Auto Flows Beehive, Food Grade Cedar Automatic Wooden Bee Hive House with 7pcs Flows Frames for Beginner Beekeepers

I PURCHASED THIS ITEM AFTER READING ALL REVIEWS. I TAKE IN ALL ASPECTS OF EVERYONES REVIEWS. PLEASE DO NOT START THIS PROJECT UNLESS YOU HAVE ALL ITEMS NEEDED TO PERFORM THE BUILD. I SAW WHERE SOME ONE SAID WOOD WAS SPLITTING. THIS IS WHY THEY SAID YOU NEED "DRILL BIT" THERE ARE ALREADY PREDRILLED HOLES IN WOOD. THEY ARE FOR WHERE YOU NEED TO PUT SCREWS! YOU STILL HAVE TO PRE DRILL THE WOOD YOU ARE SCREWING TO. THIS WILL ELIMINATED THE WOOD FROM CRACKING. THERE ARE THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING A PROJECT LIKE THIS. IF YOU ARE NOT GOOD WITH YOUR HANDS, NO PATIENCE OR YOUR SKILL LEVEL FOR A PROJECT LIKE THIS ARE NOT TO PAR. PLEASE BUY A COMPLETED UNIT. WHY BEAT UP THEIR PRODUCT BECAUSE OF YOUR ABILITIES. ALL MATERIALS, HARDWARE AND INSTRUCTIONS WERE 5 STARS.

I'm super hard to impress so to get me to even write a review is a challenge in itself...About the hive.It is a really well designed hive. Lots of attention to detail, solid construction. The whole thing is coated with beeswax too which I wasn't expecting, but was pleasantly surprised.If you're looking for an alternative to a hive that's more than 3 times the price, don't hesitate. This is the real deal. And you'll have a lot of cash "Flow" left over.The ONLY issue is the instructions are limited. The pieces only tend to go together one way, so you'll figure it out, even easier if your convert MM to in when you're assembling and wondering where the pieces go. Overall, an incredible purchase. I'll Bee 🐝 purchasing two more for what I saved not buying the other brand.

The dovetailed corners of the boxes did require some filing to get the pieces to fit. Following instructions from other bee box videos, I used outdoor wood glue plus the long screws (I bought some extra 2 inch decking screws = compatible with cedar wood) to join the main box sides. Not sure the glue will really stick because of the wax impregnated wood but it seems to be sticking. (Other commenters had complained about the boxes falling apart.) The instructions are not detailed enough: They don't say where to use the long screws. None of the parts are labeled, so it's difficult to piece the puzzle pieces together. The video with this particular bee house does show how to determine the end pieces. The roof is missing a couple screws. The knobs would not screw together tightly on the one piece of thin wood that covers the "key access caps". Used Gorilla glue on those. Had to hammer the metal insides of those two knobs back into the knobs. ***The bottom brood box does not have regular bee frames, so that's another $50. It holds 10 deep or brood size frames and foundations.*** Put strong screening over the ventilation holes in the roof or you'll have bees in the attic. Have to wait and see if the Auto Frame really works. Otherwise it's a good copycat of the original Australian hive at about 1/3rd the price.

Directions suck. Took forever to figure out and I'm still not sure. I have a bunch of extra long screws, where do they go? This whole thing feels like it's going to fall apart. Are any of the boxes supposed to be screwed to something, like the base or the roof? I appear to be missing a piece too. Also is there a video on how to use this?

This is my second flow hive, I got the more expensive one from flow hive the first time. This one I decided to try out, this hive is a great purchase but have one fault with the butterfly joints, who ever is cutting these needs training, I had to shave most of the joints in order to fit each other. Overall this is a great flow hive.

Quality is better than expected. Directions on the other hand. Tell you how to put it together but not a single word of how many or what screws go where. Work backwards from the roof and it's not horrible to figure out.

First off, if you are a beginner, do not go buy bees or catch a swarm without buying some standard frames for the brood box.You should learn as much as you can before trying to start a hive.On a side note draining honey is not as simple as the promotional videos and literature suggest.All in all a great product for anyone willing to learn but do not make unnecessary errors. Read up on some things and have fun.

The media could not be loaded.  This is my first dive into bee keeping so i am a total beginner. Having said that it looks like good quality considering the hives I have been around are looking pretty shabby and the bees seem to be loving them. This one is coated in wax which is supposed to help attract the bees.Assembly is not necessarily for the inexperienced in woodworking. I used to build cabinets professionally. So the non-helpful instructions were not an issue. They are basically picture explosions, so if you are good with that type of thing you will be fine. A novice could totally do this but give yourself time and watch a few YouTube videos that i am sure are on YouTube.