Building Bee Hives

The natural home of the honey bee is a hollow tree. A tree which has been damaged by lightning, or woodpeckers, or termites will often have a cavity in which a colony of honey bees can thrive. The bees are not at all particular with the appearance of the cavity they choose for their nest. It may be a tree, a wooden bee hive, or the space inside the walls of your house. Wooden porch columns are similar to hollow trees, and make extremely attractive nest sites for honey bee colonies. The bees only need a tiny opening to serve as an entrance. Actually, many homeowners live with honey bees and never know it if the point where the bees enter the home is up high or out of view.

In the United States, all managed honey bee colonies are housed in bee hives of the design developed by Philadelphia minister L. L. Langstroth in 1851. Beekeepers, like Dallas, assemble bee hives to add to the bee yard as the bees multiply rapidly in the spring. The beekeepers build the wooden bee hives, equipped with frames. The bees finish their nest by building beeswax comb on the frames. The comb holds the brood—the developing honey bees—and the honey.
--Richard