Is it time to sell the extractors?

[apisbees]

At $57.00 USD per frame and to have a self sustaining beehive size to keep the queen laying at peak rates and them having enough space to accommodate all the bees in the hive, the hive will need to be 4 supers high. If you are wanting to avoid the extracting hassle and mess, it defeats the purpose of using a combination of slandered frames and flow frames. If you need to mess with the extractor for 1 frame you may as well use it to do all the frames. With only 7 flow frames in a standard Langstroth super, the amount of bee space as well as the cluster area for the bees will be diminished compared to a Lang honey super with 9 or 10 frames.
IMHO with out creating a whole lot of additional hive management 2 flow supers should be used on each hive to allow for space for the bee population and space for the honey to be stored and ripened. At the current pricing the cost for the flow frames alone will be $800.00 alone. Add the cost of bees, brood supers, supers for the flow frames, bottom boards, and top cover and the cost for a complete hive will $1200.00 each. And you will still need the bee suit, smoker, hive tools, and stuff.

[Lburou]

Ultimately, the market will decide the price.   Ask me why I don't use Ross rounds..... 

[ledifni]

While at first I thought this was pure genius, I'm starting to have my doubts.  I mean, for a conscientious beekeeper it's certainly a very cool invention, although more of a novelty than a necessity.

But browsing the web I'm finding more and more indications that a *lot* of people are looking at this and thinking, "Oh, I can keep bees and they'll be locked inside their hive and I'll never get stung!  I can just get honey on tap!"  They want to keep bees as if they're an ant farm.  I think we're looking at a future with a lot of dead, wasted hives due to this invention.

That said, hopefully the bee-haver hysteria wears off soon.

[Slowmodem]

While at first I thought this was pure genius, I'm starting to have my doubts.  I mean, for a conscientious beekeeper it's certainly a very cool invention, although more of a novelty than a necessity.

But browsing the web I'm finding more and more indications that a *lot* of people are looking at this and thinking, "Oh, I can keep bees and they'll be locked inside their hive and I'll never get stung!  I can just get honey on tap!"  They want to keep bees as if they're an ant farm.  I think we're looking at a future with a lot of dead, wasted hives due to this invention.

That said, hopefully the bee-haver hysteria wears off soon.

That was my initial thought as well.

http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,3358.msg46831.html#msg46831

[LazyBkpr]

I have already fielded statements about this thing..
   "I dont NEED to be a beekeeper now, I can just collect the honey."
   I think there are a few people thjat will be in for a rude awakening..   I think this thing is pretty ingenious, and it DOES have a place. Before it becomes useful, the price will have to drop a LONG ways.. then it will have to drop a little further before I consider buying one...

[Yankee11]

"Hey, wheres my Honey, HEY, wheres my bees?" 

[kebee]

 Got this in email this morning in case you may be interest.
We will be taking your questions from 8.30am, Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), Friday 10 April at http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/, and will be answering as many as we can from 9am until 10am.
If you’re not sure what time this is in your area, check here: http://bit.ly/1CP10do
For us, one of the most exciting things about the past month has been watching this community of great people spring up around our invention.
It’s been so heartening to see how much love there is out there for bees and the whole natural world, and we’re really looking forward to getting to know you.
We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to talk to everyone directly and hope you will all join in on the fun and take the opportunity to ASK US ANYTHING!
So, put your thinking caps on – we look forward to seeing you at http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ on Friday morning.
Until then, happy beekeeping!
Cedar, Stu, and the Flow team.

Ken

[GLOCK]

I can't believe how much money they came up with.
I say if you buy one it will be bee junk in the shed with in a year .

[kebee]

 Don't worry I have been around long enough to see what this is, I might get one just to play with if like LazyBpkr said they would have to drop the price to a 1/4 of what they are asking.

Ken

[tbonekel]

The best thing I got out of the email was the link to the cool time website. 

http://bit.ly/1CP10do

[sc-bee]

Why did I open this post..... false title    :'(