Can harvest honey without having to open hive and anger bees

Bee keeping may not seem the most hi-tech of pastimes, but a new hive is set to change that - and make keeping bees far easier.

Called the flowhive, the gadget is expected to take the beekeeping industry by storm when it is revealed later this month.

The new design allows owners to simply turn a switch to get fresh honey from their hive - without have to open it and anger the inhabitants.

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The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells which separate inside the hive, allowing the honey to drop down into a collector

HOW IT WORKS The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells. The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells as usual. When the honey tap is opened, 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 - while the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface. Advertisement

'Our new invention that allows honey to be harvested directly from the hive without opening the hive and with little disturbance to the bees,' the firm says.

It plans to officially launch the hive later this month with a Kickstarter campaign.

Instead of traditinal frames inside the hive, the new design uses 'flow' frames.

The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells.

The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells as usual.

When you turn the tool, a bit like a tap, 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 while the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface.

When the honey has finished draining, owner's turn the tap again in the upper slot resets the comb into the original position and allows the bees to chew the wax capping away, and fill it with honey again.

It was invented by Stuart and Cedar Anderson, beekeeping brothers in Byron Bay.

'A flow hive is our term for a standard beehive using a brood box with one or more Flow Supers for honey storage and extraction,' they say.

They say they have had frames that have filled in a week during peak times of the flowering season.

It can take anything from twenty minutes to over two hours to drain a hive, depending on the temperature and the viscosity of the honey, and each frame can produce around three kilos.

'However a super usually fills well within a month during the spring and summer,' they say.

It can take anything from twenty minutes to over two hours to drain a hive, depending on the temperature and the viscosity of the honey, and each frame can produce around three kilos.