Editing Beehive (section)

=== Skeps ===
[[File:Making-skep-beehive.jpg|thumb|left|Traditional manufacture of ''skeps'' from [[straw]] in England]]
[[File:DalgarvenBeeSkep.jpg|thumb|upright|A bee skep at [[Dalgarven Mill]]. The base is part of an old [[cheese press]].]]

Skeps, baskets placed open-end-down, have been used to house bees for some 2000 years. Believed to have been first used in Ireland, they were initially made from [[wicker]] plastered with mud and dung but after the Middle Ages, almost all were made of straw. In northern and western [[Europe]], skeps were made of coils of [[Poaceae|grass]] or straw. In its simplest form, there is a single entrance at the bottom of the skep. Again, there is no internal structure provided for the bees and the colony must produce its honeycomb, which is attached to the inside of the skep. The size of early modern skeps was about two pecks to a bushel (18 to 36 liters).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildman |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCZAAAAAcAAJ |title=A Treatise on the Management of Bees |date=1768 |publisher=author, and sold |language=en}}</ref>

Skeps have two disadvantages: [[Beekeeper|beekeepers]] cannot inspect the comb for diseases and pests, and honey removal is difficult and often results in the destruction of the entire colony. To get the honey beekeepers either drove the bees out of the skep or, by using a bottom extension called an eke or a top extension called a cap, sought to create a comb with only honey in it. Quite often the bees were killed, sometimes using lighted [[sulfur]], to allow the honeycomb to be removed. Skeps could also be squeezed in a vise to extract the honey.

As of 1998, most US states prohibited the use of skeps, or any other hive that cannot be inspected for disease and parasites.<ref name="SammataroAvitabile1998">{{cite book|author1=Diana Sammataro|author2=Alphonse Avitabile|title=The beekeeper's handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLLB2fh55aQC&pg=PA186|access-date=17 August 2011|date=15 June 1998|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8014-8503-9|page=186}}</ref>

Later skep designs included a smaller woven basket (cap) on top over a small hole in the main skep.  This cap acted as a crude super, allowing some honey to be extracted with less destruction of brood and bees. In England, such an extension piece consisting of a ring of about 4 or 5 coils of straw placed below a straw beehive to give extra room for brood rearing was called an ''eke'', ''imp,'' or ''[[nadir]]''. An eke was used to give just a bit of extra room, or to "eke" some more space, a nadir is a larger extension used when a full story was needed beneath.<ref>The apiary by Alfred Neighbour - page 186 - Fittings and Apparatus, Ekes and Nadirs.</ref>

The term is derived from [[Old Norse]] ''skeppa'', "basket".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqRfDwAAQBAJ&q=++skep&pg=PT6727|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Anne H. Soukhanov,: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|first=anne H.|last=Soukhanov|date=15 June 2015|publisher=Bukupedia|via=Google Books}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A person who made such woven beehives was called a "skepper", a surname that still exists in Western countries. In England the thickness of the coil of straw was controlled using a ring of leather or a piece of cow's horn called a "girth" and the coils of straw could be sewn together using strips of briar. Likenesses of skeps can be found in paintings, carvings, and old manuscripts. The skep is often used on signs as an indication of industry ("the busy bee").

In the late 18th century, more complex skeps appeared with wooden tops with holes in them over which glass jars were placed. The comb would then be built into the glass jars, making the designs commercially attractive.