By Joshua Kato
By the 8th month of setting up the hives and colonization there is honey to harvest in the hives. However, it is advisable that a farmer takes at least 12 months before the first harvest.
This helps the honey to completely mature. There after the first harvest, you need to follow the flowering period of crops and trees in your area. Bees stock a lot of honey during the flowering period which means that you need to harvest soon after the flowering period.
What you need when harvesting honey
-For proper harvesting, you need a bee-keepers suit, which prevents bees from stinging you. This includes a suit and gloves. A set costs between sh100,000-sh150,000.
– You need a smoker to scare off the bees, a bee hive knife to help pull out the combs. It is advisable to harvest in the evening because bees are less aggressive at that time. Smoke the hives entrance and sides before opening and harvest only sealed /capped combs.
-However, do not remove a comb that is mixed with young bees (broods) or pollen because this means that you are killing young bees and besides, the honey is not good.
-After harvesting, put the combs in a clean bucket (s).
-You can either use a honey press to get honey from the combs or use clean cloth to manual press it out. Honey presses are sold in agri-inputs shops starting from sh1m onwards, depending on capacity and other specifications.
– Or, let the honey drip slowly from the combs into the bucket, though this may take some days, it is the best way to get the purest honey. After this, the honey should be ready for consumption.
