Is Flowhive Bad For Your Bees?

In the past few years, the beekeeping process is getting improved constantly due to advancements in technologies. According to a report, the population of bees worldwide increased by 3% when compared to the year 2017. Flow hive is a modern beehive design which makes the process of honey extraction easier. Flow hives is designed by two Australian beekeepers, it is an advanced form of the very popular Langstroth beehive. This hive eliminated the need of honey extractor and makes the honey extraction process safe and easy for both the beekeeper and the bees. But there is always a debate between beekeepers on whether a flow hive should be used or not.

What beekeepers say?

Some beekeepers are against using flow hive because, according to them, it harms the bees. On the other side, some consider it absolutely safe and healthy for the bees. The process of extracting honey from the hives is a traumatic experience for the bees, but using flow hives means you need not to disturb the bee colony for honey extraction. All you need to do is turn on the switch and the honey will start flowing into the attached container.

But there are a few things about the flow hive which might not be safe for the bees. So here are some reasons why one should avoid using a flow hive.

·        It is made of plastic - This new system of honey extraction might be easier but the honey collection system is made up of plastic and bees simply hates it. Bees do not like plastic and they create the comb out of wax they secrete. But the comb in a flow hive is made up of plastic. The honey is stored in double-walled plastic comb construction. When the tap is switched on, the honey is squeezed through the center of the comb. The comb gets restored to its original position once the tap is closed. This is a fully automated system.

·        The risk of ever exploitation - Flow hives make the beekeeper away from the bees. This new system can disconnect you from beekeeping. Honey is the food for the honey bees and one should never forget this. When talking of flow hives, honey is extracted automatically. This flow tank system treats the hives as a tank of honey and this results in its ever exploitation.

·        The colony might starve - Honey is food which bees produce and store for their difficult times. But beginner beekeepers who own a flow hive do not care about the bees. All they want to do is harvest as much honey as possible. Using a flow hive is very easy and simple and there is no risk of getting stung by the bees. This makes one harvest honey more than normal, which should never be done.

Conclusion

Beekeeping is not just about harvesting honey, you should also care about your bees. Bees are a very important part of our ecosystem and you must treat them first as pollinators and then as honey producers.