Editing Beekeeping (section)

== History ==
{{further|Western honey bee#Domestication}}

=== Early history ===
[[File:Cueva arana.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|Honey seeker depicted on 8,000-year-old [[cave painting]] near [[Valencia, Spain]]<ref>{{cite web | last =Traynor | first =Kirsten | title =Ancient Cave Painting Man of Bicorp | publisher =MD Bee | url =http://www.mdbee.com/articles/cavepainting.html | access-date =2008-03-12 | archive-date =2019-10-20 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191020212649/http://www.mdbee.com/articles/cavepainting.html | url-status =dead }}</ref>]]
At least 10,000 years ago, humans began to attempt to maintain colonies of wild bees in artificial [[bee hive|hives]] made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets known as [[skep]]s. Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dams|first1=M.|last2=Dams|first2=L.|title=Spanish Rock Art Depicting Honey Gathering During the Mesolithic|journal=Nature|date=21 July 1977|volume=268|issue=5617|pages=228–230|doi=10.1038/268228a0|bibcode=1977Natur.268..228D|s2cid=4177275}}</ref> Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa.<ref name=9kya>{{cite journal|last=Roffet-Salque|first=Mélanie|display-authors=et al|title=Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers|journal=Nature|date=14 June 2016|volume=534|issue=7607|pages=226–227|doi=10.1038/nature18451|pmid=26560301|doi-access=free|hdl=10379/13692|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Traces of beeswax have been found in potsherds throughout the Middle East beginning about 7,000 BCE.<ref name=9kya/> In the [[Borjomi]] region of [[Georgia_(country)|Georgia]], archaeologists discovered the world's oldest known honey, dating back approximately 5,500 years, highlighting Georgia's ancient beekeeping traditions and the ritual use of honey in burial practices.<ref>{{cite web |title=The world's oldest honey was found in Georgia |url=https://georgiavoyage.ge/en/event/the-worlds-oldest-honey-was-found-in-georgia/ |website=GeorgiaVoyage |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Lomsadze |first1=Giorgi |title=Report: Georgia Unearths the World’s Oldest Honey |url=https://eurasianet.org/report-georgia-unearths-the-worlds-oldest-honey |website=Eurasianet |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> [[Western honey bee#Domestication|Domestication of bees]] is shown in Egyptian art from around 4,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crane |first1=Eva |title=The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting |date=1999 |publisher=Duckworth |location=London |isbn=9780715628270 }}</ref> Simple hives and smoke were used, and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as [[Tutankhamun]]. In the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the movable comb hive so honey could be harvested without destroying the entire colony.

Honeybees were kept in Egypt from antiquity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/beekeeping.htm |title=Ancient Egypt: Bee-keeping |website=Reshafim.org.il |date=2003-04-06 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2016-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309203227/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/beekeeping.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the walls of the [[Egyptian sun temple|sun temple]] of [[Nyuserre Ini]] from the [[Fifth Dynasty]] before 2,422 BCE, workers are depicted blowing smoke into hives as they remove [[honeycomb]]s.<ref name="Bodenheimer1960">{{cite book | title=Animal and Man in Bible Lands | first=F. S. | last=Bodenheimer | publisher=Brill Archive | year=1960 | page=79}}</ref> Inscriptions detailing the production of honey are found on the tomb of [[Pabasa]] from the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty]] {{circa|650 BCE}}, in which cylindrical hives are depicted along with people pouring honey into jars.<ref>[http://www.agropolis.fr/pdf/rencontres-apiculture-2008/pays/Egypte.pdf]{{dead link|date=March 2016}}</ref>

An inscription records the introduction of honey bees into the land of [[Suhum]] in [[Mesopotamia]], where they were previously unknown:{{blockquote | I am Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu and the land of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]. Bees that collect honey, which none of my ancestors had ever seen or brought into the land of Suhu, I brought down from the mountain of the men of Habha, and made them settle in the orchards of the town 'Gabbari-built-it'. They collect honey and wax, and I know how to melt the honey and wax – and the gardeners know too.

Whoever comes in the future, may he ask the old men of the town, (who will say) thus: "They are the buildings of Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu, who introduced honey bees into the land of Suhu". | translated text from Stele|(Dalley, 2002)<ref name="Dalley2002">{{cite book | title=Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities | last=Dalley | first=S. | edition=2 | publisher=Gorgias Press LLC | year=2002 | isbn=978-1-931956-02-4 | page=203}}</ref>}}

The oldest archaeological finds directly relating to beekeeping have been discovered at [[Rehov]], a [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age]] archaeological site in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/oldest-known-archaeological-example-of-beekeeping-discovered-in-israel_10091110.html |title=Oldest known archaeological example of beekeeping discovered in Israel |website=Thaindian.com |date=2008-09-01 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2015-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117161429/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/oldest-known-archaeological-example-of-beekeeping-discovered-in-israel_10091110.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thirty intact hives made of straw and unbaked clay were discovered in the ruins of the city, dating from about 900 BCE, by archaeologist [[Amihai Mazar]]. The hives were found in orderly rows, three high, in a manner that according to Mazar could have accommodated around 100 hives, held more than one million bees and had a potential annual yield of {{Convert|500|kg|lb|abbr=out|sp=us}} of honey and {{Convert|70|kg|lb|abbr=out|sp=us}} of beeswax, and are evidence an advanced honey industry in [[Tel Rehov]], Israel 3,000 years ago.<ref>[[Amihai Mazar|Mazar, Amihai]] and Panitz-Cohen, Nava, (December 2007) [https://web.archive.org/web/20100702230514/http://www.rehov.org/Rehov/publications/Mazar_NEA70_4.pdf ''It Is the Land of Honey: Beekeeping at Tel Rehov''] Near Eastern Archaeology, Volume 70, Number 4, {{ISSN|1094-2076}}</ref><ref>Friedman, Matti (September 4, 2007), [https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-09-04-israel-ancient-beekeeping_N.htm "Israeli archaeologists find 3,000-year-old beehives"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131314/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-09-04-israel-ancient-beekeeping_N.htm |date=2022-01-19 }} in ''[[USA Today]]'', Retrieved 2010-01-04</ref><ref name="Honey Hunting' 1999">[[Eva Crane|Crane, Eva]] ''The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting'', Routledge 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-415-92467-2}}, 720 pp.</ref>

[[File:Die Bienenzüchter (Bruegel).jpg|thumb|upright=1.32|''The Beekeepers'', 1568, by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]]]]

In [[ancient Greece]], in [[Crete]] and [[Mycenae]], there existed a system of high-status apiculture that is evidenced by the finds of hives, smoking pots, honey extractors and other beekeeping paraphernalia in [[Knossos]]. Beekeeping was considered a highly valued industry controlled by beekeeping overseers—owners of gold rings depicting apiculture scenes rather than religious ones as they have been reinterpreted recently, contra [[Sir Arthur Evans]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Haralampos V. Harissis |author2=Anastasios V. Harissis |title=Apiculture in the Prehistoric Aegean. Minoan and Mycenaean Symbols Revisited |publisher=British Archaeological Reports |location=[[Oxford]], England |date=2009 |isbn=9781407304540 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1259037 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2022-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131256/https://www.academia.edu/1259037 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Aspects of the lives of bees and beekeeping are discussed at length by [[Aristotle]]. Beekeeping was also documented by the [[ancient Rome|Roman]] writers [[Virgil]], [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], and [[Columella]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Islam|first1=M. R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzJcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT142|title=The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Practice, Analysis, and Methodology|last2=Islam|first2=Jaan S.|last3=Zatzman|first3=Gary M.|last4=Rahman|first4=M. Safiur|last5=Mughal|first5=M. A. H.|date=2015-12-03|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-18421-8|language=en}}</ref>

Beekeeping has been practiced in [[ancient China]] since antiquity. In a book written by [[Fan Li]] (or Tao Zhu Gong) during the [[Spring and Autumn period]] are sections describing beekeeping, stressing the importance of the quality of the wooden box used and its effects on the quality of the honey.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chantawannakul|first1=Panuwan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYteDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|title=Asian Beekeeping in the 21st Century|last2=Williams|first2=Geoffrey|last3=Neumann|first3=Peter|year=2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-10-8222-1|language=en}}</ref> The Chinese word for honey ''mi'' ({{lang-zh|c={{lang|zh-Hant|{{linktext|蜜}}}}|p=Mì}}), reconstructed [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation {{IPA|*mjit}}) was borrowed from [[proto-Tocharian language|proto-Tocharian]] *''ḿət(ə)'' (where *''ḿ'' is [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]]; cf. Tocharian B ''mit''), cognate with English ''{{linktext|mead}}''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Meier|first1=Kristin|last2=Peyrot|first2=Michaël|date=2017|title=The Word for "Honey" in Chinese, Tocharian and Sino-Vietnamese|journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft|volume=167|issue=1|pages=7–22|doi=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.167.1.0007|jstor=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.167.1.0007|issn=0341-0137}}</ref>

The ancient [[Maya civilization|Maya]] domesticated a species of [[Stingless bee#Mayan stingless bees of Central America|stingless bee]], which they used for several purposes, including making [[balché]], a [[mead]]-like alcoholic drink.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kent|first=Robert B.|date=1984|title=Mesoamerican Stingless Beekeeping|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873638409478571|journal=Journal of Cultural Geography|language=en|volume=4|issue=2|pages=14–28|doi=10.1080/08873638409478571|issn=0887-3631|access-date=2021-03-29|archive-date=2022-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131258/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873638409478571|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> By 300 BCE they had achieved the highest levels of stingless beekeeping practices in the world.<ref>Crane, E. (1998). [https://www.evacranetrust.org/uploads/document/7e2217c97156c8e490fe88721dd6f755a0029cc3.pdf Amerindian honey hunting and hive beekeeping]. ''Acta Americana'', ''6''(1), 5–18</ref> The use of stingless bees is referred to as [[meliponiculture]], which is named after bees of the tribe [[Meliponini]] such as ''[[Melipona quadrifasciata]]'' in Brazil. This variation of beekeeping still occurs today.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Meliponiculture in Mexico: problems and perspective for development|journal=Bee World|date=2001-01-01|issn=0005-772X|pages=160–167|volume=82|issue=4|doi=10.1080/0005772X.2001.11099523|first1=José Javier G.|last1=Quezada-Euán|first2=William de Jesús|last2=May-Itzá|first3=Jorge A.|last3=González-Acereto|s2cid=85263563}}</ref> For instance, in [[Beekeeping in Australia|Australia]], the stingless bee ''[[Tetragonula carbonaria]]'' is kept for the production of honey.<ref name=Halcroft2013>{{cite journal|author= Halcroft, Megan T. |s2cid=86326633|year=2013|title= The Australian Stingless Bee Industry: A Follow-up Survey, One Decade on. |journal= Journal of Apicultural Research|volume= 52 |issue=2|pages= 1–7 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.3896/ibra.1.52.2.01}}</ref>

=== Scientific study of honey bees ===

European natural philosophers began to scientifically study bee colonies in the 18th century. Eminent among these scientists were [[Swammerdam]], [[René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur]], [[Charles Bonnet]] and [[François Huber]]. Swammerdam and Réaumur were among the first to use a microscope and dissection to understand the internal biology of honey bees. Réaumur was among the first to construct a glass-walled observation hive to better observe activities inside hives. He observed queens laying eggs in open cells but did not know how queens were fertilized; the mating of a queen and [[Drone (bee)|drone]] had not yet been observed and many theories held queens were "[[parthenogenesis|self-fertile]]" while others believed a vapor or "miasma" emanating from the drones fertilized queens without physical contact. Huber was the first to prove by observation and experiment that drones physically inseminate queens outside the confines of the hive, usually a great distance away.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Reuber|first=Brant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGDxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA26|title=21st Century Homestead: Beekeeping|year=2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-312-93733-8|page=26|language=en}}</ref>

Following Réaumur's design, Huber built improved glass-walled observation hives and sectional hives that could be opened like the leaves of a book. This allowed the inspection of individual wax combs and greatly improved direct observation of hive activity. Although he went blind before he was twenty, Huber employed a secretary named François Burnens to make daily observations, conduct experiment and keep accurate notes for more than twenty years. Huber confirmed a hive consists of one queen, who is the mother of every [[Worker bee|female worker]] and male drone in the colony. He was also the first to confirm mating with drones takes place outside hives and that queens are inseminated in successive matings with male drones, which occur high in the air at a great distance from the hive. Together, Huber and Burnens dissected bees under the microscope, and were among the first to describe the [[ovary|ovaries]] and [[spermatheca]] (sperm store) of queens, as well as the penis of male drones. Huber is regarded as "the father of modern bee-science" and his work ''Nouvelles Observations sur Les Abeilles'' (New Observations on Bees)<ref name="Huber1814">{{cite book|author=François Huber|title=Nouvelles observations sur les abeilles|url=https://archive.org/details/nouvellesobserv00hubegoog|access-date=27 March 2014|year=1814|publisher=Chez J. J. Paschoud, ... et a Geneve}}</ref> revealed all of the basic scientific facts of the biology and ecology of honeybees.<ref name=":5"/>

===Hive designs ===
[[File:27-alimenti, miele, Taccuino Sanitatis, Casanatense 4182..jpg|thumb|Beekeeping, [[Tacuinum sanitatis]] casanatensis (14th century)]]
Before the invention of the movable comb hive, the harvesting of honey frequently resulted in the destruction of the whole colony. The wild hive was broken into using smoke to quieten the bees. The honeycombs were pulled out and either immediately eaten whole or crushed, along with the eggs, larvae, and honey they held. A sieve or basket was used to separate the liquid honey from the demolished brood nest. In medieval times in northern Europe, although skeps and other containers were made to house bees, the honey and wax were still extracted after the bee colony was killed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wolf|first=C. W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UI3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT4|title=Apis Mellifica – Or, The Poison Of The Honey-Bee|year=2021|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=978-1-5287-6221-2|language=en}}</ref> This was usually accomplished by using burning sulfur to suffocate the colony without harming the honey within. It was impossible to replace old, dark-brown brood comb in which larval bees are constricted by layers of shed pupal skins.<ref>{{cite book|author-last=van Veen |author-first=J. W. |editor-last1=Gupta |editor-first1=Rakesh K. |editor-last2=Reybroeck |editor-first2=Wim |editor-last3=van Veen |editor-first3=Johan W. |editor-last4=Gupta |editor-first4=Anuradha |date=2014|title=Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Security |volume=1 Ch 12 |location=London |publisher=Springer|pages=350–1|isbn=978-94-017-9199-1 }}</ref>

The movable frames of modern hives are considered to have been developed from the traditional basket top bar (movable comb) hives of Greece, which allowed the beekeeper to avoid killing the bees.<ref>Crane, Eva. ''The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting''. pp. 395–396, 414.{{ISBN?}}</ref> The oldest evidence of their use dates to 1669, although it is probable their use is more than 3,000 years old.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/1929792 |title=A 17th Century Testimony On The Use Of Ceramic Top-bar Hives. 2012 &#124; Haralampos (Χαράλαμπος) Harissis (Χαρίσης) and Georgios Mavrofridis |journal=Bee World |year=2012 |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=56–58 |access-date=2016-03-12 |last1=Harissis (Χαρίσης) |first1=Haralampos (Χαράλαμπος) |last2=Mavrofridis |first2=Georgios |doi=10.1080/0005772X.2012.11417481 |s2cid=85120138 |archive-date=2015-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019113156/http://www.academia.edu/1929792/A_17th_Century_Testimony_On_The_Use_Of_Ceramic_Top-bar_Hives._2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Beekeeper with moveable comb hive.jpg|thumb|A beekeeper inspecting a [[hive frame]] from a [[Langstroth hive]]]]

Intermediate stages in the transition from older methods of beekeeping were recorded in 1768 by Thomas Wildman, who described advances over the destructive, skep-based method so bees no longer had to be killed to harvest their honey.<ref>Thomas Wildman, ''A Treatise on the Management of Bees'' London, 1768. https://books.google.com/books?id=CCZAAAAAcAAJ Chapter V. Of the Methods practised for taking the Wax and Honey, without destroying the Bees. pp 93–109 accessed 17 March 2022.</ref> Wildman fixed an array of parallel wooden bars across the top of a straw hive {{convert|10|inch|cm|abbr=out}} in diameter "so that there are in all seven bars of deal to which the bees fix their combs", foreshadowing future uses of movable-comb hives. He also described using such hives in a multi-story configuration, foreshadowing the modern use of supers: he added successive straw hives below and later removed the ones above when free of brood and filled with honey so the bees could be separately preserved at the harvest the following season. Wildman also described the use of hives with "sliding frames" in which the bees would build their comb.<ref>Thomas Wildman, ''A Treatise on the Management of Bees'' London, 1768. https://books.google.com/books?id=CCZAAAAAcAAJ accessed 17 March 2022. Chapter II Of the Management of Bees in Hives and Boxes. pp 79–86.</ref>

Wildman's book acknowledges the advances in knowledge of bees made by Swammerdam, Maraldi, and de Réaumur—he includes a lengthy translation of Réaumur's account of the natural history of bees. Wildman also describes the initiatives of others in designing hives for the preservation of bees when taking the harvest, citing reports from Brittany in the 1750s due to the Comte de la Bourdonnaye. Another hive design was invented by Rev. John Thorley in 1744; the hive was placed in a [[bell jar]] that was screwed onto a wicker basket. The bees were free to move from the basket to the jar, and honey was produced and stored in the jar. The hive was designed to keep the bees from swarming as much as they would have in other hive designs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kritsky |first1=Gene |title=The Quest for the Perfect Hive: A History of Innovation in Bee Culture |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York }}</ref>

In the 19th century, changes in beekeeping practice were completed through the development of the movable comb hive by the American [[Lorenzo Langstroth|Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth]], who was the first person to make practical use of Huber's earlier discovery of a specific spatial distance between the wax combs, later called ''the bee space'', which bees do not block with wax but keep as a free passage. Having determined this bee space, which is commonly given as between {{cvt|6|and|9|mm|in|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Eric V. |date=August 1967 |title=Agriculture Handbook No. 335 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |pages=2, 27 |url=https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT87208707/PDF#page=8 |access-date=2022-03-17 |archive-date=2022-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405125154/https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT87208707/PDF#page=8 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Dave Cushman http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/bsp.html</ref> though up to {{Cvt|15|mm|in}} has been found in populations in Ethiopia.<ref>Journal of Biology, Agriculture and Healthcare. Determination of Bee Space and Cell Dimensions for Jimma Zone Honeybee Eco-Races (Apis malifera), Southwest Ethiopian. Abera Hailu, Kassa Biratu. Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). Jimma Research Center P.O. Box 192 Jimma Ethiopia. ISSN 2224-3208 (Paper) ISSN 2225-093X (Online) Vol. 6 no. 9 2016. https://www.academia.edu/26826420/Determination_of_Bee_Space_and_Cell_Dimensions_for_Jimma_Zone_Honeybee_Eco_Races_Apis_malifera_Southwest_Ethiopian accessed 20 March 2022</ref> Langstroth then designed a series of wooden frames within a rectangular hive box, carefully maintaining the correct space between successive frames. He found the bees would build parallel honeycombs in the box without bonding them to each other or to the hive walls. This enables the beekeeper to slide any frame out of the hive for inspection without harming the bees or the comb; and protecting the eggs, larvae and pupae in the cells. It also meant combs containing honey could be gently removed and the honey extracted without destroying the comb. The emptied honeycombs could then be returned intact to the bees for refilling. Langstroth's book ''The Hive and Honey-bee'' (1853), describes his rediscovery of the bee space and the development of his patent movable comb hive. The invention and development of the movable comb hive enabled the growth of large-scale, commercial honey production in both Europe and the U.S.

=== 20th and 21st century hive designs ===

Langstroth's design of movable comb hives was adopted by apiarists and inventors in both North America and Europe, and a wide range of moveable comb hives were developed in England, France, Germany and the United States.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Reuber|first=Brant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGDxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=21st Century Homestead: Beekeeping|year=2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-312-93733-8|page=27|language=en}}</ref> Classic designs evolved in each country; [[Charles Dadant|Dadant]] hives and [[Langstroth hive]]s are still dominant in the U.S.; in France the [[Georges de Layens|De-Layens]] trough hive became popular, in the UK a British National hive became standard by the 1930s, although in Scotland the smaller Smith hive is still popular. In some Scandinavian countries and in Russia, the traditional trough hive persisted until late in the 20th century and is still kept in some areas. The Langstroth and Dadant designs, however, remain ubiquitous in the U.S. and in many parts of Europe, though Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and Italy all have their own national hive designs. Regional variations of hive were developed according to climate, floral productivity and reproductive characteristics of the subspecies of native honey bees in each bio-region.<ref name=":3"/>

[[File:Сотовый мёд.jpg|thumb|Honey-laden honeycomb in a wooden frame]]

The differences in hive dimensions are insignificant in comparison to the common factors in these hives: they are all square or rectangular; they all use movable wooden frames; and they all consist of a floor, brood-box, [[honey super]], crown-board and roof. Hives have traditionally been constructed from cedar, pine or cypress wood but in recent years, hives made from injection-molded, dense [[polystyrene]] have become increasingly common.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Reuber|first=Brant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGDxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=21st Century Homestead: Beekeeping|year=2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-312-93733-8|page=28|language=en}}</ref> Hives also use [[queen excluder]]s between the brood-box and honey supers to keep the queen from laying eggs in cells next to those containing honey intended for consumption. With the 20th-century advent of mite pests, hive floors are often replaced, either temporarily or permanently, with a wire mesh and a removable tray.<ref name=":4"/>

[[File:Western honey bee on a honeycomb.jpg|thumb|Western honey bee on a honeycomb]]

In 2015, the [[Flow Hive]] system was invented in Australia by Cedar Anderson and his father Stuart Anderson,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-12/australian-story-flow-hive-family-talks-about-life-now/7828436 |title=Flow Hive: Cedar and Stuart Anderson talk about life one year after crowdfunding success |last=Hassall |first=Craig |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |location=[[ABC Online]] |date=12 September 2017 |access-date=2019-03-13 |archive-date=2019-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404163334/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-12/australian-story-flow-hive-family-talks-about-life-now/7828436 |url-status=live }}</ref> whose design allows honey to be extracted without cumbersome centrifuge equipment.

=== Pioneers of practical and commercial beekeeping ===
In the 19th century, improvements were made in the design and production of beehives, systems of management and husbandry, stock improvement by [[selective breeding]], [[honey extraction]] and marketing. Notable innovators of modern beekeeping include:
[[File:Ruche Prokopowitsh.jpg|thumb|Prokopovych's beehive system]]
[[Petro Prokopovych]] used frames with channels in the side of the woodwork; these were packed side-by-side in stacked boxes. Bees traveled between frames and boxes via these channels,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces75363.html|title=2 Hryvni, Ukraine|website=en.numista.com}}</ref> which were similar to the cutouts in the sides of modern wooden sections.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dave Cushman|title=History of British Standards in Beekeeping|url=http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/hist.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405233236/http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/hist.html|archive-date=2013-04-05|access-date=2013-04-11|work=dave-cushman.net}}</ref>

[[Jan Dzierżon]]' beehive design has influenced modern beehives.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Cincinnati Historical Society|title=Ohio Valley history. The journal of the Cincinnati Historical Society|author2=Cincinnati Museum Center|author3=Filson Historical Society|publisher=Cincinnati Museum Center|year=2005|volume=5–6|page=96}}</ref>

[[François Huber]] made significant discoveries about the bee life cycle and communication between bees. Despite being blind, Huber discovered a large amount of information about the queen bee's mating habits and her contact with the rest of the hive. His work was published as ''New Observations on the Natural History of Bees''.<ref name="LeTemps">{{cite news|last=Koutchoumoff|first=Lisbeth|date=November 16, 2018|title=L'étonnante Histoire du Genevois François Huber, apiculteur aveugle et visionnaire|newspaper=Le Temps|url=https://www.letemps.ch/culture/letonnante-histoire-genevois-francois-huber-apiculteur-aveugle-visionnaire}}</ref>

[[L. L. Langstroth]] has influenced modern beekeeping practice more than anyone else. His book ''The Hive and Honey-bee'' was published in 1853.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Root |first=Amos Ives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYNIAAAAYAAJ&dq=Rev.+Lorenzo+Lorraine+Langstroth+-wikipedia+%22father%22&pg=PA341 |title=The ABC of Bee Culture: A Cyclopaedia of Everything Pertaining to the Care of the Honey-bee ... |date=1891 |publisher= |language=en}}</ref>

[[Moses Quinby]], author of ''Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained'', invented the [[bee smoker]] in 1873.<ref>''Bee Culture''. Moses Quinby – http://www.beeculture.com/moses-quinby/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526041431/http://www.beeculture.com/moses-quinby/ |date=2018-05-26 }}</ref><ref>Thermal Beekeeping: Look Inside a Burning Bee Smoker – https://americanbeejournal.com/thermal-beekeeping-look-inside-a-burning-bee-smoker/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122122932/https://americanbeejournal.com/thermal-beekeeping-look-inside-a-burning-bee-smoker/ |date=2021-01-22 }}</ref>

[[Amos Root]], author of the ''A B C of Bee Culture'', which has been continuously revised and remains in print, pioneered the manufacture of hives and the distribution of bee packages in the United States.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023|reason=Dead link replaced with an archived page making no mention of Root nor package bees.}}

[[A. J. Cook (beekeeper)|A. J. Cook]] author of ''The Bee-Keepers' Guide; or Manual of the Apiary'', 1876.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Crawford, David L.|year=1916|title=Albert John Cook, DSC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7wUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA169|journal=Journal of Entomology and Zoology|publisher=Pomona College Dept. of Zoology|volume=8|pages=169–170|number=4}}</ref>

[[Dr. C.C. Miller]] was one of the first entrepreneurs to make a living from apiculture. By 1878, he made beekeeping his sole business activity. His book, ''Fifty Years Among the Bees'', remains a classic and his influence on bee management persists into the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bees as business: UMass Amherst, Du Bois Library, SCUA<!-- Bot generated title -->|url=http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/exhibits/bees/miller.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014151506/http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/exhibits/bees/miller.htm|archive-date=2012-10-14|access-date=2007-08-30}}</ref>

[[File:Honigschleuder.jpg|thumb|Honey Extractor]]

[[Franz Hruschka]] was an Austrian/Italian military officer who in 1865 invented a simple [[Honey extractor|machine for extracting honey]] from the comb by means of [[centrifugal force]]. His original idea was to support combs in a metal framework and then spin them within a container to collect honey that was thrown out by centrifugal force. This meant honeycombs could be returned to a hive empty and undamaged, saving the bees a vast amount of work, time and materials. This invention significantly improved the efficiency of honey harvesting and catalyzed the modern honey industry.<ref>{{cite web|title=Birth of American Bee Culture: A Look at Advertisements in A.J. Cook's The Bee Keepers' Guide|url=https://standrewsrarebooks.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/birth-of-american-bee-culture-a-look-at-advertisements-in-a-j-cooks-the-bee-keepers-guide/|publisher=St Andrews Rare Books|access-date=29 May 2018|date=26 May 2016|quote=... a honey extractor. This machine, invented by Major Francesco De Hruschka in 1865, used centrifugal force to dislodge honey from the combs and collected it into a vat. The extractor, combined with Langstroth's movable comb hive, greatly improved the efficiency of honey harvesting.|archive-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530035837/https://standrewsrarebooks.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/birth-of-american-bee-culture-a-look-at-advertisements-in-a-j-cooks-the-bee-keepers-guide/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Walter T. Kelley]] was an American pioneer of modern beekeeping in the early-and mid-20th century. He greatly improved upon beekeeping equipment and clothing, and went on to manufacture these items and other equipment. His company sold products worldwide and his book ''How to Keep Bees & Sell Honey'', encouraged a boom in beekeeping following [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Moffett|first=Joseph O.|title=Beekeepers and Associates|year=1979|page=69}}</ref>

[[Cary W. Hartman]] (1859–1947), lecturer, well known beekeeping enthusiast and honey promoter was elected President of the California State Beekeepers' Association in 1921.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bo0eAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Bees+and+Honey%22+Alameda+County&pg=PA233|title=Gleanings in Bee Culture|date=June 28, 1921|publisher=A. I. Root Company|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LvBOAAAAIAAJ&dq=Cary+W.+Hartman&pg=RA1-PA2 "Honey Producers' Co-Operator"] 1921, March–April, Vol.2 No.3</ref>

In the UK, practical beekeeping was led in the early 20th century by a few men, pre-eminently [[Brother Adam]] and his [[Buckfast bee]], and [[R.O.B. Manley]], author of books including ''Honey Production in the British Isles'' and inventor of the Manley frame, which is still universally popular in the UK. Other notable British pioneers include [[William Herrod-Hempsall]] and Gale.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://perso.unamur.be/~jvandyck/homage/ven.html|title=Brother Adam – English Page|website=perso.unamur.be}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=5 April 2009|title=Movable frame hives|url=http://www.startbeekeeping.net/general/movable-frame-hives|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116101725/http://www.startbeekeeping.net/general/movable-frame-hives|archive-date=16 November 2016|publisher=startbeekeeping.net|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref>

[[Ahmed Zaky Abushady]] (1892–1955) was an Egyptian poet, medical doctor, bacteriologist, and bee scientist, who was active in England and Egypt in the early twentieth century. In 1919, Abushady patented a removable, standardized aluminum honeycomb. In the same year, he founded [[The Apis Club]] in [[Benson, Oxfordshire]], which later became the [[International Bee Research Association]] (IBRA). In Egypt in the 1930s, Abushady established The Bee Kingdom League and its organ ''The Bee Kingdom''.<ref>Crane, Eva. ''The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting'', New York : Routledge, 1999. {{oclc|41049690}} {{page needed|date=January 2022}}</ref>