Structure
of a Bee Hive
A bee hive is a complex home generally used by honey
bees. This article is going to take a look at both artificial
and natural bee hives so you can better understand their purpose
and structure.
Contents of a Bee Hive
In the natural world bees inhabit many different areas. This can
include caves, rock cavities and hollow trees. Some bees will
make exposed aerial combs as well, but the most common kind are
bee hives inside other structures.
These nests are composed of honeycombs lade out parallel to each
in a uniform pattern. In addition the nest usually well contain
only one single entrance, however in times of stress this can be
changed. Bee hives are created for the purpose of the hive is to
produce honey, birth the young, and be the basic home base of
the bees.
In the wild the nest architecture is always the same. Honey is
stored in the upper part of the comb, beneath that are rows of
pollen storage cells, worker brood cells, and drone brood cells.
Below that are the peanut shaped queen cells.
Artificial bee hives go back to at least 900 B.C. and probably
before that. There does exist physical evidence supporting the
fact that bee hives were present at that time. These hives
provided and enclosure for the bee colony and little else.
Harvest from this type of hive generally destroyed it, although
there were some adaptations with extra top baskets which could
be removed when bees filled them with honey.
The modern bee hive frame still holds to its traditional roots
but has been significantly upgraded. The Langstroth hive is a
good example of this. His designed was presented in 1860 and
today has become the standard style hive for 75% of beekeepers.
His hive makes clever use of the normal tendencies of the bee so
that the honey can be easily extracted and the hives easily
moved.
There are six main parts to the modern bee hive. The first is
the bottom board. This part forms the bottom of the hive and has
an entrance for the bees to get in and out. Next is the brood
box. This is the very bottom of the hive and is the part where
the queen lays her larva. Above that is the honey super which is
very similar to the brood box except that honey is stored here.
The next important part is the frames and foundation which is a
wooden frame and plastic sheet where bees put wax honey combs.
The last part is the inner and outer cover, which are exactly
what the name implies.
Hopefully this article has helped you to understand a bit more
about how a bee hive works.
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