Flow Hive 2+ complete with 7 Flow frames

01 · WHICH HONEY FLOWS AND WHICH DOESN'T

The honest question

The Flow® system harvests because honey runs down the channels of the frame by gravity when you turn the key. With runny honeys — orange blossom, rosemary, acacia, spring wildflower — that works very well.

With honeys that granulate quickly, or that are so thick they do not even come out of an extractor — heather, strawberry tree, oilseed rape — it does not. The honey sets inside the frame and the frame has to be cleared. An Italian customer with an autumn crop put this to us and he was right: better said here than discovered in October.

02 · THE BROOD FRAMES ARE NOT IN IT

Check before you order the bees

What is included is the brood box, the super with its 7 Flow® frames and fittings, the screened bottom board, the roof, the entrance with reducer and the stand. The brood box frames are not on that list.

And from that comes the next question, which we have also been asked: if you are going to stock it with a nucleus, it has to be the same format. This one is Langstroth, and a Dadant frame is nearly 7 cm taller — it will not go in. Ask us how many frames you need and in what size before you order the bees.

03 · THREE KILOS A FRAME

And you harvest one at a time

A full super gives on the order of 20 kg, which shared out over the seven frames is about 3 kg a frame.

That is the real point of the system: you do not harvest the super, you harvest one frame. Without opening the hive, without uncapping and without an extractor — and with each frame coming out with the colour and taste of its own moment in the season.

04 · WHY IT HAS SPIRIT LEVELS

The detail nobody connects

The bottom board and the stand carry spirit levels and height adjustment, and that is not a finishing touch: the hive has to sit tilted slightly backwards so the honey runs towards the tap.

Set it flat, or leaning forwards, and part of the honey stays in the channel. The adjustable stand exists precisely to get that tilt on uneven ground, and the ant guards go on its legs.

05 · YOU STILL HAVE TO OPEN IT

What the tap does not solve

Harvesting without opening is not the same as never opening. Varroa, the state of the brood, space and the queen are all still checked as in any hive, and for that the super has to come off.

What does help is the screened bottom board, with its tray for varroa counts, treatments and ventilation control. And the entrance with reducer, which guards against predators and draughts and closes for a short move.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is the complete set: