A. Hive outer cover - provides weather protection.

B. Inner cover - prevents bees from attaching comb to outer cover and provides insulating dead air space.

C. Shallow honey supers - shallow supers with frames of comb in which bees store surplus honey. This surplus is the honey that is harvested.

D. Queen excluder - placed between the brood nest and the honey supers. This device keeps the queen in the brood nest, so brood will not occur in honey supers. An excluder is usually not necessary if two hive bodies are used.

E. Hive body or brood chamber - large wooden box (called a "super") that holds 10 frames of comb. This space (the brood nest) is reserved for the bees to rear brood and store honey for their own use. Either one or two hive bodies can be used for a brood nest. Two hive bodies are common in cold winter regions. Beekeepers in areas with mild winters successfully use only one hive body.

F. Bottom board - wooden stand on which the hive rests. Set bottom board on bricks or concrete blocks to keep it off the ground.

G. Hive Stand - Supports the hive off the ground to keep hive bottom dry and insulates hive.