Flow Hive is a Langstroth Hive just the frames are different but full interchangeable with normal frames etc.
Hi Stephanie,
I suggest you go to Google and google both . There are some fantastic articles out there.
Think more of a Flow hive being a hive with an easy honey extraction top (super) on a normal Langstroth bottom (brood)
Youtube also has many clips on Langstroth hives and flow hive.
busso
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Seeing as the Flow frames fit in a Longstroth hive, itād be more fitting to ask the question: Flow hive vs Traditional hive? Lots of people will give you plenty of arguments for either one. The main argument I can see against the Flow hive is the fact that you canāt see the status of the frame before extracting the honey without physically pulling it out of the hive which kind of goes against the original idea of the hive. The main argument as far as I can see in favor of the Traditional hive is you get to inspect every frame before extracting the honey.
@stephanierouillon The questions you need to know are, how have people using normal Langstroth configuration found using the Flow Frames for honey collection and colony differentiation.
Pros and Cons of both systems -
- Does it affect the brood patterns
- Do the bees use the other Foundations methods over Flow
- Do the bees lay wax without problems on the Flow Frames
- Do you normally use Wax Strips, Wax Foundation, Plastic Foundation, Flow Frames
- Is there any need to Coat Plastic or Flow Foundation/Frames with a little wax to get the bees to draw out the comb
- Do the bees draw out the comb evenly
- Having done a full season on Flow what are the main differences to Traditional Langstroth
- Are you new to Bee-keeping and What comparisons can you draw
- Did you previously use another method of Bee keeping, Warre, Top Bar Hive (TBH)
- Have the colony had any diseases or have they been Treated for Verroa, Wax Moths, Small Hive Beetles (SHB)
- Is your Colony Treatment free
- Do you use Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- Have your bees brought in sufficient Pollen and Nectar
- Did you/ Do You Feed the Bees and why
- What proportion of the Honey do you Rob?
Hope this helps
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Itās too bad your assignment wasnāt made for next year. I think by then youād get much more answers as more people would have had the opportunity to try out their flow frames. Many of us are still waiting for delivery and the percentages of those with flow frames to those that donāt have them are probably 90 to 1. I suspect next year if you can when the number will be opposite you will get better asnwers as to the flow frame question.
- other-langstroth
- no diseases yet
- roughly 30 lbs for mediums, more for deeps
- only other method Iāve considered is a top bar hive, but not heavy on that, just considering it. Flow Frames for easier extraction but only expect to try it in 2 boxes at first.
- as far as dead bees goes, I try not to kill any but it does happen when moving boxes around, not so much during extraction but on occasion when replacing boxes. I find bees floating in water I provide but this is minimal as I make my own water feeders for them. I use shallow feed buckets, usually hold 3-5 gallons water, line the edges into pails with hardware cloth and wrap a couple of floater boards with cloth to put in water. Best Iāve found yet. Dead bees are like maybe 20 compared to 100ās youāll find in those plastic frame style feeders.
When I remove honey filled frames, I tap frame corner in front of hive entrance to get bees off and then brush the remainder off as well. I donāt think any bees gewt killed that way and they all eventually go back into hive. I doubt I would ever use a blower.
This is all I do now. i am retired with small pension and on occassion will sell a piece of antique or collectible but mostly just bees now. looking to be licensed commercial so I can stock it in stores but currently sell my honey at 3 different locations on a weekly basis.
- Hazards for bees in my area might be a bear, but one coming around is highly unlikely though they are up in higher country. Wind can be a detriment but I have very large cinderblocks on top of my hives to keep them from blowing over. Deep snow can accumulate and Iāll have to figure out how to uncover hives should the snow pile higher than their winter top entrances. and I can get into them myself.
hope this isnāt too late, but I do think if you ask these again in a year this page will be flooded with answers and your assessments will be better answered.
I have no idea what videos of mine you have watched. Itās been my experience over the years that the bees start capping from the top down. Sometimes theyāll cap the top & sides, leaving a large semi circle in the middle uncapped, in those cases Iāll leave those frames till next time. Sometimes that large semi circle will be uncapped as well as completely empty of unripe honey, in those cases Iāll take the frames to extract the honey. The way I see it, thereās no substitute for physically inspecting each frame before extracting the honey.
Sincerely, thank you Dexter, surely your not suggesting that Iād edit the bad frames out of the video, leaving viewers with the impression that all my frames are full & fully capped. Well, your correct. However, the frames I probably wouldnāt show in the video are frames that are not fully capped with the section that is not capped being empty of honey anyway. Itās nice to have every frame full & fully capped, that is ideal. Sometimes Iāll take a frame that is only 2/3 full & capped with the other 1/3 completely or nearly completely empty. I think to myself āwell itās the same amount of honey Iād get from an ideal frame, why not take it?ā. I like your idea of checking the frames first. Take care old fella, bye for now.