okay so today I have the new larger flow
hive and a lot of the components have
been improved and I'm going to share it
with you you may have watched my videos
that are released back in February 17th
of 2016 and there I showed only a flow
super this is going to be the entire
flow hive and it's larger than the old
one the reason I bought the old flow
super is because I wanted seven frames
to match up with my 10 frame Langstroth
hive bodies and I'm showing you
the bottom board that comes with this I
already pulled out the plastic
corrugated piece and this allows you to
open up the bottom and ventilate the
whole hive and even things like varroa
mites may fall right through and get out
this is a queen excluder and you're
going to see why I want you to use that
Queen excluder on your flow hive just
going over the components here this
material is actually a hoop pine wood
material that comes from Australia so
we're going to start off with the breed
box which is the bottom box of any hive
and you notice that the trim around
these finger joints looks black and
that's because all these components now
our laser cut so the fit is fantastic
and the material is nice and heavy by
the way when you see these shim strips
you know that that is for the top box
that will actually hold the flow frames
and when you're putting it together you
might want to use a soft mallet like
this just to top the joints up nice and
tight you'll also notice that the holes
are pre-drilled and the screws that are
provided should go in those pre-drilled
holes don't start running screws
everywhere else and I'll tell you why in
a minute
I always test fit everything before you
start putting your screws in I also
recommend you not glue it and here I
take my 90 degree triangle and make sure
that everything is nice and square
before you start running the screws in
also clamp it up and draw in those
corners nice and tight so make sure it's
square
titin they give you a brood box screw
kit be very careful with these crews
because they don't give you any extras
also be very careful not to over-tighten
these just snug it up and leave it right
there this material has a really nice
finish to it I am actually very
impressed by it now here's the brood box
all put together
of course the handles are on the outside
and on the upper portion next they also
include all the components for wooden
frames now if you've been watching any
of my other videos you know the title
generally use wooden frames for my honey
bee comb but since they're here I'm just
going to go over how to put them
together always dried test fit
everything and if you're putting frames
together that are made of wood I like to
use guerilla glue here I'm going to just
clamp them up and let them dry they also
include enough pins for you to nail all
of these components together so if you
want to go ahead and use the pin
sometimes people have problems with the
pin splitting this thin would square
them up to you just like you do with the
boxes make sure you get your triangle
out and make sure those angles are 90
degrees now you see this little piece of
wooden trim if you're putting foundation
in these you don't use that and there's
also the holes here to run wires through
if you're putting in foundation when you
put the trim in if you're going to use
it the way I do when I use wooden frames
is I put a little bit of glue on that
and stick those in there then I just
take beeswax and I run it along this
edge and that way it encourages the bees
to start to draw out their comb always
square things up first
they just happen the Brad's if you want
to like I said these are included and
I'm just happy one together here to show
you where I would put it and here's the
thing notice that's 10 frames so before
you couldn't get the full flow hive with
10 frames that would match up with a
Langstroth 10 frame box so here it is
it's bigger and it's better and I put in
the acorn frames which have just come
out and you can get those with double
wax dip triple wax dip and the bees
really go after those so the next thing
we're going to do is we're going to put
together that flow super you get the
plastic window that allows you to
observe the frames on the side and it
comes with this tape on it if you can
pull that off in one piece good for you
the shortest screws that come in your
kit go for that window and you put that
together the other thing that I was
happy with is that window cover that
comes up is thicker than the one that
originally came out and again square
everything up before you start using
screws and I also put these quick rip
clamps on there leave gaps on the side
remember this piece with the two holes
in it has to be easily removed they
recommend shimming that with a credit
card or something while you put this
together and that way you'll make sure
and have the space necessary there are
two screws that are countersunk here and
you'll see that beveled head on them and
it also matches the countersunk part of
this metal strapping that holds the
position of this box again very careful
not to over tighten now this is all
pretty much the same as the original box
that came out so when people refer to a
flow super they are talking about just
his top box now also these little knobs
when they first came out were just they
were a little smaller to begin with and
it was just drilled out would some
people have problems with that stripping
out well now we have machine screws and
there is a little metal piece in there
to receive the threads so now it's nice
and tight and you won't have to glue it
up the way I did with my old ones last
thing you want to have it
with these knobs to pull out and so with
this new box they did a great job
improving both the size and the way that
they're threaded in glue them if you want
but I think it's fine the way it is and
again test fit just to make sure
everything looks really good and fits
good later on we're going to have
expansion and contraction as it's
exposed to the weather now this cover
access plate for that side viewing
window is thicker than ever I notice
that the ones that I've had out in the
apiary for a year more are already
working a little bit and they were a
thin material so this is much better and
of course you have the spring here that
prevents you from tightening too much
screwing in and I might slightly over
tighten this one but remember that these
have to move to allow you to remove this
viewing window cover but I like the
material I like everything I've seen so
far
and then of course you have your
retainer that keeps both the top access
pull in place and keeps your honey flow
frame access panel in place unless you
want to pull it out to get your flow
frame that very tight clearance there
between that and the knobs but it's
workable
I could probably shave that down a
little bit now keep in mind this hoop
pine you are going to want to put a
finish on the exterior of it I know it
looks looks nice right now I even put
Thompson's WaterSeal on it but you can
paint it use any exterior finish do not
paint or seal or finish the interior of
your hives so now we're going to go onto
the roof again they have a screw kit
just for the route components you're
going to want to put together the front
part of the roof and the back part and
the side panels first and make sure the
top edges of those where you have that
roof angle make sure that they match up
nice before you move on I also don't
recommend screwing the screws in super
tight leave yourself some play and you
want to make sure and square this up
really good before you go and put these
shingle pieces on and you'll notice that
angle at the top where the cut changes
that's where you line up the leading
edge of each shingle piece now I decided
once I squared it up to go ahead and
clamp this down to the table just to
make sure it doesn't shift while I'm
screwing these shingle pieces on you can
pre-drill I did not eat shingle piece has
two screw holes already drilled in it so
if you pre-drill it would be going into
those end pieces and no problems which
is running the screw straight in now
that they're all on the last piece that
we're going to put in is going to be the
top piece the ridge piece of the roof
now when you're done with all of this
you're definitely going to want to flip
it over and you're going to want to seal
all those joints from the
inside with our TV or maybe you could
use some silicone or even just
all-weather glue but you want to make
sure all those joints are weather sealed
so now let's put it all together so here
we are again with the baseboard
now this bottom board for the flow hives
when it sits flat is actually built to
tilt your hive backwards so it's already
ready to go and again that corrugated
plastic sheet has two different level
settings so you can snug it up to the
top when you're extracting honey or you
can put it down to the bottom setting
which allows it to catch debris from
inside the hive but also offers more
ventilation probably peak summer when
it's really hot you want to just pull
that corrugated plastic out and let them
ventilate the hive right through the
bottom so now everything you're looking
at is standard there's nothing different
here than any other beehive it's not
unique when it comes to the differences
in beehives between a flow hive and a
traditional 10 frame Langstroth hive
it's just a flow super that makes the
difference so when you're starting out
you are only going to use this braid box
the bottom board the inner cover and the
top cover then once your beads are built
up that's when you see all the comb you
see the brood and you see the resources
being stored now we add the flow super
so the first thing that goes in is that
Queen excluder especially if you only
have the brood box and you're going
straight into the flow super you don't
want those bees to be able to get up in
the top and have the Queen follow them
and lay eggs in these flow frames and I
do have another video that shows that
the Queen can and will lay her eggs and
develop brood inside these flow frames
so you want to make sure and prevent
that now we're just going to put them
all together here and again look at the
size of it these are seven flow frames
which matches up with all of your ten
frame Langstroth box
so that's why I now have the full flow
hive before I didn't have the full hive
because I wanted it to match my 10 frame
gear I have a lot of 10 frame legs
throughout the equipment now you notice
there's a lot of play in this you want
to make sure that they will all come
forward and stay tight and look at the
right edge there
keep them centered so that the bees can
actually come through the sides and I
have other videos showing that and the
bees will seal everything up on their
own notice when I put the drain tube in
that the piece shoved backwards so what
do we do about these loose pieces in
this flow super well I'm going to show
you there's an adjustment screw here on
the back and we're going to back out
that screw so that it pushes the flow
frame forward all the flow frames need
to be forward which is the back of the
box and here's how much I push the screw
out and it's going to take all the play
out and I did this to every one of these
frames so now they're nice and tight
when you got to push it in there there
is a little sponginess to it all of that
movement and going to go away when the
bees go through and seal up all of these
joints we have to show a close up here of
course the access point for the actuator
and when you put that in it opens these
flow frames I'm going to show you that
in a second and again you know that
little piece will not go back in place
until you have put all of your flow
frames in a closed position so it's
pretty foolproof now I want to show you
up close and look at the side of this
flow frame a lot of questions come to me
regarding how the bees must be
guillotined inside these flow frames and
how when you activate it if they go in
and they must be killed when you
activate it I can tell you having used
these for over a year I have not had one
bee casualty on these flow frames and I
just want you to see all the space
that's in here so even if the bees start
to work these cells while you're
draining the honey
and if they're working the cells or
Heather heads in there while you're
moving it back into this closed position
there's lots of room for them to back
out they do not get smashed they do not
get cut up the surfaces are very
irregular your movements are slow and
the bees have plenty of space to move
out without losing their appendages or
being killed by the flow frame actuation
now if you want to see how this has
worked out I have lots of videos also on
YouTube that show first and second
extractions of these your bees are going
to take several weeks sometimes just to
seal up these joints before they start
to put honey in them you may not get any
honey from your flow frames in your
first season if you're in the northern
United States so here's the whole unit
put together of course again I'm very
happy with this because it accepts all
of my 10 frame equipment now this is
just a brief box on the bottom notice
that it's already tilted back you want
to make sure and level your highs
carefully as far as tipping side-to-side
because when they build their comb
they're going to build it straight down
from gravity but tilting forward and
backwards does not affect how well they
align their comb make sure that you're
getting original flow I've equipment
though there are lots of copycats out
there this is the box they included
another flow hat with a veil
and I have to say I just love the way this
thing is put together
I hope this assembly video has helped
you out and I hope that I've answered
your questions of course if you have
more questions feel free to comment of
course we can't close out without first
showing some honey dripping out of a
flow hive thank you for watching and I
hope you continue to learn and enjoy
managing your honeybees