BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING

Flow Frame Extraction outside the Hive

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Wombat2:
new home owner called and asked me to inspect and if possible extract some honey from a hive left on his acreage property. On approach it looked like a normal Langstroth 2 box hive (minus any lifting points). The lid was totally full of honey filled burr comb. The top box had 5 flow frames jammed in with two feeder(?) frames - standard wood frames with a plastic cup inserted into the top bar which resulted in coming apart while trying to remove. All the frames were fully capped and very well crossed braced and fastened to the excluder below- thank goodness for the leaking honey keeping all the girls quiet.

Brood box had other problems. (3/4 deep frames in a full deep box)

My question is - if I can get hold of a Flow Frame key can I crack the frames and drain the honey out side of a Flow Frame Hive box?

cao:
>My question is - if I can get hold of a Flow Frame key can I crack the frames and drain the honey out side of a Flow Frame Hive box?

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to.  Just need to keep them upright.

Beelab:
The surrounding frames keep the flow frames stable. You may get excessive leaking if you drain the flow frames without side supports.
I understand the flow frames are not in a flow super?
Then you must extract outside the Lang box. Just secure the flow frames together as well as you can and go for it.

I also wonder if these are genuine flow frames or Chinese copies.
If they are genuine, they are worth keeping.

Acebird:
I don't own a flow frame but I suspect one that was left unattended would not open without breaking parts.  If it were me I would uncap with a hive tool and drain the honey.  Then disassemble the frame and clean.  Reassemble to use again as was intended.

Pazuzu:
I had a FH but I don't use it anymore. There's a guy I with a FH and I occasionally help him.

They are meant to be tight in the FH super for honey to be harvested, otherwise it will be a massive mess. Mind you mine leaked even when harvesting according to instructions.

Best is to place in a standard extractor if they fit.

Not a fan of flowhives myself, and mine is just gathering dust in the shed.

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