Frame (beehive)

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A shallow super frame filled with honey

A frame in a beehive is the structural element that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive body (or "super"). The frame is a key part of the modern "movable" hive since it can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.

One of first beehive frames was devised by Petro Prokopovych in 1814^{[citation needed]}. However the distance between frames was too big and the frame lay on supporting strips of wood. As the result, the frames were cross-attached by burr comb and propolized to the supporting strips and were difficult to remove. In Prokopovych's design, the frames were placed only in honey chamber. In brood chamber, the bees built the combs in free style.

Jan Dzierzon described the correct distance between combs in the brood chamber as 1½ inches from the center of one bar to the center of the next. In 1848, Dzierzon introduced grooves into the hive’s side walls replacing the strips of wood for hang top bars. The grooves were 8 mm apart and met the requirements for bee space.

August von Berlepsch (May 1852) in Thuringia and L. L. Langstroth (October 1852) in the United States also designed movable frame hives. Today, the Langstroth hive is the most common design. A Langstroth hive is designed to hold ten frames spaced 1 1/2 inches (38 mm) center to center (but may have as few as 8 frames if the comb can be drawn out more widely within the frame to maintain the beespace). The top bar length is 19 inches (48.3 cm). The depth of the frame varies. Frames are made from wood or plastic.

Specialty frames such as cell bar frames are used to raise new queens.