The product is real. I was sent one box worth of the frames to test and
have seen it in operation and in person. I thought it was impossible
when I first saw a video. I actually wondered if it was a spoof or if
it was real. But after seeing how it works and watching them do one
frame in the open live on skype while I could see the entire frame and
talk to them and after they sent me a box worth of them to test, I can
assure you it works. My test of it so far is too small and over too
short of a time to be sure what I think of it in practice, but I can't
imagine that I'm going to find too many disadvantages. I'm not sure how
I will manage my hives using them as it changes several things I have
always done. First, I run all eight frame mediums and these are deeps,
so I'll have to buy some deeps (which I already did). Second, it makes
a hive much more static in size when you can empty the combs without
even opening the hive really. No need to stack the supers up so high
when you can just drain them periodically without having to clean up the
extractor and all the equipment and the kitchen every time. Just
draining it into a bucket eliminates all of that mess. The queen won't
lay in them because they are too deep so you don't need an excluder
(which I don't use, but some people do). You don't have to run the bees
out to harvest so you eliminate all of that part of harvesting as well.
In recent years I've had all the same size boxes and I try to leave them
honey for winter. This may change my view of some of how I determine
what to leave them since these are deeper combs and can't be used for
brood I don't think I want them to cluster in them over winter. So I'll
have to work out the details of how I will use them as far as when to
put them on, take them off, drain them, how many mediums to have on
below them etc. In other words, I'm pretty sure I'll be using them, it
will just be too useful not to, but exactly how that impacts my total
system I'm not really sure, until I've tried to work those details out.
When I first saw it I thought of this story from "Mastering the Art of
Beekeeping" by Ormond and Harry Aebi:
" 'I want to buy one of your beehives' he said. 'I want you to bring it
to me tomorrow at eleven in the morning and I want you to set it up on
top of a ten foot pole that I'll have set up by that time. And I want
you to come over every Thursday afternoon and drain out the honey so
that I can have fresh honey every week.'... 'I can't place a beehive up
on a pole like that,' I said. 'And even if I could, I couldn't work it
to take off the honey.' 'Why not? I shall expect you to install a spigot
at the bottom of the hive. All you'll have to do is open it and drain
off the quantity of honey I require.' 'Beehives don't work that way,' I
told him. 'I can't possibly do as you ask.'..."