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Author Topic: Tap for getting honey out of hive?  (Read 35504 times)

Offline Richard M

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #40 on: February 22, 2015, 10:43:28 pm »
Did anyone get to the point that they tell you the shipping costs are to the east cost of the U.S.?
Jim

Quite expensive for freight - it's on their website but if they manufacture in the US that should be better for you - probably cheaper getting it made there too as our manufacturing costs, especially for small volumes typical in Aus are very high.

I'm thinking that this could be a good option for my beehives in the shed idea - http://www.beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=45997.0

I'm using all deep boxes anyway, this would mean I wouldn't have to buy any more than I already have, (3 boxes for each hive), as we could draw off the honey as the super becomes full, rather than having to extract the whole season's worth,stored in several supers on a single day. Won't have to buy many more frames or foundation etc either.



Offline Maggiesdad

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #41 on: February 22, 2015, 10:46:21 pm »
$990K......  :grin:



Offline Maggiesdad

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #42 on: February 22, 2015, 10:49:44 pm »

Offline biggraham610

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #43 on: February 22, 2015, 11:05:49 pm »
can I get a link to where yall are tracking the donations. Thanks. G
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #45 on: February 22, 2015, 11:20:19 pm »
Wow.  $350 for six frames (which will fill an eight frame deep super).  That's $58.34 a frame.  I guess I should get mine in the house and lock them in the vault...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline Maggiesdad

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #46 on: February 22, 2015, 11:26:09 pm »
I reckon they'll have a whole new set of headaches tomorrow!  :cheesy:

I wish them all the best, and I hope all the folks that are getting Flow hives that have never had bees... do their homework.

Offline Richard M

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #47 on: February 22, 2015, 11:26:59 pm »
Wow.  $350 for six frames (which will fill an eight frame deep super).  That's $58.34 a frame.  I guess I should get mine in the house and lock them in the vault...

My guess is that commercial beekeepers won't be that excited about it.

Could also be that they weren't expecting as much interest; if they get enough orders, the cost per unit will fall accordingly.

Mind you, they are in Byron Bay which is the hippy capital of Australia for overvalued/overpriced everything from real estate to beekeeping veils woven by Tibetan virgins from Unicorn hair, so anything's possible.

Offline DMLinton

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #48 on: February 22, 2015, 11:30:27 pm »
I have to wonder if there will not be a major price adjustment if the Indiegogo donations are any indication of potential sales.  At massive levels of production, I would think that the frames could be built for less than $10 each ... maybe a lot less than that.  Even with a nice markup for the R&D and the price could realistically drop by 50%.
Regards, Dennis
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The truth is what the truth is.  We can bend, twist or stretch it all we want but, at the end of the day, the truth is still what the truth is.

Offline Richard M

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #49 on: February 22, 2015, 11:35:16 pm »
I have to wonder if there will not be a major price adjustment if the Indiegogo donations are any indication of potential sales.  At massive levels of production, I would think that the frames could be built for less than $10 each ... maybe a lot less than that.  Even with a nice markup for the R&D and the price could realistically drop by 50%.

If their orders match the crowd-funding, I think there's a danger that they could end up like the dog that finally caught the car, if orders outstrip production capacity  - worst thing you can do is whip the customers into a frenzy and then find you can't deliver. Hope not though  - I think they deserve success with an original idea like this. 


Offline biggraham610

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #50 on: February 23, 2015, 12:14:12 am »
Wow.  $350 for six frames (which will fill an eight frame deep super).  That's $58.34 a frame.  I guess I should get mine in the house and lock them in the vault...

Sounds like you didnt see that coming Michael. What were you realistically expecting after working with them and seeing the makeup and craftmanship? G
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Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #52 on: February 23, 2015, 06:49:49 am »
Wow.  $350 for six frames (which will fill an eight frame deep super).  That's $58.34 a frame.  I guess I should get mine in the house and lock them in the vault...

Michael,
I think you need to have a talk with e bees in that hive about doubling up on the number of guard bees.  :grin:
Jim



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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #53 on: February 23, 2015, 08:08:38 am »
>I think you need to have a talk with e bees in that hive about doubling up on the number of guard bees.

Yes.  Give them a lecture on how much it costs...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline Dallasbeek

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #54 on: February 23, 2015, 10:36:19 am »
Did you contribute at all? I wouldn't mind getting my hands on some of those frames. The idea that you can forego all the extraction and processing portions for only 350 bucks is not bad at all.

I wonder if it would benefit to stack 2 flow deeps? I don't know all that much yet,but it almost seems to good to be true.

"If it sounds too good to be true...." -- old adage, but true in most cases. 
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Offline DMLinton

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #55 on: February 23, 2015, 11:01:21 am »
I think that it is too good to be true from the point of view of cost.  Also, I have not found any information at all on how long these frames might last.  They are primarlly plastic so forever seems out of the question.  Even if they last five to ten years, I do not think the economics work.  I have to crunch the numbers and see what I come up with (this -20 C/-4 F temperature here this morning will have me looking for something to do indoors).

The thing that I keep thinking of is that I figure I will have $12,000 - $15,000 CDN in hive equipment for my near future target of 100 hives.  Adding these frames would cost $50,000 CDN plus shipping and modifying boxes thus nearly quintupling my hive equipment investment. 

To put that into perspective a little more, if I can manage to achieve our current provincial average honey production of 93 lbs/hive at a current wholesale value of about $3/lb, I would have around $70,000 sitting out the field in anticipation of about $30,000 gross annual return.  Even if I put in the extra work and retail my honey at $6-$7/lb, the numbers are still not close to working.
Regards, Dennis
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The truth is what the truth is.  We can bend, twist or stretch it all we want but, at the end of the day, the truth is still what the truth is.

Offline deknow

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #56 on: February 23, 2015, 11:17:42 am »
For some context.....of you have a deep frame with 8lbs of honey you can extract, and you can sell your honey for $7/lb, the "value" is about the same per frame.

Wow.  $350 for six frames (which will fill an eight frame deep super).  That's $58.34 a frame.  I guess I should get mine in the house and lock them in the vault...

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #57 on: February 23, 2015, 11:49:03 am »
No doubt it will only be a matter of time until some enormous plastics factory in China makes a copy and sells it for a fraction of the price.
I've ordered a set of 6 frames, more out of curiosity and as a toy rather than with a view to replacing all my honey supers with them. I'm looking forward to them turning up so I can have a play  :happy:
Looking at how they work on their video I am impressed by the whole concept, the design and engineering that has gone in to the frames is very impressive, it's easy to see where the money has gone. I suspect if the inventors knew how well the Indiegogo campaign was going to go they may have been able to set the price point a bit lower but as I am buying it as a one off just to see how it works I'm not too stressed.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #58 on: February 23, 2015, 12:07:12 pm »
If I didn't already have six frames, I'd have to buy some... just to play with it... but I do, so now I'll wait for the cheap ones now...

BTW someone pointed out to me that a new beekeeper may think that "I can go out and just drain off some fresh honey whenever I like".  But that won't really work.  You have to wait until it's capped for two reasons: 1) so it will be ripe and will not ferment and 2) so there are NO bees with their heads in the cells to get crushed when you run the action on this.  I think you'll have to keep an eye on things too, because if you don't harvest as soon as it IS capped they are likely to backfill the brood nest and swarm.  So, to recap, no, you can't just drain it whenever you want some honey and yes you have to drain it when it's full if you want to keep them from swarming...  Bottom line, this means you don't get to harvest whenever you feel like it...  Still harvesting will be much simpler.

« Last Edit: February 23, 2015, 05:12:16 pm by Michael Bush »
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Tap for getting honey out of hive?
« Reply #59 on: February 23, 2015, 01:01:35 pm »
Michael,
Good point. Thanks for that info.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

 

anything