In the bee keeping workshop I took, I learned about bees and hives. I learned that bees live in a colony that has a queen. I learned about honeybees and that our common honeybee comes from Europe. We learned about the Warre hive that was designed by a monk who studied bees in the wild.
In the wild bees would build from the top to the bottom in the hallow of a tree, and the Warre bee hive mimics what bees want naturally in a hive.
The Warre hive is made out of stacking boxes. Each box has eight slats. When you first prepare your hive you must rub wax on the slats. The bees will build their honeycomb off of that.
Once the two boxes are full and they are filling up the thrid, you can harvest the top box. It is important to make sure that you leave enough honey for the bees to make in to spring.