Beehive. Woodcut artwork of a beehive made from traditional materials. A beehive is a structure provided by a beekeeper for bees to colonise. Bees will fill the inside of the hive with the wax honeycomb structure that they use to store, feed and raise their young. Bees collect nectar from a wide range of flowering plants, bringing it back to the hive to store it and form honey. The honey is used as food by bee larva, and is also collected by the beekeeper for human consumption. The most commonly domesticated bee is the common honey bee (Apis mellifera).