Is a Flow Hive worth it?

Since its phenomenally successful crowdfunding campaign in 2015, there has probably never been a more opinionated topic among beekeepers than the Flow Hive. It appears a lot of negative judgment has come from those who do not own or use a Flow Hive. Much of the criticism is contentious or ill-informed; it seems a classic case of the "tall poppy syndrome" in some circumstances. While there are lovers and haters, it's hard to deny the ingenuity of the invention.

At Hinterland Bees, we own one Flow Hive, which is still in use since 2015; however, we run more than 150 standard Langstroth hives in our beekeeping operation. We have also helped and mentored many beginner beekeepers with their Flow Hives. We consider that we have had the time and experience to road test the Flow Hive system and have an informed opinion to discuss the pros and cons we have encountered.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to potential beekeepers in our region. We are located on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, in a sub-tropical environment with high humidity, wet summers and reasonably mild winters. Our bees do not overwinter and forage year-round; however, we can experience nectar and pollen dearths for short periods throughout the year. Depending on your location, some of the information here may not be relevant and should be adapted for your specific situation.

The Unique Invention

The Flow System's novel element is the Flow Frame, a beautiful piece of industrial design. Flow's technology splits the cells, and the honey flows to a collection channel at the bottom of the frame allowing it to be harvested directly from the hive without the need to remove the frame from the hive.

It is a common misconception by the general public that the Flow Hive delivers honey-on-tap with little other efforts. While their honey harvesting technology sets the Flow Hive apart from other hives, what sits below the Flow Frames is a brood box containing standard Langstroth frames that needs managing like any other beehive.

Every Hive is the Same

The brood box is where the real animal husbandry occurs, and potential beekeepers need to be aware that the time and effort that goes into brood management and disease control is the same for any beehive system. The skill required to manage the brood box and the hive as a whole will determine the long term success or failure of any new beekeeper.

Regular brood inspections for disease, swarm prevention and queen virility are all essential tasks that will ultimately affect the amount of honey available to harvest.

Here's a word of caution — the Flow Hive ships with foundationless frames for the brood box. This is understandable as there are biosecurity restrictions on sending beeswax and honey products to some jurisdictions. In most cases, new beekeepers will acquire their bees as a nucleus colony already on frames ready to drop straight into the brood box and therefore not have a need for the extra frames.
The brood frames supplied by Flow will be required if installing a colony from a package of bees or a swarm. They come with starter strips to guide the bees and give them a starting point to attach their comb. As a result, the brood box will contain naturally-drawn comb, which can be harder to handle, especially for new beekeepers. If the first comb the bees built is not straight, the next comb will follow the same curve, and in some cases, this can make removing the frames for inspection quite tricky. Naturally-drawn comb is often not attached all of the way around the edges of the frame and can break and fall out if not handled correctly.
We recommend starting with frames containing foundation. 99% of the time, the bees will build nice straight combs, guided by the foundation, making inspections easier. The wires or wax-coated plastic foundation provides extra stregth and will avoid any comb breaking. Foundation is relatively inexpensive and can be purchased from any bee store.

Show Me the Honey

Before honey is collected from a Flow Frame, the frame should be entirely capped; the process where the bees reduce the moisture content of the nectar before sealing the cell with a wax capping. Harvesting from un-capped frames results in two problems; the first, honey will leak into the hive, creating a cleanup job for the colony. More seriously, honey with a moisture content above 22% will ferment and spoil. The key to successful beekeeping, besides keen observation and good management, is patience.

A good example of a frame of fully capped honey

Why won't my bees fill my Flow frames?

A common frustration experienced by new Flow Hive owners is the challenge of getting the bees to use the Flow Frames. The solution involves two factors, one related to bee behaviour and the other pertaining to local conditions. Bees will not start to draw new comb until they have filled up at least 80% of the storage space in their existing combs with brood, nectar and pollen. To produce new comb, or in the case of the Flow Frames, start lining the cells with wax, bees also need a surplus of nectar coming into the hive. Until these two boxes are ticked, your bees will show little interest in using the Flow Frames. Once again, patience is required.

The other popular inquiry is: "How long does it take for bees to fill a flow hive?". Depending mainly on the amount of nectar available to the bees, genetics and population balance strongly influence the colony's ability to gather surplus nectar. It is possible with a good population of bees and a nectar flow for a box of Flow Frames to fill in just a couple of weeks. However, in most circumstances, expect your first harvest to take months and most probably not until your second season, especially if starting with a 4 or 5 frame nucleus colony. Did I mention patience?

Avoid Swarming

A Flow Hive (or any hive) with a single honey collection box, otherwise known as a super, may quickly fill to capacity during a strong nectar flow. Without enough time for the bees to dry and cap all of the cells, the beekeeper cannot harvest honey to create more space, and the hive runs the risk of swarming as the colony starts to backfill the brood nest, becoming honey-bound.

One solution is to have a second honey super containing Flow Frames or standard frames. In our beekeeping operation, all of our supers are the smaller lighter Ideal size, about half the size of a regular Deep frame. When the nectar flows during spring, we usually add a box or two of Ideal frames to our Flow Hive. Not only does this buy us a little more time for the honey in the Flow Frames to be fully cured, but the extra boxes also provide the space needed to accommodate a bulging population, a contributing factor for swarming.

An excellent choice for an extra super is a Flow Hive Hybrid, a honey super with a combination of Flow Frames and standard Langstroth Deep frames. The added advantage of a Flow Hive Hybrid is being able to swap some of the standard frames between the hybrid box and the brood box. During springtime, the queen usually increases her productivity as the weather warms and lots of pollen starts to come into the hive. With the queen running out of space to lay, the option to pull a frame or two of brood up into the hybrid box to let the brood hatch, before returning the empty frames to the brood box for the queen to reuse is a handy swarm prevention technique.

With any beehive, honey harvesting is part of the hive management. Through selective breeding, the modern bee has developed to produce excess honey when conditions allow. Harvesting honey from their own hive is usually one reason people get into beekeeping; however, honey harvesting is often necessary to create adequate room for the queen to continue laying and prevent the colony from swarming.

Making Backyard Beekeeping More Enjoyable

There is a saying, "People get into beekeeping because of the bees, and get out of it because of the honey", meaning that the fascination with bees usually outlasts the chore that develops around harvesting. Extracting honey the traditional way requires a commitment of time, investment in additional equipment and a lot of cleaning up afterwards.

Harvesting from the Flow Hive is relatively effortless. A single frame will yield about 2 to 3kg and take about 20 minutes. While multiple frames can be harvested simultaneously, it is also possible to harvest a single frame as needed. During that time, there is nothing to do other than to sit back and enjoy your bees.

Each Flow frame often contains honey from diverse nectar sources, and as a result, one is able to appreciate these different flavours during the seasons.

The upfront cost of a Flow Hive appears expensive compared with the alternatives; however, the overall cost is quite comparable without the need for extraction equipment. The observation windows give the new beekeeper an insight into the hive's inner workings and allow for a greater connection with the bees, something hard to put a price on. For someone looking to have one or two (even three or four) beehives in their backyard, I think the Flow Hive is a great way to go.

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Images used in this article were taken from Flow Hive’s Media Kit

To Flow or Not to Flow