Home Sweet Comb

1. In the wild, bees make nests in hollow trees or rocks. The oldest beehives ever discovered are 3000 years old. They were found in an ancient city in Israel.

2. Many cultures weave basket beehives because they are cheap and easy to make. Traditional long hives in Ethiopia are placed high up trees. They are hollow with an open end for the bees to enter. The hive has to be destroyed to remove the honeycomb.

3. In some countries, people made hives from straw and hung them from a hook in a ''bee bole'' The hives were called skeps. There was no framework in the skep for the bees to build their honeycombs. The beekeeper had to destroy the bees and the skep to harvest the honey.

4. Top bar hives have wooden bars laid across the top of the hive. The bees attach their honeycomb to these. The bars can be lifted out to harvest the honey without destroying the hive or harming the bees.