A beehive is an enclosed, human made structure in which a colony of honey bees raises its young and produces honey through its seasonal cycle, built around frames of hexagonal wax cells, called honeycomb, that the bees use to store food and rear brood. Beekeepers use hives to harvest honey, to move colonies between farms for crop pollination, and to manage the health of a colony. People have kept bees in artificial hives since antiquity, with managed hives depicted on Egyptian temple walls from before 2422 BC, but the modern hive traces to nineteenth century designs built on eighteenth century innovations, culminating in Lorenzo Langstroth's patented 1852 hive, which set the pattern most beekeepers still use.
Facts
Partially Attested
Introduced YearThe year 1852 is the United States patent date of the Langstroth movable frame hive, the pattern most beekeepers still use, not the first artificial beehive, which is far older. OriginManaged hives are depicted on the walls of the Egyptian sun temple of Nyuserre Ini of the 5th Dynasty, dated earlier than 2422 BC, where workers blow smoke into hives as they remove honeycombs. 1 Connections
Associated With
the honey extractor spins honey out of combs drawn from a beehive; the two implements belong to the same apiculture task
Sources
1. Beehive (Wikipedia)
Ancient hives section, Egyptian sun temple paragraph
The walls of the Egyptian sun temple of Nyuserre Ini from the 5th Dynasty, dated earlier than 2422 BC, depict workers blowing smoke into hives as they remove honeycombs.
Modern hives section, Langstroth hive paragraph
Langstroth hives are named for Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth, who patented his design in the United States on October 5, 1852.
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