Inside the bee hive

There are many different designs of hive but as I keep bees in the garden I prefer the old fashioned WBC hive which is the classic one you see on honey pot labels. This shot shows the floor ( freshly painted earlier today )and the first lift plus porch, with the brood chamber full of frames inside . On top of this is a queen excluder. This is a wooden frame with parallel metal bars across it , spaced to allow worker bees through but preventing the fatter queen from getting to other parts of the hive. We don't want bee grubs in the honey!
To the side is another lift and a super full of frames in which the honey is collected. This is placed over the queen excluder and a crown board sits on the top. A few tools of the trade - smoker, brush and assorted hive tools for levering & unsticking have been very artistically arranged on top. The straw skep used to collect swarms is there too.
My very handy husband is, as I write, making a new roof so I'm afraid you will have to imagine that!
Fingers crossed we don't have a swarm for a couple more days !