Are you interested in making your own mead, but don’t want to have to go to the supermarket to buy honey? Luckily, there is a solution: you can become a beekeeper! People have been doing it for millennia (yes, really)how hard can it be?Some of the earliest evidence of keeping bees in artificial hives can be found on the walls of the sun temple of Nyuserre Ini (before 2422 BCE). Here, workers are shown blowing smoke in hives and removing honeycombs. This early form of apiculture (the scientific term for beekeeping) remained the standard for hundreds of years with very little progress being made. In the 18th century, European natural philosophers first brought the honeybee under the microscope. For the first time, these researcherswho included Ren Antoine Ferchault de Raumur, Charles Bonnet, and especially Francois Huber, “the father of modern bee-science”witnessed the mating of a queen and drone. Often, the scientists built artificial glass-walled hives to improve their research.In the early days of beekeeping, each hive could only produce one batch of honey, as it had to be destroyed during harvesting. In the late 1760s, Thomas Wildman developed a new method that allowed the bees and the hive to survive by using a multi-story hivethe bees moved downward, vacating the upper levels when they became filled with honey. These stories could then be individually removed.Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth developed the movable comb hive in the 19th century, making the greatest apicultural contribution since the founding of the science. This allowed for the construction of wooden frames within a hive box, spaced at particular lengths. The bees would fill the frames with hives but leave the spaces free. The frames could then be removed and the honey collected without destroying the bees or the honeycomb. After Langstroth’s discovery, beekeeping became a large-scale profitable enterprise in America and across the sea in Europe. Langstroth hives are still the common design throughout America today.However, some modern beekeepers are using top-bar-styled hives, originally used in Greece and Vietnam. These hives do not allow for the comb to be returned after harvesting, but they are cheaper and allow for more interaction with the bees. Still most common in developing countries, some American beekeepers have been experimenting with their usage.Beekeepers must take pains to protect themselves from possible bee attacks. The stereotypical beekeeping suit, including gloves and a hood or veil, is often worn by novices and pros alike, although some pros will forego gloves. Apiculturalists will also use smokers to calm bees and mask alarm pheromones.