Pics of the Flow frame in action

OK, Forgiven THIS time ; -)

Try a tripod maybe?

I don’t actually expect you to take pics or video every time, it was just such fun to see it!

Yummy! Great job…thanks

Is it possible a bee can be working in open cell when to harvest takes place and get crushed?

That is a question that Cedar answered last night at the San Diego Beekeeping Society Meeting. The answer is “NO”. :smile:

When you open the cells, there is enough clearance for a live bee to pull herself out without any damage. Great question though!

Dawn

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Hello Harry
I want to purchase some new units and start production in Greece.My property is 20 acres and planted with organic oregano ,thyme and other aromatic herbs. If i purchase 5 units ,could you tell me from your experience how much honey i will produce per year .Will be gratefull for the info .

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I think your local beekeepers would be in a much better position to answer this for you than our forum. Honey yield depends very much on your local climate and forage availability. The type of hive really doesn’t make much of a difference, and the Flow hive doesn’t have much difference in honey yield from any other hive - it just makes it easier to harvest it.

In the first year, you may not get any honey, because the bees will be building up the colony. In future years, you could take anywhere from 10 kg to over 40 kg per hive, if you are lucky. Your honey would probably fetch a premium, given that it would be mostly from organic herbs.

If you have never kept bees, I would suggest that you start with just one or two hives. Doing the inspections can be quite time-consuming when you are learning, and 5 hives might be too much of a workload. Please ask more questions here if you would like, but I strongly recommend that you try to find a local beekeeper to ask them about local practices and expectations.

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Thank you very much and gratefull for all the info .I will try to find a local bee keeper to assist me in the beginning …have a nice weekend !!!
George

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You are very welcome, George. We are here because we want to help each other, so please stay in touch if you can. I don’t know about Greece, but here in the US if you can’t find a beekeeper easily, there are a couple of ideas which often work:

  1. Look on the internet or in a telephone book for a local bee removal service - some of those are beekeepers, especially if they offer live bee removals
  2. Go to a local organic market or store and look for somebody selling local honey. The beekeeper’s contact info is usually on the product if they are not the one selling it. Then you can contact them and ask for information. Most beekeepers are very willing to share knowledge, but if you are willing to pay a little for their time, they will often be incredibly generous with help.

All the best to you, and hope you have a wonderful weekend too!

Dawn

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Thats a great idea Dawn …i know there is a bee keeper in the island who is having problems surviving .I will contact him and try to work with him ,since i do not consider this venture of mine an income producing one …it is for the fun and experience of doing something different by using this new technick of getting honey …Again lots of thanks !!!
George

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Harry. I am in Kingston Ontario and am wondering about overwintering the FLOW frames. Are you planning to leave the frames in the hives over winter? Maybe you could post some of your experience with FLOW frames and carrying your bees through the winter. Next Spring?

Are there any schools or agricultural people? I bet Greece has some great agriculture. :slight_smile: You may want to try there also. I did find my bee class at our local school.

Hi NeuManalHui
There was a class given a feaw years ago by the technical school of the island for bee keeping ,but i dont know if it will be repeated again because the attendance was very low .Do you happen to know the difference between the original unit selling for $600 and the one offered from china for less than half of this price.

Hi George,
The chinese knockoff cells do not align correctly, this is not easily seen in their marketing however other beekeepers have bought them and suffice to say they were not happy. It is highly unlikely that the bees will store honey right across the comb due to the inferior fit of the cell segments. Also, there is no guarantee that the plastic used is the same high grade and food safe (BPA Free) material used in the original. The verdict, Yes you will pay more and you will get what you pay for.

See below and yes difference. there is a discussion on this a little earlier.

The fake Chinese frames are clearly not worth buying, but on the same token I do think the Flow Frames are overpriced for what they are. There’s no way the injection molding process costs justify what Flow are charging retail. IMO they are 50% overpriced at the moment, and that is what’s driving people to buy the sub-standard fakes.

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Fair assessment. If Flow frames were were $30 each, They’d be in every one of my hives.

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What is this 50% figure based on?

Mike

Hi Rodderick

Thank you very much for your advise .I guess i will buy less units that planned ,and buy the original .
I wonder if anyone that has actualy bought these chinese units has a current comment.
Have a nice weekend.
George

Look on YouTube- there’s a video of the fake intellectual property stealing criminal knock offs compared side by side to genuine flow frames. Beyond the fact that willingly buying them knowing they are shameless counterfeit items is morally dubious and possibly illegal: they are clearly rubbish and not worth the money. Caveat emptor.

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Hi there, I am really a newBEE here and just wanted to ask if the whole bee keeping thing is very time consuming. It would be very interesting for me to try this, but I am afraid that it will turn out to be too much effort for me. Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,
Aimee@City Garden Team