A group of bees living together is called a “bee community”.  Sometimes the community consists of 50,000 bees or even more.  

  

They all live together in one hive not larger than a television set.  

 

They recognise each other by the smell they all have, which originates from the queen.

 

There are many types of hives.  

 

Most of our hives are square and can be opened easily to watch the bees and to collect the honey.

They are actually a kind of bottomless boxes stacked on top of each other. On the inside you can find the honeycombs. These are wooden frames featuring a wax plate. These frames with wax plates are made by the beekeeper.  

 

The bees build their cells on these frames.  Cells consist of wax and have a hexagonal form.  

 

They fit into each other perfectly and all have exactly the same size. They are also very clean.  Worker bees clean every cell before putting honey or brood in it and close it with a lid so as to better preserve the contents.

 

The entrance (6) to the hive is in the lower box (5) where the queen lives with the brood (eggs and larvae).

 

The upper box (3) does not have an entrance and there is only honey in the cells and no brood. This is called “the honey super”. The hive has a flat cover on top.  

 

There is a grid (4) between The openings in the grid are too small for the queen, but just large enough for the worker bees.   the lower and the upper box.

 

This means that only worker bees can enter the upper box to put honey in the honeycombs.  

 

And the queen cannot lay eggs there.  The hive furthermore features an inner cover (2) and a telescoping cover (1) against the rain.

 

Honeycomb cells may contain all kinds of things.

1 Pollen

2 Nectar

3 Honey

4 Brood: eggs, larvae etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beekeeper is not afraid of bee stings when he opens the hive.

First he blows a bit of smoke into the hive with his “smoker”.

The bees then become completely calm and are not aggressive.  

 

This enables him to work in peace and quiet.