Why langstroth hives are every bee farmer’s money maker

Kepha Miller a bee farmer at his bee hives at Kerito Nyamira County on 12/4/2021. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Two years after setting up an apiary of 50 hives, Kepha Miller a bee farmer in Nyamira County has never looked back. He uses the Langstroth hives and confesses that it has heavy returns.

He has noted that he makes significantly more than friends who keep bees in top bar hives or traditional ones.

“With the Langstroth hives, I harvest honey every month, meaning my profit is very high,” Miller says.

“Thanks to the modern hives, I harvest honey every month unlike those who use the top-bar hives which require a farmer to wait for a longer time to harvest.” 

His sentiments are confirmed by Yuvenalis Kiage, a farmer from Nyaikuro in Nyamira who uses top bar hive in production of honey. Yuvenalis says he only harvests honey twice a year.  

“I use the top-bar hive because it is cheap to make,” Kiage says.

harvesting period

According to Kiage, lack of capital makes most settle for top-bar hives for their apiary.

“Langstroth hives are expensive to buy or make. They also require a special machine to extract the honey. Most beginners do not have money for such,” Kiage says. 

Kepha Miller a bee farmer at his bee hives at Kerito Nyamira County on 12/4/2021. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Langstroth hives cost between Sh3,000 and Sh10,000, depending on the size and material while the honey extracting machine costs around Sh80,000.

With top bar hives, Kiage has to wait for about four to six months before harvesting honey, while one who uses Langstroth harvests every month.

And why the difference in the harvesting periods? Miller explains that when harvesting honey from top-bar hives, a farmer takes away all the honey combs, forcing the bees to start rebuilding the honey combs; a process which takes longer before the insects start filling the same combs with honey.

But in the Langstroth hives, a farmer only takes away the combs which are well secured intact with the frames. The frames are fixed in a centrifugal machine which extracts only the honey, leaving the combs intact.

“It becomes quick for the bees to refill honey in the combs, making the harvesting times shorter apart,” Miller says.

The farmer says he can harvest up to 10 litres of honey from a single hive per harvest.

This means that Miller harvests more than 400 litres of honey from his 46 hives.

He has his own centrifuge machine which he uses to extract the liquid. 

After extracting the honey from combs, the farmer sieves it through a special filter which ensures no impurity is passed to the collecting jar.

He then packs the processed honey into specially designed plastic containers of varying capacity.

After packing the liquid manually, he then seals into half-litre and one-litre containers before they hit the market.

The farmer has secured a solid client base within the county.

“Kenya is yet to have sufficient supplies of honey. My marketing is limited because I don’t have enough that I can give my clients. That is why I always advise aspiring farmers to venture into honey farming because there is ready market for the produce,” he says.

What started like a little venture with three hives, has now assured Miller a sure and sweet source of income.

The beauty of beekeeping he says, is that a farmer incurs no expense such as buying feeds, medicine or vaccinations like other farming ventures.

“Bees are expense-free, once they are in a good hive and near a source of good plants and water, they produce honey,” the farmer says.

He now plans to acquire a bee venom extractor which will help him multiply his profits.

“Bee venom is an important ingredient in beauty and pharmaceutical industry and is valuable like precious stones,” he says.