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Good Thinking

New Flow Hive 2 makes getting honey on tap even easier

By Rich Haridy
March 28, 2018
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Honey on tap just got even easier in the new and improved Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
Father and son beekeeping team and inventors of the Flow Hive, Cedar and Stuart Anderson
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
Father and son beekeeping team and inventors of the Flow Hive, Cedar and Stuart Anderson
Flow Hive
Honey on tap just got even easier in the new and improved Flow Hive 2
Flow Hive
A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2
View gallery - 9 images

In 2015, a magnificently clever invention by two Australian beekeepers turned into a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, raising over US$2 million dollars in just its first 24 hours. The genius idea was to design a beehive with a tap system that can siphon honey without opening the lid and disturbing the bees. The duo has now launched the Flow Hive 2, a new and improved design, and unsurprisingly it has again sold in record numbers.

The Flow Hive 2 is not a complete overhaul of the highly functional original design, but father and son beekeeping team Cedar and Stuart Anderson have simply upgraded and improved a bunch of small features, making the new edition a little easier to use.

Father and son beekeeping team and inventors of the Flow Hive, Cedar and Stuart Anderson
Flow Hive

The fundamentals of the Flow Hive remain the same. Inside are what the design duo call Flow Frames. These are special frames with partly formed honeycomb cells already attached. When the outer tap is turned to drain the honey, the frames slightly split the honeycombs vertically allowing the honey to flow out without disturbing the bees on the comb surface.

Since the original 2015 crowdfunding campaign the team has created a second generation of Flow Frames with a number of new improvements. Both the Flow Hive 2 and the older Flow Hive Classic model come with these new generation Flow Frames.

A closer look at the new Flow Hive 2

The Flow Hive 2 adds a number of small design tweaks, such as a harvesting shelf to hold your honey harvesting jars, and a new ventilation control system to help keep your bees comfortable through the seasons.

It's no surprise the new iteration of this incredibly smart invention has again smashed crowdfunding records. The initial campaign on Indiegogo ended in early March with a mind-blowing total of $14.8 million raised. Due to demand the team has extended its pre-sale campaign for a limited time, so you can grab a Flow Hive 2 for $749 (about 15 percent off the final retail price).

The inspiring ethos of the whole project is to make beekeeping easier, more accessible and more sustainable as the Flow Hive allows people to harvest honey without significantly disrupting the hive.

Take a look at the new features of the Flow Hive 2 in the video below.

Source: Flow Hive

View gallery - 9 images

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Good ThinkingHoneycombIndiegogoBeeshoneybees
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Rich Haridy
Rich has written for a number of online and print publications over the last decade while also acting as film critic for several radio broadcasters and podcasts. His interests focus on psychedelic science, new media, and science oddities. Rich completed his Masters degree in the Arts back in 2013 before joining New Atlas in 2016.
4 comments
jd_dunerider
This is an amazing product, but at those prices, it's hard to believe they are trying to do anything other than make a lot of money. I'm not convinced by their ethos.
kwalispecial
I agree the thing isn't cheap, but regular hives aren't cheap either. If a typical hive is a few hundred bucks, and with this thing you don't need to buy or rent an extractor and other equipment, and if you value your own time that you aren't spending on pulling frames and extracting honey, this seems reasonable to me. Again, I agree it's a lot of money, but not unjustifiable.
I am mostly curious about what beekeepers think after trying it.
Nik
My neighbour has hives, but last year, ALL his bees died! So he's had to start from scratch with new queens this year. There's still a lot of speculation as the the causes of sudden bee death. When I bought my property, here in the Dordogne, [Aquitaine] my old rubble stone out-houses were a constant buzz of 'burrowing bees,' living in the gaps in the stone walls. Its been totally silent now for many years. Sad! Even at the price of these beehives, they may well save money if you are just starting, as no centrifuge required, together with all the other paraphernalia, thats required, and cost and time for all the cleaning and sterilising of those things too. These units seem the perfect solution, to minimal disturbance of the bees, and also less likelihood of introducing pathogens by exposing the internals to the outside air. My concern, is that its just too easy to steal ALL the honey!
Nik
PS. I mentioned this to my neighbour, and he was aware of the product, but said that in Dordogne, France, it would be difficult to release the honey, because its rarely very warm, and the honey would be very viscous. [Individual greenhouses for each, maybe?]
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