What Is A Beehive?

Before we talk about a beehive, we should know firstly "How Do Bees Make Hives" ?

Worker honey bees make natual swarm or honeycomb and hives to store honey and feed themselves throughout winter when they cannot go outdoors to forage for food. Honey bee hives are made of six-sided tubes, which are the shapes for optimal honey production because they require less wax and can hold more honey. Some hives develop broods which become dark in color over time because of cocoon tracks and travel stains. Other honey bee hives remain light in color.

Wild honey bees make hives in rock crevices, hollow trees and other areas that scout bees believe are appropriate for their colony. Similar to the habits of domesticated honey bees, they construct hives by chewing wax until it becomes soft, then bonding large quantities of wax into the cells of a honeycomb. When worker bees crowd together within a hive, the hive remains at around 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, the temperature necessary to control the texture of the wax.

The hexagonal cells of the honeycomb are used to house larvae and other brood, as well as to store honey, nectar and pollen. When beekeepers extract honey from hives, the comb is easily left intact, though beekeepers sell honey comb as well.

What Is A Bee Hive ?

Nowadays, people find that honey, bee pollen, beeswax, propolis and even bee venom is very good for human’s healthy life. In order to get more these things from bees, the natural honeycomb which is built by bees themselves cannot meet people’s requirements. So, a man-made beehive with frames or wax foundation is designed and used for raising bees in various designs, and by wood or plastic material, in which way, the bees can built honeycomb easier and brood faster. More and more people begin to raise bees and become a commercial beekeeper, or even a hobbyist beekeeper.

Different designs of bee hive are made to fit the bees at local in the different places in the world, below are some popular styles:

Langstroth Beehive

China Beehive

Australia Beehive

Flow Bee Hive

Plastic Beehive