2010 Summary

In early times, the procedures which human beings adopted to obtain honey are:

breaking the wild hive [1] to take out the wax honeycombs which contained
honey [2], then straining the liquid honey through a basket [3].
domesticating bees [4] in hives of straw but still destroying the hive [5].

In recent times, the procedures which human beings adopted to obtain honey are:
constructing a new type of hive which allows for moveable comb [6] for
extracting honey without destroying the hive [7]
This construction includes:
- a brood chamber big enough for the queen bee to lay eggs (to produce
worker bees to make honey) [8]
- a frame to allow worker bees to store surplus honey in the honeycombs in
the higher chambers [9] and to prevent the queen from laying eggs in the
honeycombs (why include?) [10]
clipping the queens wings to prevent swarming which would deplete the honey
supply [11]
or making use of swarming to start a new hive to obtain more honey [12]
obtaining the honey safely by
- wearing a protective veil [13]
- smoking the bees to make pacify them [14]
- waiting for the warmth of the hive to ripen the honey [15]
- filtering the bees out of the honeycombs [16]
- removing the honeycombs for honey extraction [17]

Heading
Early times procedures

Point
no.
1
2
3
4
5

Recent times hive

construction procedure

6
7
8
9

10
Recent times
swarming procedure

11
12

Recent times safe

extraction procedure

13
14
15
16

17

From the text

The wild hive was clumsily broken into
and the wax honeycombs, in which the bees stored their
honey, were taken out
Then the liquid honey was crudely strained through a
basket
humans began to domesticate bees by putting them into
hives made of straw
as the bees attached their honeycombs to the hive walls,
the honey still could not be extracted without destroying
the colony
the invention, by Lorenzo Langstroth, of the movable comb
hive.
to remove the honey without destroying the combs
In more recent times, hives have been designed with a
special area at the bottom, called a brood chamber, where
the queen bee lays her eggs.
This allows the worker bees, which have been feeding the
newly-hatched larvae with pollen and honey in the brood
chambers, to move up into the higher chambers to store
surplus honey in the honeycombs.
the slots in the frame are too narrow to allow the queen to
pass, and so she is prevented from laying eggs in the
honeycombs
As a precaution, the keeper might clip the queens wings
or he may permit the queen to fly and use the swarm to
populate a new hive.
a protective veil is worn, draped over a broad-brimmed hat
to keep the fabric away from the face.
In addition a kind of bellows called a smoker is used.
This is filled with smouldering material which subdues the
bees and makes handling easier.
when the warmth of the hive ripened the honey and the
bees have sealed it with a layer of wax
the beekeeper will be able to place a board with a hole in it
above the brood chamber. This hole is fitted with a metal
spring which allows the insects to pass downwards into the
brood chamber but not upwards again,
so the honeycombs may be removed by the bee-keeper
and the honey extracted.