Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.
The basic Langstroth hive. In the right-hand side of the figure, note the 'handles, or bars of wood for
holding, on the supers and the scallop on the brood box. Handles make the whole business much easier
A modern beehive looks complicated to the beginner but is really just a simple series of
boxes sitting on top of each other capped by a lid to keep the rain out. Inside the boxes,
frames of beeswax hang down from a revetment along the inside edge of the hive. Hives
usually have two sizes of box known as 'full' and '¾' boxes. These different sizes are in
height only and they can be used for different purposes. Many beekeepers use just one
size of box; others use the different sizes on one hive. Figure 6 shows the different parts
of a hive.
Hive stands
Beehives should not be set directly on the ground. This is especially so if the floor (see
below) is open mesh. The main reason is that damp will get into the hive, and this
must not be allowed to happen. A hive stand, therefore, is anything that keeps the hive
off the ground. Stands can be pallets (four hives to a pallet), concrete blocks, bricks,
