A beehive is a nest or dwelling-place that is constructed for bees. Hives can be created by bees themselves or by man. Subgenus Apis is a species of honey bees that live in natural or artificial cavities to raise their young ones. Different species of Apis live together in colonies. The main species of bees that are kept in hives for honey production is Apis cerana (eastern honey bee) and Apis mellifera (western honey bee). There are two categories of beehives, as discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.
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Traditional Beehives
These types of hives housed bee colony since there were no internal structures; thus, they had to create honeycomb for themselves. The beehive is referred to as a fixed frame since it was cross-attached, and you could not be move it unless you decided to destroy it. Therefore, as a honey extractor, you had to destroy the hives when harvesting honey
As the years progressed, the extractors began using extra top baskets that were movable when they got filled instead of destroying the entire hive. Gradually they began using box hives with or without frames, and of different dimensions. These adaptations didn’t last long since they were replaced by modern equipment. Honey extraction was done by pressing and crushing the honeycomb wax. Although these hives have more wax, the amount of honey that was removed from them was less than their modern counterpart. There were 4 types of traditional beehives. They include;
- Mud hives that were long cylinders made from straw, unbaked mud, and dung.
- The clay hives were long cylinders made up of baked clay.
- Skeps were baskets made from wicker and plastered with dung and mad.
- Bee gums were made on hollow trees, such as black gum trees. These natural tree hollows were either artificially or naturally made on hollowed tree trunks.
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Modern beehives
These types of hives became underuse in the 19th century and are either vertical or horizontal. The three common modern hive across the world are; the top bar hive, longstroth hive as well as Warre hive. Several of these hives are designed and optimized for species like Melipona beecheli, Apis cerana, and Apis Mellifera.
- The vertical type of beehives uses vertical hanging frames for the bee comb. Some of these are longstroth, dadant hive, and flow hive, among others.
- The horizontal hives consist of top bar hives that allow bees to build comb that is hanging down from the upper bar. Thus the bees derive their comb from the suspended top bar on the top of the cavity. They also build their comb on the top bar hanging downwards. Although this single-story hive has limited utilization, it has begun gaining renewed attention.
You can also use beehive scales to monitor the nectar flow to understand when it is the time to extract their honey.
The Bottom Line
The internal structure of the bees’ nest is made up of cells that have beeswax known as honeycomb. These cells are used to store pollen or honey that they use as food or a home for its brood. Therefore, beehives are used to pollinate surrounding farms, production of honey, and to contain bees that are used for apitherapy treatment.
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