Honey Bee Homes.

Honey bees live in large family groups called colonies.

Honey bees tended by beekeepers live in wood boxes called hives. Some well-managed hives in bee yards contain up to 80,000 individual bees.

The central structure of the colony is the wax comb. It is made up of six-sided, white wax chambers or cells. The cells vary in size according to the purpose.

Smaller chambers are for raising female worker bees, larger ones are for raising male drones. Queen chambers are the largest.

The comb is made of beeswax, a substance secreted from worker bee abdominal glands. The wax is secreted as tiny flakes, which are then chewed and molded into cells.

Other construction in and around the hive is done with propolis, a sticky substance bees manufacture from tree and plant resin.

The comb contains the stored honey and is home for the immature bees.

 

Honey bees usually build their comb in a protected area or cavity with an access hole the size of a pencil eraser or larger.

Wild (feral) honey bees nest in enclosed areas such as a hole in a tree if possible, but sometimes they will construct comb out in the open on a thick branch of a tree or under rock outcroppings. The elaborate exposed combs full of amber-colored honey they construct can be very beautiful.

Take a look at some hives.

When the colony starts to become too crowded, some of the bees split off to form a new colony. This is called swarming. First the eggs for new queens are laid in their special larger cells. "Swarming" occurs when part of the colony breaks off with the old queen and flies off looking for another place to call home.

The bees engorge themselves on their honey reserves before leaving so as to have sufficient energy to make it to a new location. There can be multiple swarms from one hive, since new queens can also emerge and fly off with part of the worker force.

Take a look at a swarm.