Editing Beehive (section)

=== Bee gums ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Tupelo]] -->
[[File:Barć muzeum białowieża p.jpg|thumb|right|upright|"Barć" in a museum in [[Białowieża]]]]

In the eastern United States, especially in the Southeast, sections of hollow trees were used until the 20th century.  These were called "gums" because they often were from black gum (''[[Nyssa sylvatica]]'') trees.<ref>{{cite book|author=Crane, Ethel Eva|title=The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVh3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=305|isbn=9781136746697}}</ref>

Sections of the hollow trees were set upright in "bee yards" or apiaries. Sometimes sticks or crossed sticks were placed under a board cover to give an attachment for the honeycomb. As with skeps, the harvest of honey from these destroyed the colony. Often the harvester would kill the bees before even opening their nest. This was done by inserting a metal container of burning sulfur into the gum.<ref name="Gum">{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |date=2014-09-18 |title=HIVE: What is a "Bee Gum" Hive? |url=https://grossmannsbees.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/hive-what-is-a-bee-gum-hive/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Grossmann's Hives |language=en}}</ref> 

Natural tree hollows and artificially hollowed tree trunks were widely used in the past by beekeepers in Central Europe. For example, in Poland, such a beehive was called a ''barć'' and was protected in various ways from unfavorable weather conditions (rain, frost) and predators ([[woodpecker]]s, [[bear]]s, pine martens, forest dormice). Harvest of honey from these did not destroy the colony, as only a protective piece of wood was removed from the opening and [[smoke]] was used to pacify the bees for a short time.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ślady dawnego bartnictwa puszczańskiego na terenie Białowieskiego Parku Narodowego|last=Karpiński|first=Jan Jerzy|publisher=Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa|year=1948|url=http://www.encyklopedia.puszcza-bialowieska.eu/ksiazki/bartnictwo.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Gum"/> Spain still uses cork bark cylinder with cork top hives, similar to a gum or barc, {{em|aka}} [https://museodeolivenza.com/colmena-de-corcho-piezadelmes-mayo2005 colmenas de corcho.]

Part of the reason why bee gums are still used is that this allows the producers of the honey to distinguish themselves from other honey producers and to ask for a higher price for the honey. An example where bee gums are still used is Mont-Lozère, France, although in Europe they are referred to as log hives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lozere.fr/la-filiere-apicole-en-lozere.html|title=La filière apicole en Lozère|work=lozere.fr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504105436/http://lozere.fr/la-filiere-apicole-en-lozere.html|archive-date=2014-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lozere.fr/actualites/1338984971-les-ruches-troncs-et-les-abeilles-noires-du-mont-lozere-sur-tf1.html|title=''Les Ruches troncs et les abeilles noires'' du Mont-Lozère sur TF1|work=lozere.fr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504105810/http://lozere.fr/actualites/1338984971-les-ruches-troncs-et-les-abeilles-noires-du-mont-lozere-sur-tf1.html|archive-date=2014-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nvbinfocentrum.nl/uploads/files/holland_bee.pdf|title=La fôret des abeilles by Yves Elie|website=nvbinfocentrum.nl|access-date=2 May 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035731/http://www.nvbinfocentrum.nl/uploads/files/holland_bee.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>[http://www.masters-biologie-ecologie.com/ARTIO/IMG/pdf/Lehebel-Peron.Ameline.stage.M2IEGB-2009.pdf Paper on use of bee gums in France] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504121405/http://www.masters-biologie-ecologie.com/ARTIO/IMG/pdf/Lehebel-Peron.Ameline.stage.M2IEGB-2009.pdf |date=2014-05-04 }}</ref> The length of these log hives used is shorter than bee gums; they are hollowed out artificially and cut to a specific size.