Editing Beekeeping (section)

===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.