Bees - Commercial Hives - basic components

Commercial hives are generally made of cedar and I prefer wire mesh floors. They allow good air circulation and allow you to pull out the base to inspect the debris in the bottom which helps assess the health of the colony.

The brood body is essentially a large cedar box with runners to hang brood frames inside. Cedar is typically used in beehives for it's water resistance. The brood body is where the the queen lives and lays her eggs and the young bees are reared.

In an empty space, bees would naturally draw out there own honeycomb. By using frames in both the brood body and super beekeepers can regulate the space the bees have and can pull out and inspect the frames without destroying the honeycomb. This takes a little of the work away from the bees by providing a foundation to work from.  

The queen excluder is a wire or plastic frame that has gaps large enough to allow bees through, with the exception of the queen. This means the queen is restricted to the brood body where she lays her eggs. Because she doesn't have access to the supers or super frames. Only honey is stored here, allowing easy harvesting for the beekeeper.

A super is essentially another cedar box in which to hang frames. However, because the queen is prevented from entering this area by the queen excluder, she can't lay eggs and larvae can't be reared in this area. The bees therefore store honey here, which makes it easy for the beekeeper to harvest!

A crown board is essentially an internal lid in the hive preventing the bees getting into the roof space.

It is useful in that the crown board has resealable holes in it, allowing the manipulation and feeding of the bees with special feeders.

The roof, that's just a roof!