A bee community lives in a hive. The wooden hives we know today were only invented in the 19th century.
In the past hives were made of all kinds of materials: clay, straw, old water pots etc. At that time most models were lying flat on the ground. When the honey was harvested, the entire hive perished. The natural wax combs stuck to everything on the inside. And, even worse, all bees from the hive had to be killed before the combs could be removed and the honey collected.
This waste of life came to an end in the 19th century when people started using wooden frames in square hives.
These frames could be removed from the hive one at a time without disturbing the bees.
The bees built their combs in these wooden frames and filled the cells with honey.
Once full, these combs are placed by the beekeeper in a kind of drum that employs centrifugal force to spin the honey out of the cells. Hence the term “spinning honey”.If you want to hear more of this fascinating story, please go to chapter “Kids”of this site.