The Flow Hive for honey bees, Love it? Hate it? or Undecided? Price? Review of Quality Control

A complete review of the FlowHive honey super and patented frames for honeybee honey removal without uncapping, straining, filtering, or processing. The initial quality of wood joints was not so good in my opinion. My thoughts and observations.

Avoid Fakes, here is the real FlowHive at a
$50.00 discount:

UPDATE ABOUT PLASTICS: lack of evidence for microplastic contamination in honey:
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A Vol 34, 2017 – issue 11.

Showing the 7 Frame FlowHive, hive body construction, and design, components, frame design, and thoughts on what I think is good or not? Parts were missing, and joints did not fit. The next step will be observing the bees when I put this super on a strong colony in the spring of 2016. Subscribe to be certain not to miss that! Yes.. they are BOX JOINTS.. not dovetails... sorry about that.

UPDATE! Since this video was made, Flow has taken over their own wood manufacturing and I have had zero problems with all of my other Flow-Hive components - they are now precision laser cut and I have been using them with excellent results as of 10/03/2019 - 8 flowhives and growing!

I do not treat my honey bees, learn about the bees I manage here:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

[Space_Trucker]

Whatever debate the flow causes in the beekeeping world, this is one of the most unbiased and professional reviews I've seen on it. Thank you for taking the time to inform us.

[knightsix]

Mr. Dunn...I love raw, unfiltered honey; always have. I've always been fascinated by bees and everything to do with them, including their issues with disease and "Africanization." That said, my interests are purely intellectual, not practical.  I am greatly impressed by your presentation and willingness to purchase and "see for yourself" without preconceived notions about a new technology.  Your level of detail and honest appraisal is noted.  Well done, Sir...I wish we had more like you to inform and educate others.  John

[Zerkbern]

I really enjoyed this vid, Mr. Dunn. I'm an "arm chair" beekeeper. I've watched tons of videos and read many books. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

[munmoji]

hi fred
i am from pakistan' i watched your video and found it very informative 'you explained everything very well but what i like about you is that you care for environment and earth 'thanks for sharing your knowledge with us ' world need more people like yourself.

[jessicageorge]

I just purchased a Flow Hive 2. We are interested in bees for the environmental aspect and for our own honey, but have no experience and want to start on a small scale. This kit seems to be a great way to start and learn.

[tubewaldek]

This is “finger joint” or “box joint” and not “dovetail joint”. But yes, it should match!

[robertthanepohn]

It is nice to see a video reviewing the Flow system that is objective and solely observational.
I donated into the campaign and am the owner of a Full Flow hive.
I had to sand a couple of the box joints in my access panel so It wouldn't stick and had to enlargen the cutout for the viewing window. Other than that, all was well with my woodwork and the Red Cedar looks great after a few coats of Tung oil.

I am new to beekeeping but have been preparing for a year now. I belong to my local Beekeepers Association and have attended this year's Beekeeping Clinic. I look forward to receiving my nuc at the end of March

You are correct in stating that the system is pricey - virtually double the price of a typical hive. The advantage may be in the elimination of purchasing additional honey harvesting tools and equipment for a hobbyist.
Capping tub, an extractor, a cap scraper or knife, a gated honey bucket with bucket strainers, etc.
It is virtually a break-even proposition when considering those other, necessary items needed for traditional harvesting.

I think an overall positive outcome is that many people that may not have ever considered beekeeping have now done so. It is a certainty that a fair portion will not have a good experience, or be good stewards. That is likely the case regardless of the hive :)
BUT if the remaining majority of those newly introduced to beekeeping by way of the Flow hive succeed, everyone can benefit to some extent.

Again, excellent, thorough video and I look forward to your next!

[DragosDomnara]

I'm just a young 16 year old who wants now to have a FlowHive due to how easy it is and in the future to pollinate my whole garden! I've always been interested in bees but thought it took to long and would hurt your back. Now I can finally fulfill my curiosity in the future! Now I'll need to learn how to keep bees in cold canadian winters, thanks for the video!

[FrederickDunn]

ALERT! Today alone, I have had to remove/block FOUR Chinese Company Posts that have links selling a Chinese Version of the FlowHIve. There is only one source (at this time) for FlowHive frames and FlowHive Bodies. Please be aware that if it's not from the FlowHive website and it's NEW, it is not a true FlowHive and is pirated/counterfeit. I am amazed by how quickly they have done this.

[FrederickDunn]

UPDATE.... I purchased a second 7 Frame FlowSuper so I can place it on a second colony and make comparisons. The Box arrived from Oregon all components were in fine shape and fit without issues. Also, no splits, knots or cracks. The two wooden observation latches were missing but they sent them straight away. All of the frames were perfect. And so it goes... let the learning continue.

[ArianeArsenault]

Thank you so much for your honest review! We have been looking at the flow hive since last year when they launched their campain and it does look very appealy to us. I have never had hives before and we would like one because we own land, garden and plant fruit trees. We also have our chickens and we love to show our kids where foid comes from. I beleive taking care of bees would be a wonderful learning experience, plus we could provide honey to our whole family.

[mattanderson]

I think the flow hive is amazing!!! I was a foundation supporter in 2015 also and received my hive in 2016. Mine was made perfectly with all screws and components. It was a dream to assemble and and I rubbed tung oil into it. What an easy system and saves thousands of bees from being squashed and harvesting is fun, not a job. If your thinking of buying one just do it. I have no regrets and im on my second season using my flow. I even moved my hive so i can see it from the house because its beautiful to look at. Thank you flow team. Fred thanks for making the video 1.3 mil views ... Nice. subbed and thumbs up.

[thomasjent]

Thank you for your video review. I'm new to beekeeping. I'm in it mainly to help the bee's and help pollinate. I'm blessed to be learning/getting help from an experienced beekeeper friend that is successful with 40+ hives in my area (upstate NY). Last year I gave him two queens and a very large hive that needed to be rescued.

On bee stands using (2 or more) insulated 10 frame brooder boxes, year round, per hive, adapted to have my FlowHive 7 frame supers, on a few of my hives closer to the house, which will only be on a hive for a few months during the summer.

My experience putting my own "FlowHive kits together was that thankfully everything fit very nicely. (Just received the first ones a week ago) They turned out very nice. There were no missing screws, hardware or anything and the quality of the cuts on mine lined up perfectly. The (4) 3/8 #6 panhead screws that you mentioned being too short for the knobs, I believe are to hold the observation window in. I used 5 of the (7) 3/4" #6 countersink head screws provided, for the 5 knobs and the other two were used to hold the ends of the metal bottom strip.

Thank you in advance for your updates too (Alert to counterfeit flow hives). Keep up the great videos Mr. Dunn!

[aaentariq]

Thank you Mr Dunn, I found this very interesting and informative. I was also fascinated to see in another video that collecting each individual frame collects honey that can be a different colour to the adjacent individual frame.

And that the taste of that honey collected can different for each individual frame.

Thus I think collecting the flow in clean Mason jars from each individual frame is the best option I have ever seen. So much better than a plastic bucket that pools all the flows into one big bucket.

Also I like that you really care about looking after the bees with an ethical and environmentally sustainable focus.

This system appears to be less stressful for the bees and for the bee keeper. Bee keeping has entered the 21st century with this system. I have wanted to have a bee hive for ages but collecting the honey worried me. This system appears to address my concerns completely.
Thank you very much for the information you shared.

[cloudhidden]

Look forward to your videos on using this system, particularly how the bees interact with it. Thanks for investing your money in it to educate the rest of us. Initially, I have to say the cost is prohibitive for me and I'm not crazy about the plastic construction. Interesting idea though.

[FrederickDunn]

UPDATE: my honey gees are actually chewing the upper access removable bar. They have rounded off the top edge of the cedar. I was giving a brief tour of my apiary and we could hear the chewing... video to follow.

[gruntymcphereson]

I got my FlowHive box in Feb (2016), and did not have the issues that the author had with the box joints...they fit together, but were somewhat tight. I was sent the cedar wood version as a "reward" for ordering early. Where I did get into trouble was that the cedar was not as malleable as standard pine, and the tight box joints led to two nasty longitudinal splits when I was screwing it together. A mix of liquid wood and good old wood glue sealed this up satisfactorily. All other screws and pieces were in my kit (nothing missing) and fit together properly. I also experienced the issue with the telescoping cover impinging on the top wooden assembly of the FlowBox. I had to saw the side off to allow a good fit (quite easy since I use a styrofoam outer cover). This was acceptable to me.

[teebear]

I don't know how I ended up here but I'm glad I did. I love the way you speak, you seem like a really honest person.

[Losttoanyreason]

Thank you Fredrick, took 5 different videos, from 5 different people, to finally find one, yours, that shows me what goes on in the comb when one turns the key to start the honey flowing. I don't know why it was such a hard concept for those other people making videos to understand people might actually want to know exactly what is happening in the comb when one turns the keys. How it does what it does. Have a good evening and thanks again.

[Maebbie]

dude, you are pretty cool. This was some high quality video.