Editing Beehive (section)

{{Short description|Structure housing a honey bee colony}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Beehives in Butte County (2025)-104A8312.jpg|thumb|Wooden beehives with active honey bees in a California almond orchard]]
[[File:Western honey bee on a honeycomb.jpg|thumb|A honeycomb created inside a wooden beehive]]
A '''beehive''' is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, [[subgenus]] ''[[Honey bee|Apis]].'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature distinguishes ''nest'' from ''hive''. ''Nest'' is used to discuss colonies that house themselves in natural or artificial cavities or are hanging and exposed. The term ''hive'' is used to describe a manmade structure to house a honey bee nest. Several species of ''Apis'' live in colonies. But for honey production, the [[western honey bee]] (''Apis mellifera'') and the [[eastern honey bee]] (''Apis cerana'') are the main species kept in hives.<ref>University of Florida  - Apis cerana - http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/Apis_cerana.htm</ref><ref>University of Florida  - Apis mellifera - http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/BEES/euro_honey_bee.htm</ref>

The nest's internal structure is a densely packed group of [[Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb|hexagonal prismatic]] cells made of [[beeswax]], called a [[honeycomb]]. The bees use the cells to store food ([[honey]] and [[pollen]]) and to house the [[Bee brood|brood]] (eggs, [[larvae]], and [[pupae]]).

Beehives serve several purposes. These include producing honey, pollinating nearby crops, housing bees for apitherapy treatment, and mitigating the effects of [[colony collapse disorder]]. In America, hives are commonly transported so bees can pollinate crops elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/usda/agib666/aib66610.pdf|title=Chapter 10 – Honey|publisher=[[USDA]]|website=fs.fed.us|access-date=2 May 2018|archive-date=5 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705151257/http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/usda/agib666/aib66610.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Several [[patent]]s have been issued for beehive designs.