1835, as an ordained Roman Catholic priest, he took over a parish in Karlsmarkt (Karłowice), where he lived for 49 years. Scientific career In his apiary, Dzierzon studied the social life of honeybees and constructed several experimental beehives – possibly using ideas from Petro Prokopovych's widely-publicized developments. In 1838 he devised a movable-comb beehive, which allowed manipulation of individual honeycombs without destroying the structure of the hive. The correct distance between combs had been described as 1½ inches from the center of one top bar to the center of the next one. In 1848 Dzierzon introduced grooves into the hive's side walls, replacing the strips of wood for moving top bars. The grooves were 8 × 8 mm – the exact average between ¼ and ⅜ inch, which is the range called the "bee space." Such designs quickly gained popularity in Europe and North America. On the basis of the aforementioned measurements, (May 1852) in Thuringia and L.L. Langstroth (October 1852) in the United States designed their own movable-frame hives. In 1835 Dzierzon discovered that drones are produced from unfertilized eggs. Dzierzon's paper, published in 1845, proposed that while queen bees and female worker bees were products of fertilization, drones were not, and that the diets of immature bees contributed to their subsequent roles. His results caused a revolution in bee crossbreeding and may have influenced Gregor Mendel's pioneering genetic research. The theory remained controversial until 1906, the year of Dzierzon's death, when it was finally accepted by scientists at a conference in Marburg. In 1853 he acquired a colony of Italian bees to use as genetic markers in his research, and sent their progeny "to all the countries of Europe, and even to America." In 1854 he discovered the mechanism of secretion of royal jelly and its role in the development of queen bees. With his discoveries and innovations, Dzierzon became world-famous in his lifetime. He received some hundred honorary memberships and awards from societies and organizations. In 1872 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich. Other honors included the Austrian Order of Franz Joseph, the Bavarian Merit Order of St. Michael, the Hessian Ludwigsorden, the Russian Order of St. Anna, the Swedish Order of Vasa, the Prussian Order of the Crown, 4th Class, on his 90th birthday, and many more. He was an honorary member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He also received