Cedar Anderson, Co-Inventor of Flow Hive & Super Lifter

WEBVTT

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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct each act in service to the whole and

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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

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the bees' needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. A lot of us complain about some of the

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difficulties in beekeeping. Others put their

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brains together and do something about it. I'm

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referring specifically to all of the heavy lifting.

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And frankly, if you're like me, I admit I don't

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do my varroa washes as often as I should because

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it's so difficult lifting the honey supers, maybe

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three of them at 60 pounds each, finding somewhere

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to put them, eventually putting them back on.

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There has got to be a better way and our guest

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today and his father have figured that one out.

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First this week's headline from Arizona about

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a wild and crazy beekeeping story that unfortunately

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turned tragic. A pedestrian was fatally struck

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after a swarm of bees escaped their container

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and began stinging the driver that was transporting

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them. This happened on November 8th in Mesa Arizona

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in the morning and according to authorities the

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driver was in the process of transporting a swarm

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of bees when they began to escape their container.

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The bees quickly spread throughout the cab of

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the transport vehicle and began aggressively

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stinging the driver. Sadly, while suffering multiple

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stings, the driver lost control of the vehicle

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and struck a pedestrian before crashing into

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a pole. Unfortunately the pedestrian lost their

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life as a result of the accident. The driver

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was taken to the hospital following the crash

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and treated for minor injuries. I'm not quite

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sure what to do with this. I'm just going to

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let it sit for a minute with a reminder for all

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of us to think safety first in every aspect of

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our beekeeping. On a much lighter note, research

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into the mental well -being impact of being connected

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with bees is also taking flight. A recent Irish

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study linked caring for bees with stress reduction,

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emotional regulation, social correctedness, and

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a sense of purpose. An Italian study found that

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it fosters positive emotions, psychological flow

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and feelings of amazement. Bees are known for

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batting well above their weight when it comes

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to supporting human well -being. You know, we

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thank them for sustaining our food supply, maintaining

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biodiversity and producing ingredients that are

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used in skin care, medicine and elsewhere. Now,

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it seems that they may also hold a key to our

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emotional wellness as a growing number of people

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are discovering that caring for bees is a powerful

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way to nurture their inner calm. While specific

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beekeeping studies on mental health are still

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emerging, psychologist Tosh Balakis says the

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skills involved in caring for bees such as attention

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restoration, gentle physical movement, and sensory

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grounding align strongly with what's already

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known to work well for mental health. What makes

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it so fascinating is that it's a blend of science

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and soul says Belakis. We know from environmental

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and occupational psychology that engaging in

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structured purposeful outdoor activities can

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lower stress hormones and improve mood regulation.

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Time spent in nature combined with caring for

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another living thing boosts well -being. Now

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for today's guest, we're heading down under to

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the east coast of Australia for a discussion

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with Cedar Anderson, co -founder of Flow Hive.

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Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keeping everybody.

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And we're going a long ways. We're going clear

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down under to meet with Cedar Anderson today.

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Cedar, how are you? Thank you very much for having

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me Eric and I'm great it's a beautiful sunny

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day here good for beekeeping. Why don't you let

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everybody know where in Australia are you? So

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we're in Byron Bay which is a little town on

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the east coast of Australia and it's a subtropical

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region which means the bees forage all year round

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and sometimes in winter we get some really good

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honey flows too depending on the weather. What

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kinds of things do they forage on? So in the

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wintertime they'll be foraging on the paper bark

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which the rains set off and then in the springtime

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you've got a whole lot of things flowering and

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you get really light honeys from the forest and

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also from the farmland with the macadamia trees

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and then the rest of the year we tend to get

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the darker honeys and especially through the

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winter you get honeys that are almost black so

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we've got the range from almost black through

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to almost clear. It's pretty neat. It's cool.

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Well, most of us beekeepers, we tend to whine

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and complain about things like, oh man, that

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super weighs 80 pounds. I don't want to have

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to pick that thing up or extracting is such a

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big hassle. You and your father are people that

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just did something about it instead of complaining

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about it. Tell us who you are. Tell us what you

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guys have come up with. So I used to keep bees

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in the conventional way, selling honey to the

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local shops by the bucket full. And it was through

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that I went, hang on, this is a real pain. harvesting

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in the conventional way you know how it goes

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you've got the extraction room which was the

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shed I lived in you got a big sticky mess you've

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got the centrifuge you've got the sieving buckets

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the decapping knives the stainless steel benches

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and a whole stack of sticky boxes getting ants

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and wax moths and so on right a normal kind of

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conventional setup I thought hang on a second

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Isn't there a better way to do this? Can't we

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just tap the honey straight out of the hive?

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And that thought's what sparked a decade long

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journey with my father and I inventing the Flow

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Hive. Now we simply, and I still get mesmerized

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by watching it, you turn the handle on the hive

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and the honey flows straight out, straight into

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your jars, bypassing that whole extracting room.

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So it's like your extraction room built right

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into your hive, if you like. It's kind of not.

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necessarily apples for apples either because

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a single flow hive box can take the place of

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multiple sticky boxes if you like because you

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can keep tapping the honey out and storing it

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in jars on the shelf instead of boxes on the

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hive to batch harvest. Well that makes sense

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so so like a lot of us we're really proud of

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showing our Gee, look at my hives with five supers

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on top. So they're 10 feet tall, which is completely

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impractical and things like that. In some areas,

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how often do people do you call it tapping the

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hive? Yeah, we call it harvesting. I mean, the

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conventional term is robbing, but we tend to

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call it harvesting. And that sort of delineates

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between the robbing behavior of bees and humans

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in a way. So we call it harvesting the hive.

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Yeah, now a process of just walking out to the

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hives with your jars and ready to go. One of

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the things that we really didn't set out to invent

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but has become an amazing kind of side benefit

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is the way you can isolate different flavors

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from the single hive because if you imagine the

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bees are filling up the frames as they go from

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the center, slowly moving out, then you get a

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variety of honeys in each frame. And then you

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start harvesting a couple of those and they'll

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fill it with whatever's flowering right now.

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So you get this checkerboarding and these beautiful

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different flavors and colors coming out of a

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single hive, which I find fascinating. I mean,

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I really love honey. So to be able to taste those

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differences and isolate those differences is

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a real benefit. Well, I would guess especially

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in a place like where you are, where you have

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different things. flowering different nectar

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flows what half a dozen or so different ones

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during the year? Yeah I mean there'd be hundreds

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of different flowers flowering but there's a

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few key ones that really do go and you can get

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more of a monofloral flavor one of them is the

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paperbark another one that we get in in the springtime

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is that the Goya or Wild Quince is a nicer name

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for it but that's a really blow your taste buds

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off really light colored honey and the Melaleuca

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on the other hand Bababark is a is a almost burnt

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toffee darker honey. Well and most of us even

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though we have various flows some of the things

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you mentioned earlier it's such a hassle harvesting

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honey. Just the cleanup alone let alone pulling

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frames Getting wax cappings off all that kind

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of stuff that we only want to do it once or twice

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a year So we end up with what we call wild flower

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honey because it's just a mixture of everything

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But yeah, that would be fun to be able to say

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okay You know this month we have these fruit

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trees flowering and I'd like to taste the honey

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from those and then next month It's something

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else. I'd like to taste that makes sense And

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there's a beautiful little feature where you

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can actually just harvest part of a frames if

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you're just curious and you can even do that

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even before it's ripe if you want to just crack

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the last little cell line and taste that flavor

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coming in and to me that really helps me connect

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what's flowering as to what honey is being produced

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and be able to work out which flowers are determining

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which flavor. Let's talk about Flow Hive for

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a minute. Specifically, I like the business side

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of things and you guys did a crowdfunding thing

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that everybody saw. I mean everybody, even whether

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you were a beekeeper or not. So congrats on that

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because that is not an easy thing to do. To you

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and your dad, big congratulations on that. Give

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me just a rough idea. I don't need any sacred

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information, but about how many Flow Hives have

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you sold? So it's upwards of 150 ,000 now to

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130 different countries in the world. The U .S.

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is a very popular place for flow hives, as well

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as Australia. It's been this, I mean, real joy

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to have a global community. And, you know, I

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still pinch myself, of course, amazing success

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for our invention. But this global community

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that sprung up is Something that we've learnt

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so much from and every week I spend an hour head

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to camera answering questions from all over the

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world. It's fascinating to hear them coming in

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from all corners of the globe and have that rich

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knowledge of beekeeping being shared in a global

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way. Who do you find mostly are your typical

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buyers? Is it beginners? Who is it? So we get

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about half beginners and half existing beekeepers

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and we don't get the large -scale commercial

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beekeepers we tend to get the small -scale what

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we call boutique honey producers where you've

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just got 30 or 40 hives in your yard and you're

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jarring up your honey and selling it to the local

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shops and so on. What we find is clever beekeepers

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We'll actually market the fact that a single

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frame honey has this higher flavor retention

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which has been proven by universities and things

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because the honey hasn't been processed by a

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whole lot of machinery, it hasn't been mixed

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with 30 other hives' honeys and so on. So you

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do get this flavor profile really present. Clever

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Boutique commercial beekeepers are going direct

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to jar by passing the Production, shed, all of

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the decapping line, all of that. And even the

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bottling machine, they're just bottling it right

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up at the hives and then able to tell that story

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and not only harvest in an easier way, but also

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fetch a much higher price for their honey. I

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don't have one of your Flow Hives yet. I know

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some people that do that absolutely love them.

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I also know some people that naively bought them.

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Okay and I'm sure you've heard this and this

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is no slam on you. This is probably a slam on

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people not doing their research but they saw

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the stuff from your crowdfunding, bought a Flow

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Hive, set it up and then in the backyard and

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then went okay where's the bees and where's my

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honey and they didn't realize they had to not

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only by bees, but they had to learn how to be

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a beekeeper. And I think that's something that

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we need to talk about here, is the flow hive

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doesn't do all your beekeeping for you. There's

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still a lot that you have to learn. Would you

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address that? Absolutely, yes. Like any bee hive,

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the bees still need the same care they've always

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had, and that is different in different regions.

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So local knowledge is good to know what... level

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of intervention or care you need to give your

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hive. The Flow Hive invention itself is specific

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to the honey harvesting and although we've built

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more features into the Flow Hive to assist your

00:14:52.070 --> 00:14:55.070
beekeeping bit, the Flow Hive invention with

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our Flow Frames is basically the extraction room

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built into the hive and as far as the bees looking

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after them it's much the same as it's always

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been. We get a wide variety from people that

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get totally fanatical about their bees and become

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amazing beekeepers. And like you say, beekeepers

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that start and actually don't want to put in

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the effort to look after their bees. And I think

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that's the same across any kind of beekeeping

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or hobby pursuit. You get the people that just

00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.019
jump in and don't want to do the learning. You

00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:35.899
get other people that really do. We did about

00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.240
it because that became very apparent early on.

00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:41.059
I mean, when we did our crowdfunding, we were

00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:43.860
expecting existing beekeepers to buy our flow

00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:46.899
frames. What we found is that most people wanted

00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:49.580
the whole kit and caboodle, the hive, and at

00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:51.679
least half of them were new to beekeeping at

00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.580
that moment. So all of a sudden, we realized

00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:58.399
that we needed to educate. And out of the gate,

00:15:58.460 --> 00:16:03.340
we started creating lots of online training material.

00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.120
to address the new beekeeper and what they needed

00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:09.879
to know and what they needed to learn. And we've

00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:12.559
been doing that ever since, creating an enormous

00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.980
amount of training material. Are you a beekeeper

00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:18.000
who loves sharing tips, asking questions, and

00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.360
showing off your latest honey haul? Then join

00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.259
The Hive, introducing the Man Lake beekeeping

00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:26.960
community on Facebook, your new go -to for everything

00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:30.100
honey bees. Whether you're struggling with mites,

00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:33.200
trying a new winterization method, or just need

00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.440
to know what that weird thing on your frame is,

00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.779
our group is a supportive, spam -free zone for

00:16:39.779 --> 00:16:42.659
beginners and pros alike. Stop scrolling through

00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:45.460
endless forums and connect directly with beekeepers

00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:48.480
and the professionals at Man Lake in one buzzing

00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:51.019
place. We'll put a link to it down in the show

00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:54.820
notes. Just click over and join up. I also jump

00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:57.600
in front of the camera an hour still every week.

00:16:57.950 --> 00:17:01.470
answering questions to anybody who wants to ask.

00:17:01.889 --> 00:17:05.950
On top of that we put a dedicated online training

00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:08.869
course at the beekeeper .org with experts from

00:17:08.869 --> 00:17:11.150
all over the world that have tuned in so it's

00:17:11.150 --> 00:17:13.930
not only our knowledge but a lot of experts from

00:17:13.930 --> 00:17:17.349
the USA and Europe and so on. That course gets

00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:21.109
rave reviews and is also an amazing fundraiser

00:17:21.109 --> 00:17:23.730
for the bees and we're really proud to support

00:17:23.730 --> 00:17:26.670
a whole lot of initiatives. from funds raised

00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:31.390
from the beekeeper .org. So education is super

00:17:31.390 --> 00:17:36.109
key to our mission, if you like. We're going

00:17:36.109 --> 00:17:39.569
to put your website down on the show notes. And

00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:43.710
if you have a special link to that once a week,

00:17:43.930 --> 00:17:46.890
one hour thing, I want to go on there and think

00:17:46.890 --> 00:17:49.849
up a really hard question for you. Okay. Please

00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:53.579
do, please. You probably know a hundred times

00:17:53.579 --> 00:17:55.859
more than I do, so I can't stump you, but it'd

00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:59.180
be fun to try. I'm sure there's some things that

00:17:59.180 --> 00:18:02.039
are specific to your region that we don't have,

00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:05.660
but yeah, there's certainly a lot of great questions

00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:08.279
that come in. By the way, one of the things that

00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:12.359
I love is that you and all your videos and the

00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.819
people whose flow hives I've seen tend to leave

00:18:15.819 --> 00:18:19.329
a natural wood look. I assume you're using varnish

00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:22.109
or oil or something to preserve that wood. I

00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:26.089
absolutely love that. That just is a beautiful

00:18:26.089 --> 00:18:30.730
thing. I have one that is that is a wax dipped

00:18:30.730 --> 00:18:34.390
and so it looks like it's varnished of regular

00:18:34.390 --> 00:18:36.910
Langstroth hive and I just love the look of them.

00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:40.200
It is a beautiful thing to have that natural

00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.720
wood look and You know and I think people also

00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.200
like the aesthetic of the peaked roof and it

00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:50.460
just looks beautiful in in your yard Yeah, definitely.

00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:53.119
All right. Let's talk seasonality just a little

00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:56.619
bit If I have a flow hive and I live in a warm

00:18:56.619 --> 00:19:00.740
place like where you are Do I leave that flow?

00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:03.420
I'm sorry. Do we call it box? Yeah, you can call

00:19:03.420 --> 00:19:06.230
it a super Do we leave the flow super on all

00:19:06.230 --> 00:19:08.930
year? And if I'm in a cold climate, am I taking

00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:11.589
that off in the winter? So it's common, as you

00:19:11.589 --> 00:19:14.970
know, in those places that get a long, cold winter

00:19:14.970 --> 00:19:18.450
to reduce the size of the hive to make it a bit

00:19:18.450 --> 00:19:22.009
easier on the colony. But what you're doing is

00:19:22.009 --> 00:19:24.109
you're also juggling honey stores to survive

00:19:24.109 --> 00:19:26.089
through that time. And if you're way up north,

00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:32.049
then you may find you need quite a lot of honey

00:19:32.049 --> 00:19:34.210
stores for your bees to survive. So most people

00:19:34.210 --> 00:19:37.069
are feeding them up if they need to prior to

00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:41.029
the long winter. Whether you take the flow super

00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:44.750
off will depend on I guess how big your hive

00:19:44.750 --> 00:19:48.569
is already. If you have just a single brood box

00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:51.470
and a single super on, you might decide to leave

00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:54.809
it on. so the bees can forage on the remaining

00:19:54.809 --> 00:19:58.069
honey that's left in it and stay alive during

00:19:58.069 --> 00:19:59.769
the winter. However if you're going to do that

00:19:59.769 --> 00:20:03.069
you should remove the queen excluder so that

00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:05.509
your queen isn't left behind as that cluster

00:20:05.509 --> 00:20:09.690
moves up and consumes the remaining stores in

00:20:09.690 --> 00:20:13.089
your flow frames. Now the flow frames won't be

00:20:13.089 --> 00:20:15.890
an issue in a really cold winter, they'll be

00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:18.869
completely fine so you can choose to leave them

00:20:18.869 --> 00:20:21.930
on. However, a lot of beekeepers do take the

00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:24.009
flow super off in those regions because they

00:20:24.009 --> 00:20:27.670
might have two boxes underneath that and they

00:20:27.670 --> 00:20:31.309
decide to reduce it to two box colony. So you've

00:20:31.309 --> 00:20:35.130
got maybe a double brood or you might have a

00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:38.329
brood box and just an ideal on top of it to survive

00:20:38.329 --> 00:20:41.690
the winter. Local knowledge is key, but you can

00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:43.869
configure it any way you like. There's no right

00:20:43.869 --> 00:20:46.950
or wrong. What we find in those really cold regions

00:20:46.950 --> 00:20:51.980
is that people like perhaps a single brood box

00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:54.319
and I might go for the 10 frame size which we

00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.440
call the Flow 7 because flow frames are a bit

00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.000
wider. Then an Ideal on top of that and then

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.559
perhaps a Super on top of that. So the colder

00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:07.539
regions can use an Ideal box as a honey barrier

00:21:07.539 --> 00:21:12.480
and therefore not need an excluder. Then you

00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.240
might decide to remove the Flow Super for winter

00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.440
and just leave them with the Ideal. and the brood.

00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:21.359
So that becomes a popular configuration in the

00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:23.839
colder areas as well. I think it'd be a good

00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.140
idea to get in touch with beekeepers in your

00:21:27.140 --> 00:21:30.420
area already using Flow Hives, see what's working

00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:33.539
for them, connect with that group, totally makes

00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:38.059
sense. I was recently at Appamondia over in Copenhagen

00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:42.180
and happened to walk by your booth and saw your

00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:46.470
new Superlifter. And I went, oh god, that thing

00:21:46.470 --> 00:21:49.309
is pretty cool. Would you tell everybody what

00:21:49.309 --> 00:21:52.730
that is? I know it's a little bit hard to explain,

00:21:52.869 --> 00:21:55.089
so maybe just tell us what it does and we'll

00:21:55.089 --> 00:21:57.369
figure out how to get some video in. Yeah, so

00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:01.740
my father and I set our minds to... Solving the

00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:04.000
next big thing as we see it in beekeeping, and

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.799
that's lifting the heavy boxes. No one likes

00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:10.519
it. It's a hard job. It's something that's prohibitive

00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:12.779
for going and looking after your colonies. You

00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:14.400
know, you've got to get into that bottom box.

00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:18.019
You've got to lift potentially a number of supers

00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:22.220
off. And we thought, hang on. Can't we just make

00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:24.930
something simple here? But it was surprisingly

00:22:24.930 --> 00:22:27.529
hard to come up with something simple, something

00:22:27.529 --> 00:22:29.769
that would fit in a bag and something that would

00:22:29.769 --> 00:22:34.609
be easily transferable from hive to hive. So

00:22:34.609 --> 00:22:38.369
we riddled away for years with draw sliders,

00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:42.190
with things like, I don't know if you know the

00:22:42.190 --> 00:22:45.910
AZ hives that have the frames that pull out,

00:22:46.329 --> 00:22:51.289
contraptions like that, ones that had the box

00:22:51.289 --> 00:22:54.400
below. the top ones would jack up and the box

00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:58.039
below would then slide out all sorts of quite

00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:02.960
complex contraptions and we thought well let's

00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:04.400
see if we can come up with a simple thing we

00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.680
can attach to the hives as they are. So that

00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.460
led us to where we ended up with something we

00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:15.440
walk up to the hive with and in 10 seconds you

00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:19.500
can have the hive open like a box if you like

00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:24.160
with the top box or there might be two supers

00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:27.519
on top laden with honey and you can then easily

00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.299
tip them over and begin beekeeping and the contraption

00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:35.240
itself that we call a superlifter is also a stand

00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:38.940
for those boxes and I've actually there's one

00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:42.380
behind me here you can see now I might have to

00:23:42.380 --> 00:23:46.839
pull the headphones out for a second this is

00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:49.140
the superlifter so it fits in a little bag like

00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:52.210
that and folds up into a very neat little thing

00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:55.049
that you can just move from hive to hive. Now,

00:23:55.089 --> 00:23:58.190
I can just walk up to my hive and the only modification

00:23:58.190 --> 00:24:01.329
you need to make to a Flow Hive or a conventional

00:24:01.329 --> 00:24:06.450
Langstock hive is these stronger low point screws,

00:24:06.470 --> 00:24:12.549
if you like. And what that does is allow you

00:24:12.549 --> 00:24:16.849
then connect on your lifter, like this, just

00:24:16.849 --> 00:24:20.660
by folding the upper arms onto the low point

00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:25.539
screws then you can lift this like it's a handle

00:24:25.539 --> 00:24:30.420
if you like and roll it around so I still haven't

00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:34.980
really bent down but what I've got there is now

00:24:34.980 --> 00:24:39.460
a hive that's ready to open like a box right

00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:43.740
and that saves an incredible amount of weight

00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:48.470
and you're straight into your brood nest And

00:24:48.470 --> 00:24:52.849
what people are really enjoying is that putting

00:24:52.849 --> 00:24:54.970
the box back on is often, you know, you're waddling

00:24:54.970 --> 00:24:58.309
up with this big heavy box and you usually just

00:24:58.309 --> 00:25:01.410
have to drop it. There's no other way around

00:25:01.410 --> 00:25:04.730
it. And that's a bit of, you know, it's hard

00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:06.809
to then get it in line. You've crashed a whole

00:25:06.809 --> 00:25:09.250
bunch of bees, but you've got this beautiful

00:25:09.250 --> 00:25:12.990
controlled method where the only place it's landing

00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:15.309
is here. So that's the only spot you need to

00:25:15.309 --> 00:25:20.000
sweep bees out of the way. And then if we come

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.880
back to this side, you've got as slow as you

00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:26.519
like, gentle closure here where we can use a

00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:28.759
bee brush or some smoke to get the bees out of

00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.680
the way as we close it. And that just gives you

00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:37.259
this perfect landing, if you like. And then you're

00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:39.799
onto your next hive like that. So a couple other

00:25:39.799 --> 00:25:42.059
questions that I had. You mentioned you can use

00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:45.519
that with Langstroth or Flow Hive. Can we use

00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:49.660
it with eight? or 10 frame supers? Yes absolutely

00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:53.339
8 or 10 frames you can even mix up ideal boxes

00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:56.599
in the configuration as well. So and we can use

00:25:56.599 --> 00:25:59.579
it with deeps mediums whatever we can come up

00:25:59.579 --> 00:26:02.660
with okay. Yes you can it's just about configuring

00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:05.299
your screw position your load point screws in

00:26:05.299 --> 00:26:08.960
the right place for the lifter to then lift and

00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:13.779
you can also one added thing we have is for when

00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:17.799
you've got a really heavy few boxes on top then

00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:20.839
we have some extension handles that clip on which

00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:25.400
give you an even easier lift again. And if you've

00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:27.920
got a stack of hives usually the propolis of

00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.299
the bees glue them together but we also have

00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:34.420
some nice brass toggle latches to really hold

00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:36.619
those boxes together to make sure they don't

00:26:36.619 --> 00:26:39.519
come apart if you're then tipping them over.

00:26:40.299 --> 00:26:42.599
And one really common question we get, right,

00:26:42.740 --> 00:26:44.359
is how come the honey doesn't come out? It's

00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:46.779
because we're tipping it in the plane of the

00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:49.779
frame. So if you like the cells are just moving

00:26:49.779 --> 00:26:52.460
from facing this way where the bees are depositing

00:26:52.460 --> 00:26:56.740
honey, turning around that 90 degrees. So you

00:26:56.740 --> 00:26:59.500
don't get any nectar spilling out as you roll

00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.700
that box over. Now a beginner might also think,

00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:05.589
well, wait a minute. you're taking that box,

00:27:06.069 --> 00:27:08.710
you're full of bees, you're turning it up 90

00:27:08.710 --> 00:27:12.549
degrees. Do the bees care? Doesn't that bother

00:27:12.549 --> 00:27:15.490
them? And I can tell you, no, it does not bother

00:27:15.490 --> 00:27:18.809
them. In fact, it's a good thing to do that sometimes

00:27:18.809 --> 00:27:22.289
because you want to see underneath those frames

00:27:22.289 --> 00:27:24.750
you want to see if any queen cells are being

00:27:24.750 --> 00:27:28.809
developed under there there may be honey propolis

00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:31.509
whatever sticking everything together so from

00:27:31.509 --> 00:27:33.930
time to time it's actually a good thing to do

00:27:33.930 --> 00:27:36.490
so you can clean that stuff up if you need to

00:27:36.490 --> 00:27:40.430
absolutely yeah and the way the contraption makes

00:27:40.430 --> 00:27:43.210
a nice little stand is great and we don't find

00:27:43.210 --> 00:27:46.480
we ever get the bees crossing between the brood

00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.759
box and the super so we haven't found any issues

00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.759
where the queen's moving from one to the other

00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:53.980
because we've put a little distance across the

00:27:53.980 --> 00:27:58.220
brackets from your brood box to your supers cedar

00:27:58.220 --> 00:28:01.400
you like everybody that comes on the show gets

00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:04.400
the opportunity to tell a fun wild and crazy

00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:06.980
beekeeping story have you thought of anything

00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:10.460
i warned you a little earlier i've got plenty

00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:14.329
of them actually it can be more than one Let's

00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.549
start with one related to the superlifter and

00:28:18.549 --> 00:28:20.970
that's my father and I were doing all sorts of

00:28:20.970 --> 00:28:23.910
experiments and we had we had contraptions on

00:28:23.910 --> 00:28:26.609
hives and we're at my place and the hives are

00:28:26.609 --> 00:28:29.690
on a slope I've got 40 hives under a row of trees,

00:28:29.690 --> 00:28:33.769
but it's sloped there. This is going back six

00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:35.609
years ago. So we're working on this lifter for

00:28:35.609 --> 00:28:41.200
a long time actually and we had two 10 frame

00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:43.799
boxes totally laden with honey, a gabled roof

00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:47.079
on top full of honey as well. So a lot of weight

00:28:47.079 --> 00:28:53.539
and our prototype lifter actually gave way. So

00:28:53.539 --> 00:28:56.299
you can imagine what happened next. All hell

00:28:56.299 --> 00:29:02.119
broke loose and the hive itself fell down, ripped

00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:05.700
our contraption apart and continued to roll down

00:29:05.700 --> 00:29:12.000
the hill. Oh man, I need video of that. And this

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:14.460
is when you really wish you had a proper bee

00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:18.519
suit on. The bees did not like that and I kept

00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.559
pretty wild bees at the time as well. That was

00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:25.079
definitely a bit of an inventing moment going

00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:28.740
wrong. So what did you learn from it to improve

00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:32.079
from that prototype to the next one? Yes, we

00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:35.140
learnt that we needed something that was a stronger

00:29:35.140 --> 00:29:37.960
mounting point onto the hub, which is why we

00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.380
came up with these load point screws, which are

00:29:41.380 --> 00:29:44.619
really quite strong and they're longer than normal

00:29:44.619 --> 00:29:47.000
screws as well, so they go deep into the timber,

00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:51.920
enabling a much stronger attachment point. The

00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:55.660
lifter itself, it's solid steel, right? It is,

00:29:55.740 --> 00:30:00.720
it's aluminium, so it's an all metal construction.

00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:03.200
When you've got that thing set up right you can

00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.180
jump on it and it's solid. The time when you

00:30:06.180 --> 00:30:09.460
can get into issues is if you have not attached

00:30:09.460 --> 00:30:12.839
your brackets properly and you go to do a lift

00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:16.480
with one side disconnected so watch out for that.

00:30:17.059 --> 00:30:20.079
Make sure you set it up right. All right Cedar

00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.960
it's been a ton of fun. I need to get down to

00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.759
Australia sometime. We had somebody on the show

00:30:24.759 --> 00:30:28.000
recently from Kangaroo Island and he was really

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:31.819
entertaining too and it'd be fun to go and see

00:30:31.819 --> 00:30:36.500
some of these sites down under. Hey, last thing,

00:30:36.900 --> 00:30:39.839
tell us what is it about honey bees and beekeeping

00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:43.359
that you love? So for me it's this fascinating

00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:45.420
learning journey that never stops. You think

00:30:45.420 --> 00:30:48.559
you know everything when you start out but in

00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:50.539
actual fact it's the other way around. The more

00:30:50.539 --> 00:30:53.750
you learn, the more there is to learn. So that

00:30:53.750 --> 00:30:58.150
keeps you pretty engaged all the way and as you

00:30:58.150 --> 00:31:00.170
build more knowledge you have more questions.

00:31:00.309 --> 00:31:03.609
So it's this beautiful space of curiosity and

00:31:03.609 --> 00:31:06.549
a never -ending learning journey that keeps going

00:31:06.549 --> 00:31:10.250
and I'm learning so much from our amazing global

00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:14.789
community about bees in every part of the world.

00:31:15.109 --> 00:31:20.089
The other big thing is I really like the way

00:31:20.089 --> 00:31:24.000
they're intertwined with us as humans and the

00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:28.779
way that we need enough bees to do our pollination.

00:31:29.380 --> 00:31:33.319
Otherwise we lose a lot of food off our supermarket

00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:37.519
shelves. Humans have taken the honeybee wherever

00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:39.740
they've gone because they're such extreme little

00:31:39.740 --> 00:31:42.720
pollinators. In fact a single hive could pollinate

00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:45.920
50 million flowers in a day and that's just unbelievable.

00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:49.920
We don't have anything else to replace that function.

00:31:50.950 --> 00:31:53.789
So it's really important to have enough beekeepers

00:31:53.789 --> 00:31:57.329
to look after enough bees to keep our whole system

00:31:57.329 --> 00:32:01.029
going. So that's a really rewarding thing is

00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:03.890
to be part of that and be part of a global community

00:32:03.890 --> 00:32:09.890
doing a function that's so integral to pollination,

00:32:10.349 --> 00:32:12.529
not only of our agricultural pursuits, but beyond

00:32:12.529 --> 00:32:15.630
that, to the very matrix of life that we completely

00:32:15.630 --> 00:32:20.109
depend on. Wow, beautiful. All right. Cedar Anderson,

00:32:20.309 --> 00:32:22.430
Flow Hive, thank you a ton for being with me

00:32:22.430 --> 00:32:24.569
today. Thank you very much for having me, Eric.

00:32:28.029 --> 00:32:30.829
Thanks for joining us on Be Love Beekeeping presented

00:32:30.829 --> 00:32:33.890
by Man Lake. If you like this content, I hope

00:32:33.890 --> 00:32:36.789
you'll share it with a friend. Follow and subscribe

00:32:36.789 --> 00:32:40.230
to this podcast and even sign up for our newsletter

00:32:40.230 --> 00:32:43.619
at BeLoveBeekeeping .com Also, just a shout out

00:32:43.619 --> 00:32:46.180
to Vita B Health for their support, we appreciate

00:32:46.180 --> 00:32:49.200
them. Vita's Varroa Control range of products

00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:53.480
includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Veroxan, Extended

00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:57.339
Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. And

00:32:57.339 --> 00:32:59.839
remember, if you're not just in it for the honey

00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.819
or the money, you're in it for the love. See

00:33:02.819 --> 00:33:03.660
you next week.