Flow Hive

File:Flow Hive Schema.svg

The honey frames contain a partially-formed honeycomb with vertical gaps that is made of a plastic free of both BPA and BPS.{{cite web |title=Flow Hives Reviews: A Detailed Look at Flow Hive |first=Melissa |last=John |website=The Elliott Homestead |url= https://elliotthomestead.com/flow-hives-reviews/ |access-date=2023-10-13 }} These honey frames are for use in the Langstroth hive compartment, commonly called the honey super, which is intended for honey storage by bees. Bees fill these vertical gaps with wax to complete cells and then fill them with honey before covering them with wax. When the beekeeper activates the frame mechanism by inserting and turning a crank, the vertical gaps are offset by one-half of a cell. This breaks the wax covering and allows the honey to flow through the cells into a channel at the base of each frame and out into a collection vessel,{{Cite web |url=https://www.honeyflow.com/pages/how-flow-works |title=How Flow Works |website=Flow Hive |publisher=BeeInventive |year=2022 |access-date=2022-10-23}} obviating the need for extraction equipment such as centrifuges and filters.{{cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-beekeeping-bees-hives-honey-wax-indiegogo-campaign-australia-2016-11 |title=Two Australian guys fixed the most annoying thing about beekeeping |last=Romeo |first=Claudia |date=2016-11-19 |work=Business Insider Australia |publication-date=2016-11-21 |access-date=2022-10-25}}{{cite web |title=Flow Hive: The Greatest Beekeeping Invention in History |date=2023-05-12 |first=Adam |last=Hamadiya |website=Inspiring Click |url=https://inspiringclick.com/2023/05/flow-hive-revolutionizing-beekeeping/ |access-date=2023-10-13 }} After the beekeeper resets the frame, the bees remove the broken covering and repair and refill the cells.

Flow Hive honey frames comprise more plastic and plastic surfaces than the plastic foundations used commonly in conventional modern beekeeping. However, the brood chamber in the Flow Hive below the honey super may contain hive frames intended for bees to make brood comb entirely from their wax.

Patents for the Flow Hive cover all designs with split cells to drain honey.{{Cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/flow-hive-stung-by-chinese-ripoffs-20170411-gviyzg.html |title=Flow Hive inventor stung by Chinese 'copycat' |last=Hendy |first=Nina |date=2017-04-14 |publication-place=The Sydney Morning Herald |publication-date=2017-04-14 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-23}} A company called TapComb that infringed on these patents ceased trading in late 2018.{{Cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/flow-hive-pest-free-after-parasite-brand-folds-20181105-p50e4c.html |title=Flow Hive pest free after parasite brand folds |last=Hendy |first=Nina |date=2018-11-06 |publication-place=The Sydney Morning Herald |publication-date=2018-11-07 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-23}}

The Flow Hive design was invented in Australia by Cedar Anderson and his father Stuart Anderson. In February 2015, they launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo hoping to raise A$70,000 for a custom injection mould. Instead, they raised over $12 million and received nearly 25,000 orders from over 130 countries.{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-12/australian-story-flow-hive-family-talks-about-life-now/7828436 |title=Flow Hive: Cedar and Stuart Anderson talk about life one year after crowdfunding success |last=Hassall |first=Craig |date=2016-09-12 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=2022-10-25}} The campaign broke several records for Indiegogo, becoming its most successful campaign as of that time.{{Cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/03/09/indiegogos-new-crowdfunding-record-5-3m-and-counting-for-a-smart-beekeeping-system/ |title=Indiegogo's new crowdfunding record: $5.3M and counting for a smart beekeeping system | first=Paul | last=Sawers | date=March 9, 2015 | work=Venture Beat | accessdate=4 September 2017}}

The Flow Hive 2, which includes a number of small improvements, was launched using another crowdfunding campaign in early 2018.{{Cite web |url=https://newatlas.com/flow-hive-2-honey-on-tap/53987/ |title=New Flow Hive 2 makes getting honey on tap even easier |last=Haridy |first=Rich |date=2018-03-28 |website=newatlas.com |language=en |access-date=2018-07-26}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-2--2#/ |title=Flow Hive 2 |website=Indiegogo |language=en-US |access-date=2018-07-26}}

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There were speculative criticisms of the design made by beekeeping journalists and bloggers during the first Indiegogo campaign.{{cite web |title=3 Reasons To Go Against The Flow Hive |first=Maryam |last=Henein |date=2017-08-19 |website=Honey Colony |url=https://www.honeycolony.com/article/against-flow-hive/ |access-date=2022-10-23 }}

• Use of plastic comb: The Flow Hive uses plastic combs for collecting honey. However, plastic foundations are commonly used in conventional beekeeping today.{{cite web |title=Are Flow Hives Bad For Bees? (Here is All You Need To Know) |date=2023-09-24 |first=Alex |last=Kountry |website=HayFarmGuy |url=https://hayfarmguy.com/are-flow-hives-bad-for-bees |access-date=2023-10-13 }} The Flow Hive uses a food-certified plastic in the honey super only which allows the bees to produce their own natural wax comb in the brood nest.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
• Crystallization: Especially in colder climates, honey can thicken or crystallize, preventing honey from flowing. If this prevents operation of the Flow Hive mechanism, it can be addressed by either waiting for the bees to remove the crystallized honey, or by soaking the frame in water to dissolve it away.{{Cite web |url=https://support.honeyflow.com/does-honey-crystallise-in-the-flow-frame/ |title=Does honey crystallise in the Flow frame? |year=2021 |website=Flow Hive |access-date=2022-10-25}}
• Promotion as 'honey on tap': In the first advertisements for the Flow Hive, it was marketed as a way to remove honey "without disturbing the bees". Many experienced beekeepers said that this misrepresented the importance of hive maintenance. Bee hives require regular maintenance and observation to check for diseases and other problems that might arise.{{cite web |title=Flow Hive Problems: Good or Bad for Bee? |date=2023-07-18 |first=Peter |last=Parker |website=Strong Beekeeper |url=https://strongbeekeeper.com/flow-hive-problems/ |access-date=2023-10-13 }} Cedar Anderson responded to the criticism, changing the way that the Flow Hive was marketed, and specifying that the Flow Hive system only changes the honey harvesting process, while not changing the rest of the beekeeping process.{{Cite web |url=http://modernfarmer.com/2016/01/flow-hive/ |title=He Said, She Said, They Said: What's the Final Verdict on the Wildly Popular Flow Hive? |last=Gillespie |first=Alison |date=5 January 2016 |website=Modern Farmer |access-date=23 June 2017}}{{cite web |title=Flow Hive |first=Ross |last=Conrad |work=Bee Culture: The American Magazine of Beekeeping |date=2015-04-20 |url=https://www.beeculture.com/flow-hive/ |access-date=2022-10-25}}{{Cite web|title=Flow beehive: An alternative honey harvesting method|url=https://beekeepingcraft.com/flow-beehive-an-alternative-honey-harvesting-method|access-date=2021-05-06|website=beekeepingcraft.com|language=en|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507122337/https://beekeepingcraft.com/flow-beehive-an-alternative-honey-harvesting-method|url-status=dead}}

In Australia, a rapid increase in new members joining existing beekeeping clubs in 2017, the capping of new memberships by some clubs, and the establishment of at least one new club were attributed to the Flow Hive.{{Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-27/beekeeping-boom-but-clubs-concerned-about-hive-health-qld/9273518 |title=Beekeeping booms but clubs fear hive health may suffer |last=Forbes |first=Tom |newspaper=ABC News |date=26 December 2017 |publication-place=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |publication-date=28 December 2017}}

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|File:Flow Hive bee hive.png

|Flow Hive with brood box and characteristic sloped roof

|File:Beekeeper next to flow hive.jpg

|Beekeeper next to a Flow Hive

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A study comparing Langstroth hives to the Flow Hive has found no significant differences in the microbial populations of bees' bodies in these hives.{{cite journal |title=Honey bee microbiome associated with different hive and sample types over a honey production season |last1=Subotic |first1=Sladjana |last2=Boddicker |first2=Andrew M. |last3=Nguyen |first3=Vy M. |last4=Rivers |first4=James |last5=Briles |first5=Christy E. |last6=Mosier |first6=Annika C. |date=2019-11-08 |editor-first=Juan J. |editor-last=Loor |journal=PLoS ONE |volume=14 |issue=11 |pages=e0223834 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0223834 |s2cid=207945136 |issn=1932-6203 |quote=Environmental stressors have been shown to alter the indigenous gut microbiota in A. mellifera. [... ] We examined if different hive technologies, and specifically the way honey is harvested from those technologies, influenced the microbiome of the bees. This study did not find a difference in the A. mellifera-associated microbial communities based on hive or sample type, but a small difference was observed between June and September indicating a temporal influence on community structure that may be related to changing forage during the sample period.|doi-access=free |pmid=31703071 |pmc=6839897 |bibcode=2019PLoSO..1423834S }}

• Langstroth hive
• Food contact materials
• Microplastics

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Category:Agriculture in New South Wales

Category:Australian inventions

Category:Beehives

Category:Beekeeping in Australia

Category:Indiegogo projects

Category:Products introduced in 2015

Category:Companies based in New South Wales