Sight 3: The Hives

The bee boxes near Boyd Hall help bees live, work, and grow. Inside, bees use the tiny cells of the hive to store food like honey and pollen, and to raise their young—from eggs to larvae to adult bees. Most bees stay in the hive for their whole lives, living anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks in the summer to 4 to 6 months in the winter.

The design of these hives, based on Langstroth’s invention, gives bees extra space to build honeycombs and store honey without crowding. It also makes it easy for beekeepers and scientists to check on the bees without hurting the hive.

These bee boxes aren’t just for honey—they also help bees pollinate nearby plants and let researchers study bee behavior, health, and how bees respond to changes in the environment.

Langstroth used the idea of “bee space” to put removable honeycomb frames 3/8 inch apart, which encouraged the bees to only build honeycomb that they could add honey to, and not filler wax. The honeycomb can also be reused after harvesting the honey, allowing the bees to spend more effort on honey production. The hive also introduced the concept of the Queen Excluder box, which kept production of new bee babies (or brood) to one box, encouraging further focus on honey.

Head back uptown for the final stop on your journey!