Anatomy of a Hive

For those of you not familiar with the world of beekeeping, I thought a brief overview of a typical beehive may be in order. I also wanted to show off our new hives we've had built. Some of the old beehives were in such poor shape that we just needed to start over. I've had two new hives built so far and will continue building more as finances allow. Pictured here is what is known as a Langstroth hive. It consists of two main parts - a brood box and a super. The brood box is the larger box on the bottom where the queen lays her eggs (brood). The two slightly smaller boxes on top are the supers. This is where the honey lives.

If we remove the metal lid and take a look inside we'll see a bunch of wooden frames. These beehives have 11 frames in each super. After coating the underside of the top piece of the frame, the bees will begin to build individual combs on each of the 11 frames. Once the comb is built, they begin to make honey in each of the little hexagonal chambers of the comb (except in the brood box where they fill the chambers with eggs). In the picture below you can see a small piece of honeycomb inside the frame. You can also see the rough condition of the hives and why I decided to start fresh.

Steven