Dear moderator: If it is possible- could someone move this thread to the flow hive thread instead of here? I think it will end being better suited to that thread and some of the points I am about to make will be of interest there (perhaps).
I think I now know what happened to Andrews hive (pictured above in this thread)…
OK- Update time: First Flow Harvest!
Yesterday we inspected the super and removed one of the central frames. It was fully capped- except for two roughly circular sections in the middle of the frame. The bees had worked these sections with wax- but they were almost completely devoid of honey.
Already there was something of interest to note: It was easier to visually see how full the frame was by looking at the end of the frame that you could see if you had a window at the front of the hive. From this side it was immediately clear that the frame was full. From the back ‘business end’- it wasn’t so apparent.
With one frame out it was possible to check the frame beside it without removing it. This frame was 98% fully capped. The the two outermost frames were not complete but being worked well.
It was time to harvest! We placed the tubes in, and set about cracking the frames. I did this in increments- perhaps a 5th at a time- inserting the tool deeper each time. This made it very easy without much flex in the tool. Within seconds the Honey started to flow!
The initial joy was replaced by a little panic when I noticed honey dripping out of the bottom of the brood box.
Alarm was increased when a trickle started flowing out of the front entrance of the hive:
It was at precisely this point that we heard a distinctive little ‘bleat!’ from within the brood box! The Queen was Piping! No doubt about it when we heard a second distinct ‘bleat!’- from deep within the box, quite load and unlike any other bee noise! Seemingly the Queen was not amused with her afternoon ‘honey shower’!
We had the core flute out for cleaning and quickly put a tray under the hive to catch the honey. The bees started bearding at the front and looking at them you could see little droplets of golden honey splashed on many of them. They furiously set about licking each other and licking up the little river. It was quite surprising but they managed to lick up the entire pool from the entrance in just 5 minutes and made good time at cleaning each other. Good little bees.
There was some bearding:
meanwhile at the rear of the hive the jar was filling very rapidly and the bees showed no interest. The extraction tubes were completely full. After maybe 10 minutes the flow slowed to a steady trickle. After maybe 35 minutes we had approx 5-6kg. The honey was extremely bright yellow with a faint greenish tinge almost fluorescent looking- absolutely delicious reminding me of the distinctive Tasmanian Leatherwood flavor but milder with a faint peppery aftertaste! The honey was perfectly clear with no wax, bee bits etc.
In the end the honey leaking through the hive does not seem to have been a significant volume- there were only a few tablespoons on the tray we put under the hive and the quantity in the jar indicates the vast majority went in there.
However we think that next time we harvest- we are going to crack the frames incrementally (as we did) but leave them for 10 to 15 minutes between increments so the volume and pressure of the honey in the extraction tubes is less. I am also thinking (if it is practicable) it might be good to tilt the hive a few more degrees at extraction time to aid the flow.
By today Mum reports the bees are happily working away, and have already started putting honey back into the two frames we drained. Overall we were absolutely thrilled with the Flow Hive! We love it!
The issue of the leaks seems like it can be managed- BUT- I think if you harvested all six frames at once without doing it in increments- things could get really messy and cause more disturbance. It is possible the wires on our frames could be tighter- we didn’t closely check them before installing them. The bees have also added quite a bit of propolis plugging many small gaps so perhaps over time these leaks would decrease. However I don’t like to think of honey showering through the brood box- but I imagine in conventional hives (when brace comb breaks) and wild hives (think bear attack) this also occurs from time to time and is something the bees have probably learned to deal with aeons ago- and with some care it can be managed or eliminated using the flow frames.