The hive
In this section I will show you the various sections of the hive, this way you will have a better idea of what I'm talking about things like "the brood box, deep super or crown board".
 The hive Modern hives are mostly used these days as unlike the traditional straw skeps the beekeeper no longer has to kill the bees in order to remove the honey. |
 The Hive (external) Here we have an external view of a hive, labelled so you have an idea as to where each part is normally positioned when the hive is put together. |
|
 The Brood Box This is the heart of the hive and where the queen lays between 1500 and 3000 eggs per day from early spring right through till late autumn. Inside this box lie 11 frames of wax foundation which the worker bees use as a starting base for building the wax cells in which the queen lays these eggs. The Deep Brood Box shown above has 11 frames of foundation and a Dummy Board. |
 A Honey Super (Shallow) Here we have a shallow honey super and this is where the bees store the honey the make. Like the brood box each super contains 11 frames of wax foundation which the bees use to build wax cells onto however this time only honey will go into these cells. The queen is prevented from laying eggs in these cells by the beekeeper who places a special grid called a queen excluder between the brood box and honey supers. The gaps in the grid allow the workers through it into the others sections of the hive but the queen is larger than the workers and can't fit through these gaps. |
|
 Brood box, Honey Super and Crown Board Here we have a photo showing the difference in depth of the brood box and super; it also shows a crown board. You can read more on the crown board later. The main reason in the different sizes between the brood box and the supers is to help reduce back strain on the beekeeper. A super with 11 frames full of honey weighs a lot. So smaller frames are used to help reduce back injury to the beekeeper. |
 The Crown Board The Crown Board is basically a flat piece of wood the exact size of the outside size of the honey supers. This piece of wood has a 5mm lip around it and a hole cut out the middle to allow the bees access to various feeding containers the beekeeper can use to feed the bees sugar water or syrup when the nectar flow is poor or during the winter. The board in this picture has two holes. |
|
 Queen Excluder The Queen Excluder A queen excluder is basically a mesh screen with the holes small enough to prevent the queen from passing through it while allowing the smaller worker bees through. The reason the beekeeper does not want the queen bee into other areas of the hive is to prevent her from laying eggs in the area kept for the production of honey. It is also sometimes hard enough finding her in the brood box without having to search the whole hive for her. |
 Hive stand Here we have a hive stand which keeps the hive off the ground, this helps reduce back strain on the bee keeper. This is very important in my case given that I'm recovering from two breaks in my back after a bad car crash. |
|
