The Flow Hive has gone viral, to the tune of raising (as of this writing) $5.9m in a crowdfunding campaign that was initially seeking $70k. Why? It may very well represent the biggest advance to apiculture since the invention of the movable comb hive in the 1800’s! The Flow Hive features an ingenious internal structure with pre-made honeycomb cells that the bees fill with honey and cap with wax as they normally do… only the back of the cells can be opened by an external operator and the sweet contents extracted at will without disturbing the bees. The honey then just flows down a center channel, out of a tap and into an awaiting bottle. No more having to dress in a special suit, no more putting the bees to sleep with smoke; just turn the tap and collect. Granted you still have to tend to your hive, inspect for disease, etc., so you’ll need that suit still. But at least the collection aspect has now been immensely simplified.
It looks like you can start out on the Flow Hive fun for a $290 pledge, although the featured product that contains everything you need out of the box (except the bees) is $600. Delivery is slated for December 2015.
[ Project Page ]
