How high should the front be for harvesting

I have got my flow supers ready for spring and wanted to prepare my hives before putting them on. The hives are std langstroth 8frames with vented bases. I am thinking of putting a block of wood under the concrete blocks to elevate the front to be able to harvest the flow frames. Should the height of the block be 3-4cm or more to get the honey flowing out well?

Isn’t it supposed to be a 2.5 degree tilt?

I’d be worried about putting the base on a slope, if it has an oil tray underneath it will get rain water in it.

No tray. One is a basic mesh base and the other is a bluebees base. My only concern is the hive sliding off the concrete blocks if too high. Hence thought i ask here. I am sure someone would know. :blush:

They won’t slide off. But if you are concerned strap them down.

Start with 20mm. 30-40mm seems too high.

As long as side to side is plumb, it won’t matter too much of your off front to back by a few degrees.

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I use a piece of 19mm under the front cleat of my hives I’ve put a flow super on. It is about equivalent of the slope on the full kit flow base.

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seeing as you have solid bottoms I would only chock them up each time you harvest and then remove the chock. Remove it because you want a forward running slope with a solid bottom hive so any water runs out the entrance and rain won’t flow back in. Then you can go 2.5 degrees- or more- more will not hurt and will just help the honey run out faster.

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I tested with 20mm and measured the slope to be approx 2.5degrees. I will what the tilt is with a 30mm plank.

Rise-run to degreees calculator

The hive is about 400mm front to back so 2.5° would be 17.5mm and 5° would be (double that) at 35mm.

Ooh Trig, sohcahtoa. Noice. :nerd_face:

Flow recommends a height of around 15mm.
Yes a larger tilt will make the honey flow faster however there is a reason for the Flow specified tilt.
The Flow tube is only 25mm high from the base of the chamber so you will need to incrementally :wink: open the frames slower as the chamber will hold less liquid at that angle and you need to maintain the air gap in the tube when extracting so the honey doesn’t back up in the chamber which, in my opinion, could cause flooding issues.
I have a crude set up where the angle can be adjusted while extracting to suit.

I think that makes sense… :upside_down_face:

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I guess it could be a balance of steep enough for a good honey flow and not too steep that it causes issues in the channel below the frames. I am going to get 2 different heights to test which one will work best for my hives.

Thank you all for your helpful replies.

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I have replaced the flow 1 vented base because I found it gives Beatles and various other pests somewhere to hide where the bees can’t take care of them. Because I changed to a different baseboard the wedge that’s on the flow base is gone. I have a broodminder scale under the back of the hive which tilts it forward (which stops water going in during rain) and when I harvest I remove it which gives the hive a backwards tilt while I harvest.
Put the broodminder back after harvest.
Done
Cheers
Ron

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Which one Ringo or Paul?

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The 4th one that left before they got famous