What Is a Beehive? A Detailed Introduction to Beehive Basics

1. Structure of a beehive A beehive with movable frames (movable-frame hive) is an important production tool for scientific beekeeping. When movable-frame hives are used for beekeeping, the hive can be opened at any time, the comb can be taken out for inspection, the condition of the colony can be understood, the life activities of @#@255@#@ can be observed, and various bee products can be produced according to need and possibility; it is also convenient for migratory beekeeping. Beehives are placed in the open air for long periods, exposed to wind, rain, and sun, and the bees must live in the hive, rear brood, and store feed, so the structure of the hive must conform to the living habits of bees, with uniform standard dimensions, and be sturdy and durable. Making a beehive requires wood that is solid, light, and not easily deformed, and it must be fully dried. In the north, red pine, white pine, linden, and paulownia are mostly used for manufacture, while in the south, Chinese fir is better for manufacture. At present, the beehives commonly used in China for keeping European bees are the 10-frame standard hive and the 16-frame horizontal hive, while the Chinese bee standard hive is used for keeping Chinese bees.

(1) 10-frame standard hive The 10-frame standard hive is the most commonly used hive in the world for keeping European bees, also called the Langstroth hive. It consists of 10 frames, the hive body, the hive bottom, the entrance block, the inner cover (or screen cover), the hive cover, and the divider board. When needed, supers can be stacked on the hive body. The supers are interchangeable with the hive body of a hive with a movable bottom. When the colony develops to 8-10 frames of bees, stacking a super on top can promptly expand the nest, fully give play to the queen's egg-laying capacity, and cultivate strong colonies. Using a queen excluder can separate the brood-rearing area of the brood chamber from the honey-storage area of the super, which helps improve the quality of honey and accelerate the ripening of honey. To facilitate transport and migratory beekeeping, hives with fixed bottoms are mostly used, and openable and closable screen windows can also be set in the front and rear walls of the hive and supers.

(2) 12-frame square hive The 12-frame square hive was introduced from the former Soviet Union and is mainly used in the Northeast and northern **. This hive has a large volume, equal to 1.5 times that of the 10-frame standard hive. The wooden boards used to make the hive are especially thick, usually more than 25 mm, which is advantageous in cold regions for heat preservation, keeping strong colonies, and overwintering strong colonies. The internal dimensions of the 12-frame square hive are 455 mm x 455 mm x 330 mm, and 450 mm x 450 mm x 330 mm is also used; each hive holds 12 frames of 435 mm x 300 mm, and the height of the super is 310 mm.

(3) 16-frame horizontal hive The 16-frame horizontal hive is a horizontal hive containing 16 standard frames. When expanding the hive volume, the nest can be expanded horizontally by adding combs, and partition boards can also be used to divide the hive into 2-3 sections for keeping multiple colonies in the same hive.

(4) Chinese bee standard hive The Chinese bee standard hive is a hive specially designed for scientifically keeping Chinese bees. It uses a shallow super with a height of 135 mm; the outer length of the super is 420 mm and the height is 125 mm.

(5) Simple migratory hive The migratory hive designed by Zhejiang Agricultural University is particularly suitable for migratory beekeeping, and its structure is basically the same as the 10-frame standard hive. The special features are: 1) at 60-100 mm from the inner side of the front and rear hive walls, frame-supporting grooves are fitted with quick comb fasteners; 2) the hive board at the lower part of both side walls extends forward 55 mm beyond the front hive wall, with a section 10 mm high, which can be used to install a hinged entrance flap; a cover board is nailed on it, and when the entrance is closed and the flap is turned, it can also serve as a corridor for bees to rest on; 3) a bottom air window is opened in the hive bottom at 120-220 mm from the front edge, with a sliding board that can be opened and closed.

2. Hive entrance block Between the brood chamber and the hive bottom there is an entrance for bees to go in and out during keeping. In different seasons, the size of the bees' entrance and exit differs, so an entrance block is needed to better adjust the size of the entrance. For hives with a movable bottom, a square wooden entrance block is generally used, 380 mm long, with both width and height of 22 mm. In different directions on the square wood, two notches of different sizes are cut: the large notch is 165 mm wide and 9 mm high, and the small notch is 50 mm wide and 8 mm high; in this way, three different entrances and exits for bees can be formed. During the full blooming period, a large entrance and exit are needed, and the entire hive entrance can be made into the entrance and exit; during non-full blooming periods, one of the large and small notches on the entrance block can be chosen as appropriate as the bees' entrance and exit. For fixed bottoms, the entrance block is generally a compound entrance block, that is, a rectangular wooden strip 380 mm long, 10 mm thick, and 30 mm high. The wooden strip is placed on the entrance landing board, and its height partly covers the hive entrance. Two grooves of different sizes are cut in the wooden strip, with a groove height of 9 mm and widths of 60 mm and 40 mm, so that the grooves face the entrance landing board. Into each groove a small strip of the same size as the groove is inserted, and the small strips are fastened through the grooves of the wooden strip with nails so that the small strips can move freely. The size of the hive entrance is adjusted in two ways: first, by adjusting the distance between the entire entrance block and the entrance landing board; second, by fixing the entrance block and adjusting only the height of the two movable strips to control the size of the opening.

3. Divider board and isolation board The board used to isolate bees is the divider board, which can cut off the bee space. When two or more independent colonies need to be kept in a hive, it is required to divide one hive into two or more independent spaces. At this time, isolation boards are used and inserted into the hive as "walls" to separate the spaces, cutting off the bee space at the front, back, top, and bottom, so that the bees of each colony cannot come and go between them.