The Modern Hive
At one time, honey bees were kept in a number of shelters. These included:Logs often called bee gums which were cut from trees and set upright on a base to which was added often a box on top to gather the honey.
And a number of other containers such as jars.
In 1853, the Rev. L.L. Langstroth published a book called “The Hive and the Honey Bee” which changed beekeeping in a very profound way. This book describes the use of the modern bee hive as we know it today. The Langstroth bee hive is now the standard bee hive used in many parts of the world
What makes this hive so remarkable is not that Langstroth discovered hanging frames (that was done earlier), or that he used a box to put frames into (that was done earlier as well). Langstroth recognized that bees failed to build burr comb between a space of 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. If the space was smaller the bees would use propolis to glue it up, and if it was larger the bees would build comb into the space. Thus we as beekeepers must use equipment that recognizes this natural habit of the bees to provide that “bee space” as it is called. Thus frames in a box must be at least 1/4 of an inch from the side of the box and not more than 3/8 of an inch from the side of the box. The space must also be provided between boxes, and the inner cover. If this space is violated, the bees will cement everything together, making it very difficult to remove frames for examination, or the removal of box
Each part of the bee hive explained:
The Bottom Board
We are going to start at ground level and move up. The bottom board supports the hive. It is the floor of the hive with a 3/4 inch rim around three sides to allow the bees to enter the hive. It also extends 2 inches in front of the boxes to provide a landing board for the bees. Here bees take off for the fields to gather nectar and return to be met by other bees, called guard bees who check to make sure the arriving bee belongs to the hive. Bottom boards must be strong to hold the weight of the hive. They must also be well protected against rot. Because it is close to moisture in the soil, it is the first to show any sign of decay or rot. Another piece of equipment associated with the bottom board is a hive entrance reducer. The purpose of the reducer is to restrict the entrance so a weak hive can defend itself and is installed in the fall to reduce damage from mice and prevent drafts from blowing wind.
The standard 10 frame Langstroth hive body will vary from dealer to dealer. The inside dimensions are critical. Depending on the thickness of the wood, the inside dimensions are: 9 19/32 inches from top to bottom, 14 11/16 inches from side to side for the front of the box, and 18 5/16 inches from side to side for the side of the box. A rabbet is provided on the top side of the box fronts for a resting place for the hanging frames. A great advantage of this type of hive box is that more boxes with the same dimension can be stacked one above the other and the bees will move up into the upper boxes and store honey there.
The purpose of the frame is to hold the comb made of wax securely within the hive box. A frame is made of up a top bar usually 1 1/8 inches wide and 19 inches across the top. It is notched for the end bars. The end bars can be of various depths. If the end bars are 9 1/8 inches they will go into a deep hive body “super”. If the end bars are 6 1/4 inches they will go into a medium hive box “super”. If the end bars are 5 3/8 inches they will go into a shallow hive box. Notice that I have been using the term “super”. Beekeepers usually refer to boxes as supers. The bottom bar can be either solid or split. If you are buying frames in a catalog, you will need to know the size of box the frames are going to go in before you buy the frames.
Foundation
The wax foundation is held in the frame by fastening the wax sheet to the top bar with the removable wedge. The split bottom bar holds the wax sheet at the bottom of the frame. To hold the foundation straight in the frame, a beekeeper usually uses cross wires stretched from the end bars and embedded into the wax.
What happens if you don’t use frames and foundation in a box? I was hoping that no one was really thinking this way but here is the answer. The bees build a mess in a hive body. This is not much better than the skep of old. One can not inspect or examine a box that has no frames in it if the bees have filled the box with comb. Believe it or not, but I have seen this situation occur to new beekeepers who were just to busy to build frames to put into their new hive body. You need to put frames into the box.
Queen Excluders
A big question often discussed at bee meetings is “Do you really need a queen excluder?” Again, you will find individual beekeepers who like or don’t like them. They are often called honey excluders because bees don’t like to go up into the supers above through the queen excluder. The purpose of the queen excluder is to keep the queen in the brood chamber so the queen doesn’t lay eggs and thus have brood in the honey supers. It is almost mandatory to have queen excluders on bees when you are producing comb honey for sale. Queen excluders can be purchased with a wood rim around the metal excluder or one can buy all metal excluders. They even come in zinc and plastic.
Honey Supers
These are the boxes with frames and foundation for the bees to store surplus honey.
The Top Cover
This is a cover that fits on the top of the hive. Many commercial beekeepers use what is called a migratory cover. This cover is a solid cover that does not extend beyond the sides of a hive body. The reason for this is the bee hives are usually on a pallet and the hives on the pallet are set against each other – side to side. There is no space between the hives for a telescoping cover to fit down into.
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