There's more to bees than honey and stings

A bee hive is a place where honey bees live.

Bees are social insects and live in colonies.

They are found in beehives.

The hives serve as bee nurseries, storerooms for honey and pollen, and a place for the queen bee to lay eggs.

There are many types of bee hives. In Kenya, the modern hives used to rear bees (apiculture), are 1. the Kenya Top Bar Hive and 2. Langstroth hives. Each has its advantages over the other.

Traditional bee hives are made of wood and contain mostly vertical frames for the bees to build their comb within. These are often suspended on trees.

When these frames are filled with honey and capped, they can be removed from the hive in order to harvest the honey.

In more recent years, plastic frames have been introduced, which allow the beekeeper to see when the honey is ready, without having to open the hive. This hive known as the flow hive.

Clay or stone pots were used by early beekeepers, with hollow walls that allowed bees to nest within them.

Bee hives are essential structures for bee colonies.

Steve Adala