (it’s what I try for). If I’m trying to get an inspection and extraction done in one day I typically wait about 30 to 40mins, minimum, between putting the hive back together and extracting. It certainly reduces the bees buzzing around.

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That’s great Dawn. Wonderful stuff.

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Thanks for the video effort Dawn. Those 4 frames were full and ready. Nice result. :yum:

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We waited a couple of hours after inspecting and before harvesting, but that particular hive is very defensive. As soon as I took the Flow access door off the back, we were surrounded. :blush:

We are going to requeen next weekend. :wink:

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Dawn’s bees are still sore that the Chargers are leaving town lol

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If you mean the last jar in the video, that was a still image of the same day, so no bees on the soundtrack. :smile:

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This is the second day of harvesting, 24 hours after the last inspection/provocation of the hive. Notice that there are still lots of bees flying around us and inspecting the back of the hive! :smile:

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Nice one Dawn! Looks absolutely delicious.

Agreed about the re-queening, those bees are waaaaay to interested in what you’re doing. I’ve got a grumpy/bossy hive, but nothing like that!

I would love to hear your voice telling us what you are doing in you next vid.

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I have a very severe case of stage fright, which is why I don’t appear in the videos. Thank you for the kind words, though… :heart_eyes:

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Thanks for the videos :slight_smile:
Lucky you had the sealed tubing to jars with those bees. I guess the good thing to note is that it was definitely easier harvesting using the Flow Frames with aggressive bees, than traditional harvesting methods (from my knowledge). (you reckon?)

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Hmm. Well, I don’t think the demeanor of the bees made much difference. We had very cranky bees for several years in the UK and extracted honey the traditional way from them. With a good bee escape and efficient methods, it was OK.

What is great about the Flow method is the lack of mess in the kitchen (or honey house if you are lucky enough to have one), plus getting jar-ready honey straight from the hive with no further need to filter messily through ladies’ tights (unused of course!). :blush:

We probably get about 5-10% more honey per cell with Flow frames, because we don’t have to do any post-extraction processing. Fantabulous! Plus it saves time in cleanup and filtering. Not going back to the old way now, except in the community garden - I can’t risk $500 of equipment up there. :confused:

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Dawn.

Congrats bee buddy ! Loved the bee harvest flix you put together also.

Up here in Puget Sound we are in the first half of our blackberry harvest. Been in the upper 70’s n today trying for 90 dgs F. Not sure if it will get there but so close now @13:00 !

Bees have been bearding on the biggest colonies for couple days. It’s now or bust for the girls. Had trouble with couple of the hives queen wise so not built up so great. Guessing they’ll get winter supply on those with no leftovers…

Well, again I say, congrats !
Gerald.

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And I’ll say it too - Congrats!! Sweet success :yum: and well-deserved :rainbow::honeybee::two_hearts:

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Congratulations on all achievements Dawn. Well done! Can’t wait for a honey flow down here in southern Aus. Hope we have the same success as you have.

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