Langstroth Beehives
The Langstroth beehive is the world’s most widely used modern hive. It uses removable frames spaced according to “bee space,” allowing easy inspection, honey harvesting, colony management, and higher productivity compared to traditional hives.
Kenya Top Bar Hive
A Top Bar Hive (TBH) is a horizontal beehive that uses top bars instead of stacked boxes and frames like the Langstroth hive. Bees build comb downward from the top bars naturally, and TBHs are popular where low-cost, low-maintenance beekeeping is desired.
TBHs are widely used in Kenya because they are:
- Simple to build and maintain
- Low cost
- Easy to inspect and harvest
- Suitable for smallholder beekeepers
They are also used by commercial producers who want natural comb honey.
Box Hive
A box hive is a rectangular wooden beehive with fixed or semi-movable frames/bars inside. It sits between a traditional log hive and a modern Langstroth hive in terms of cost, management, and productivity.
Flow Hive
A Flow Hive is a modern beehive design that allows honey to be harvested directly from the hive without opening it and without disturbing the bees.
Instead of manually cutting comb or removing frames for extraction, the beekeeper turns a tap/valve and honey flows out into a jar.
It was invented in Australia and became popular among hobbyists and some small-scale beekeepers for its easy harvest method.
