The main difference between beehive and honeycomb is that a beehive is the housing structure where bees live, while a honeycomb is the wax structure that bees build inside the beehive to store honey, pollen, and eggs.
Beehives and honeycombs are two structures that are closely associated with bees and their activities. While they are related, there are some significant differences between the two.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is a Beehive
– Definition, Structure, Features
2. What is a Honeycomb
– Definition, Structure, Features
3. Difference Between Beehive and Honeycomb
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Beehive, Honeycomb
What is a Beehive
A beehive is a special house where bees live and make honey. Beehives can be both natural and manmade. In nature, bees typically build their hives in hollow trees, rock crevices, or other sheltered places. Also, these natural beehives are made from beeswax and propolis, which the bees produce themselves. However, humans have also been keeping bees in manmade beehives for thousands of years. The earliest known manmade beehives were made from pottery and date back to ancient Egypt. But most modern beekeepers make beehives from wood.
Beekeepers use manmade beehives to provide a safe and controlled environment for the bees, making it easier to manage the colony and harvest honey. Moreover, these beehives have multiple functions, which include producing honey, aiding in the pollination of nearby crops, providing a habitat for bees used in apitherapy treatment, and attempting to address the issue of colony collapse disorder.
What is a Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a structure made of wax that bees create to store honey, pollen, and eggs. It consists of many hexagonal cells that fit together tightly. In fact, to produce 450 g of wax, honey bees consume approximately 3.8 kg of honey. Honeycombs are usually inside beehives or in the wild, such as inside hollow trees. Moreover, the bees use their bodies to shape and form the wax into a hexagonal shape. When humans collect honey from beehives, they typically remove the honeycomb along with it.
Honeycombs are versatile structures that have several uses. Their primary use is to store honey, which is a sweet and nutritious food that bees produce from flower nectar. Honeycombs are also useful in making beeswax products such as candles, soaps, and cosmetics. Moreover, beeswax is a natural material that has many properties that make it useful for these purposes.
Difference Between Beehive and Honeycomb
Definition
A beehive is a special house where bees live and work together as a colony, whereas a honeycomb is a structure made of wax that bees create inside the beehive.
Location
Honeycombs are usually located inside beehives.
Shape and Structures
Beehives come in different shapes and structures, but the most common shape for modern beehives is a rectangular box with removable frames. On the other hand, honeycombs have a unique and recognizable shape and structure. They comprise many hexagonal cells that fit tightly together, creating a complex network of chambers. Each cell has six sides and a slight angle so that it can fit together with the other cells to create a larger structure.
Material
Beehives can be made of various materials such as beeswax, propolis (in natural beehives), wood, plastic, or metal (in man-made hives), while honeycombs are made of beeswax.
Conclusion
In simple words, a beehive is a house where the bees live, while a honeycomb is a structure they build inside the beehive to store their food and raise their young. Thus, this is the main difference between beehive and honeycomb.
Reference:
1. “Honeycomb.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation.
2. “What Is A Beehive? (A Home For Honey Bees).” Bee Keeping for Newbies.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Beehive, wooden, boxes, farming, honeybee, honey, honeycomb, insect, agriculture, nature” (CC0) via Pixino
2. “Western honey bee on a honeycomb” By Matthew T Rader (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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