A flow hive is a standard beehive that has flow frames in the honey super. Generally, a bee hive is made up of the brood box where the queen bee lays eggs, and the supers with honeycomb for bees store honey in.
The flow frame fits into a standard Langstroth super, removable frames with a model that the bees build their honeycomb on. The design of the model allows honey to be harvested directly from the hive without opening the hive and with little disturbance to the bees.
How the flow frame work?
The flow frame consists of partly preformed honeycomb cells. The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells.
The operating tool is inserted in the top of the frame and turned, the cells split vertically inside the comb forming channels, allowing the honey to flow down to a sealed trough at the base of the frame and out of the hive. During this operation the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface.