The Bee Hive: Take a Look at what's Inside!

After much anticipation, my first bee hive arrived at my front door this week! After popping open the series of cardboard boxes, I quickly assemble the components to show you what's inside...

I ordered my hive already assembled and painted from Mann Lake (a beekeeping supply company) and was very pleased with the construction and quality. You have two options in size with bee hives; 8 frame and 10 frame, which denotes how many frames the box holds. After attending beekeeping classes, and hearing the argument for the benefits of either, I personally choose the larger 10 frame.

From the bottom up, Bee hives are completely based on stacking each component. This way, a beekeeper can remove parts of the hive to tend to the bees and honey. When full, a bee hive of this size can weigh up to 200 pounds. The bottom most component, in which the entirety of the hive rests on, is aptly named the "bottom board". Bottom boards serve as the floor, and entrance into the hive, and can be solid or screened. Screened boards are more widely used for the improved ventilation into the hive, and the ability for unwanted pests and debris to fall out through the bottom.

 

The amount of bees coming in and out of the hive during the Fall, Winter and early Spring can be controlled with a entrance reducer. This device also helps to defend the hive against intruders when the bees are clustering in colder weather, and unable to monitor the entrance effectively.
                                                                                                                             
Working our way up, we have the body of the hive. The amount of boxes, or Supers can vary depending on the production of your hive. Normally, the bottom two deeper boxes are reserved for Brood boxes. This is where the Queen bee lives with her workers, and spends her days laying eggs to replenish her work force. The boxes above the Brood boxes are shallower and are ideally used for honey production.



Inside each of these boxes, the Beekeeper provides the bees with frames to make honeycomb on. There are various types of frames for this, which I won't go into, but I choose plastic frames for my bees. These frames have a raised  honeycomb pattern imprinted on the plastic sheeting, and are coated with a thin layer of bees wax to help my bees get started on making comb.



The spacing between the frames are sized to allow the bees to work throughout the hive, depending on their job. If you remove a few frames, you can peer down into the hive...at least while it's still empty!




The roof of the hive consists of two parts. The flat, metal covered outer cover shown above, and the inner cover. The inner cover serves several purposes: it tops the uppermost Super as a ceiling, and has an oblong hole cut into the center to allow the Beekeeper to feed the bees during Winter. This cut-out also allows for ventilation to reduce condensation, and allows a secondary bee escape.



In a few more weeks, the Italian honey bees I ordered will find themselves in their new home on our Farm. Hopefully by then, the weather turns a bit warmer so I can have a honey harvest, and of course I can blog about it!

Cheers!