A
Abscond: When a bee leaves the hive suddenly and without warning. This will only happen if there are terrible, intolerable problems in the hive. “The bees have absconded.”
Absconding Swarm: When the whole swarm leaves the hive in search of a new place to live. This occurs when disease or hive damage becomes unmanageable.
Abdomen: A bee’s third body region that houses its internal organs, including the stomachs, glands, intestine, reproductive organs, and stinger.
Abdominal Bands: The bands of extremely dense, coarse hairs around the abdomen.
Acarine Disease: Occurs when Acarapis woodi mites get into the bee tracheae, causing a distended abdomen and disjointed wings, making flight impossible.
Africanized Honey Bee: Aggressive bee originally from Africa. They migrated as a hybrid to the United States from South America. They are extremely ill-tempered and not suitable for keeping.
Afterswarm: When a smaller swarm leaves the hive after the larger, initial swarm; most often headed by a virgin queen. Not a common occurrence.
Alarm Pheromone: The scent that bees emit to communicate danger to each other.
Allergy: A very serious physical reaction to bee stings and bee venom. An allergy to the bees can also develop.
American Foulbrood: A serious, highly contagious bacterial disease that affects bee broods.
Anther: The male reproductive cells of a flower that produces pollen.
Antibiotics: A substance or substances that can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.
Apiary: Sometimes called a bee yard; it is a specific location with one or more bee hives.
Apiculture: Formal term for the science of beekeeping.
Apiculturist: A person who practices apiculture.
Apimondia: The International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations.
Apis mellifera: Scientific name of the European and Western honey bee.
Apis mellifera Carnica: Scientific name for the Carniolan bees; subspecies of the Western honey bee.
Apis mellifera Scutellata: Scientific name for the African honey bee.
Apitherapy: The practice of using honey, wax, and other bee by-products for therapeutic and medical purposes.
Automatic Uncapper: A device, typically a heated knife, that removes the wax caps from the honeycomb.
B
Bacillus thuringiensis: A natural bacteria found in soil.
Bait Hive: A bee box with a frame of honeycomb and an entrance hole used to lure swarming bees.
Balling the Queen: When workers kill an unknown, new, or aging queen by surrounding her in a tightly knit ball until she dies from overheating.
Bee Bread: A food stuff bees create; made of a mix of pollen and honey.
Bee Brush: A brush used to move bees off the comb when going through the bees.
Bee Candy: A three-to-one mixture of honey and powdered sugar. It can also be purchased as a commercial product without honey.
Bee Candy Plug: The plug used to replace the plug in a new queen’s cage. It is made of bee candy and is about the size of a small bird egg.
Bee Culture: A magazine on beekeeping published by the A.I. Root Company.
Bee Escape: A piece of equipment used to make sure bees can exit the hive without re-entering.
Bee Glue: Propolis is often called bee glue because of its propensity to stick to anything.
Bee House: A small house that is just large enough for the hive and the beekeeper; used for protective purposes.
Bee Language: The movements bees make to convey information to other bees in the colony. Discovered by Karl Ritter von Frisch, who won a Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1973 for his research in communication among insects.
Bee Pasture: Fields of plants, bushes, and flowering trees — wild and cultivated — that supply bees with pollen, honeydew, or nectar.
Bee Metamorphosis: The three stages of metamorphosis that a bee goes through to become a fully formed adult bee.
Beehive: The home for a colony of bees; it can be man-made or any natural structure the bees have made their home in, such as a hollow tree or crevice in a rock wall.
Bee Space: The space required between the hive parts, usually approximately ³⁄₈-inch wide. If the space is any larger, the bees will build comb in it; any smaller, and they will fill it with propolis.
Beeswax: Secreted substance from the worker bees, used to build their comb; can be harvested and used for various purposes.
Bee Veil: Veil made from netting or fabric used to protect beekeepers from stings.
Bee Venom: Poison secreted from a bee’s stinger.
Bee Year: A bee’s year begins in August because the bees hatched at this time will take care of the spring population.
Begging for Entrance: Bees that do not belong to the colony try to get into the hive to be accepted by the colony.
Birthing Cell: A cell that the queen lays an egg in.
Bottom Bar: The bottom bar of a frame in a Langstroth beehive.
Bottom Board: Floor of a man-made beehive.
Bottom Insert: Material that is inserted into the hive during the winter months and then removed in the spring, along with the debris collected all winter.
Brace Comb: Comb that is built between the frames of a hive.
Breeding Stock: Larvae and eggs that are picked for particular traits from specific colonies when breeding future queens.
Brood: Young bees in any stage: eggs, larvae, and pupae.
Brood Chamber: The area in the hive where the colony’s brood is housed.
Brood Nest: Every comb in the colony that contains brood.
Burr Comb: A comb built in between two parallel combs.
C
Capped Brood: Time between pupa and adult when a cell is capped.
Cappings: The thin beeswax top on cells filled with pure honey.
Capping Scratcher: An uncapping fork; also called a capping scratcher.
Carniolan: Gentle, dark-colored species of bees originating from the Carniolan Alps.
Castes: Name for the different types of bees: queen, worker, drone.
Caucasian: Dark-gray European bees that have excessive use of propolis.
Cell: A hexagonal partition in a honeycomb that bees build to raise brood and to store honey, pollen, and water.
Cellar Detention: This is the act of keeping mating boxes and artificial swarms in a cool room at about 60°F for up to two days to give the bees a chance to get used to the new queen.
Chalk Brood: A fungal disease that affects the larvae of honey bees.
Chilled Brood: A brood killed by cold temperatures.
Cleansing Flight: A short flight for the purpose of voiding waste products. During the winter, the waste stays in the colon, and when spring arrives, the bees take a cleansing flight to void all waste.
Cluster: Bees gathered close together for warmth in temperatures of 55°F or colder.
Colony: Adult bees, brood, and hive all comprise the colony.
Development of Colonies: The phase during which brood are normally raised beginning with the winter rest and coming to a head during the summer solstice.
- Drone Colony: A colony with too many drones.
- Queenless Colony: A colony without a queen.
- Queenright Colony: A colony that has a queen.
- Uniting Colonies: The act of taking weak colonies and joining them to make strong colonies.
Comb: Beeswax shaped into six-sided cells that will be filled with honey, pollen, or brood.
Comb Foundation: Man-made sheets of plastic with preset cells embedded.
Comb Honey: Honey sold with the comb.
Comb Pliers: Tools to work the hive from the backside.
Comb Settling: On occasion, when moved to a new hive the bees will move out because it does not feel like home. Comb settling occurs when they stay in the new hive and consider it home.
Compound Eyes: Bee’s eyes made of small sight organs called ommatidia.
Crawling: Bees will crawl when unable to fly because of acarine disease, varroatosis, or poisoning.
Crimped Wire Foundation: Crimped wire vertically embedded in the foundation of a honeycomb.
Crystallization: The granulation of honey from liquid to solid.
D
Dancing: The communication movements of a bee when relaying information such as food sources and locations of perspective homes.
Dearth: The absence of nectar, pollen, or other food.
Debris: The small bits of wax that have fallen to the hive floor as the bees chew off the comb cappings of brood and honey cells.
Decoy Hive: A hive used to attract swarming bees away from their former hive.
Deep Hive Body: Often called the brood box; specifically used for the queen and brood rearing.
Dividing: Separating a single hive to make two individual colonies.
Division Board Feeder: Feeding apparatus shaped like a frame.
Double Screen: Two layers of wire screen between a wooden frame that is ½- to ¾-inch thick, used to separate two colonies within the same hive, stacked on top of each other with an entrance on the top and the rear of the hive for the upper colony.
Drawn Comb: When bees have used an artificial foundation to create their cells.
Drifting: When hives are close together and bees lose their sense of direction and wander into foreign hives.
Drone: The male honey bee.
Drone Brood: The male honey bee in an immature state.
Drone Comb: A specific area of the comb that is designated for rearing drone brood. The cells in drone comb are convex and larger than worker bee cells.
Drone Congregation Area: Where drones gather to mate with queens.
Drone Killing: When the worker bees force out the drones after the reproductive season is over.
Drone Layer: A phenomenon that occurs when the queen is infertile and lays unfertilized eggs that develop into drones. The queen is then a drone layer.
Dummy Frame: A section of wood cut to resemble a frame in a hive.
E
Early Flow Area: An area where the honey flow comes earlier than in the rest of the country, basically from March through July.
Egg: Stage One of a bee’s metamorphoses. The egg is tiny, clear, and shaped like a comma when first laid.
End Bars: Frame pieces that fit between the top and bottom bars.
Entrance: Where the bees go in and out of the hive.
Entrance Reducer: A device used to restrict the size of the entrance to make it easier for the bees to defend against robber bees and other pests.
European Foulbrood: A bacterial disease that a healthy hive might be able to control; also responds to chemical treatment. Not as serious as American foulbrood.
Extractor: A machine that removes honey from combs by spinning the comb. Honey harvested this way is called extracted or liquid honey.
Excluder Grid: A section of material inserted in the hive between the brood box and the honey supers with small spaces just large enough for the worker bees to pass through, but not the queen.
F
Fall Feeding: Feeding the hive in the fall months by artificial means.
Fanning: When the bees ventilate the hive by beating their wings very fast at the entrance and deeper inside the hive to help control temperature and moisture evaporation for curing honey. A separate type of fanning is used for communication when bees release and fan the scent from the Nasonov gland to help foraging bees find their way back home.
Feral Bees: Wild honey bees not kept in a man- made beehive.
Fermentation: What happens when honey has a high moisture content and ferments with yeast.
Fertile Queen: A mated queen that lays fertilized eggs.
Field Bee: A bee that has been given the job of collecting nectar.
Flower Fidelity: The tendency of bees to stay with one particular flower on each foraging trip.
Flying Bees: Bees that have become old enough to fly from the hive and take on foraging tasks; around 3 weeks old.
Foundation: Sheet of beeswax with cell shapes embossed on it to give bees a headstart building their comb.
Frame: A rectangle of wooden pieces that fits in a super and used to hold honeycomb and brood.
Frame Runner: A metal part of the hive body that supports the frames as they hang. The metal is folded and fastened to the upper end, inside of the hive.
Frame Spacer: Pieces of plastic or metal put in the hive to make spaces for supers and frames. They fit over the frame lugs and touch the spacer on the next frame.
Fructose: Also called levulose, it is the principal simple sugar in honey.
G
Glucose: One of two main sugars that make up honey.
Granulation: The natural formation of crystals in honey when dextrose reaches a cool temperature.
Guard Bees: Bees that guard the entrance of the hive to prevent unwanted visitors. These bees give off a pheromone that alerts the other bees.
H
Hefting: Lifting a hive in order to judge the weight.
Hive: A home for bees.
Hive Stand: A stand that the beehive sits on for support and to raise it off the ground.
Hive Tool: A metal tool used by beekeepers for use in hive maintenance.
Hoffman Frame: One of a few different types of self-spacing frames.
Honey: The product of the honey bee that has been processed into a thick, sweet syrup.
Honey Bound: When a queen is unable to lay eggs because all the cells in her hive are filled with honey.
Honeycomb: Comb made by bees that are filled with honey.
Honey Extractor: A machine that removes honey from the frames.
Honey Flow: When a profusion of nectar is available for foraging bees.
Honey House: A beekeeper’s workshop where tools are stored; also a place where honey is extracted and stored.
Honey Ripener: A honey holding tank that lets air bubbles rise to the surface before they are expelled.
House Bee: A worker bee that stays in the hive and performs chores such as cleaning, feeding, brood care, and taking care of nectar that foraging bees bring in.
I
Inner Cover: The wooden piece that fits between the outer cover and the hive body in a beehive.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Scientific approach used to curb pest infestation.
Invert Sugar Syrup: Sucrose that has been broken down into equal parts of glucose and fructose.
L
Larva: The second stage of a bee’s metamorphosis.
Laying Worker: A worker that lays drone eggs when the colony becomes queenless.
Levulous: Also known as fructose, this is one of the two simple sugars that make up honey.
M
Mandible: A bee’s mouth part that resembles two arm-like jaws.
Mating Flight: The flight the virgin queen takes to mate with drones while in mid-air.
Mead: An alcoholic drink made from fermented honey and water.
Melomel: Mead made with honey and fruit juice.
Metal Ends: Same as frame spacers. They are added to the hive frames to space them a desired length apart.
Metal Runner: Same as frame runners. They hold the frames in the desired position.
Migratory Beekeeping: Moving a colony from place to place during the honey flow season to take advantage of several different flows.
Miller Feeder: A bee feeder made of wood that is the same size as the hive.
Modified National: The most common beehive used in the United Kingdom.
Mouseguard: A strip of sturdy material, like wood or metal, placed in front of the hive entrance to block mice.
N
Nectar: The sugar-rich product of flowering plants that bees use to make honey.
Nectar Guide: Distinctive marks on plants and flowers that are believed to direct bees to nectar.
Nosema: A mite that usually infects adult bees through their digestive system, causing dysentery and death, if not treated.
Nucleus Hive: A colony so small that it only lives on three to five frames; it is also used to maintain a queen or start a new colony.
Nurse Bee: A bee in charge of feeding and caring for the brood.
O
Orientation Flight: The first flight young bees take before than begin to forage.
Out-apiary: Apiaries that are kept away from the apiarist’s home.
Ovary: An egg-producing organ found in the queen and worker bees; highly developed in the queen and under-developed in the workers.
P
Petiole: The area of a bee’s body between the abdomen and thorax that serves as its waist.
Pheromone: Considered an external hormone; a scent used in a variety of ways, from attracting to warning.
Pollen: A fine-to-coarse powder that consists of grains that produce the male sperm cell of seed plants.
Pollen Basket: A bag-like appendage on bees’ back legs that they fill with pollen and water to bring back to the hive.
Pollen Load: The pollen that is in a bee’s pollen basket when it arrives at the hive entrance.
Pollination: The act of transferring pollen from the male to the female parts of the plant.
Porter Bee Escape: A device with two spring valves that allows bees to enter one way and exit the other way. It is used to clear bees out of supers.
Prime Swarm: The first swarm that leaves the hive with the old queen.
Propolis: A substance bees collect from trees and plants that they use in their hives for covering cracks and crevices, or dead bees and other intruders.
Pupa: The third phase of a bee’s life. During this time, the organs develop into an adult bee’s organs.
Q
Queen: A female bee larger and longer than the other bees; she has highly developed reproductive organs and is the mother of the colony.
Queen Cell: A cell that is larger than others and fit to hold a queen.
Queen excluder: A device that keeps the queen in one part of the hive.
Queen Substance: Pheromones the queen uses to control her colony.
Queenless: When the colony is without a queen.
Queenright: A colony that has a strong, healthy queen who performs all her duties and contributes to the good health of the colony.
R
Robbing: When bees from a foreign colony rob honey that they did not make. Sometimes wasps and other insects will rob from the hive as well.
Royal Jelly: Worker bees secrete royal jelly from glands in their head and use it to feed bees.
S
Sacbrood: A virus that kills larvae in their final stages of maturation.
Scout Bee: A worker bee that goes out to look for food, water, nectar, or a new location for a swarming colony.
Sealed Brood: The time of a bee’s development during the pupa stage.
Sections: Bass wood frames with honeycomb already built in, or a plastic form that has honeycomb built in.
Self-Spacing Frame: A beehive frame where the top-most part of the side bar stretches to touch the frame next to it.
Skep: A straw beehive without frames. They are no longer used as hives, but only as a device for collecting swarms.
Small Hive Beetle (SHB): A small beetle that enters the hive to eat honey and pollen. It is black, brown, or dark red with strange fringed antennae.
Smoke: Used in beekeeping as a way to calm and disorient the bees.
Smoker: A device used to burn organic materials such as wood or dry grass. It is also used to calm and disorient the bees.
Spermatheca: One of the queen bee’s internal organs that allows her to hold sperm received from drones while on her mating flight.
Spiracles: An opening on the sides of the thorax and abdomen that leads to the bee’s breathing tubes.
Stinger: The female bee’s defense mechanism. It is a barbed, sharp needle used to distribute a poison into the predator.
Stone Brood: A disease caused by fungi that turns the brood to hard, chalky substances.
Stores: Honey that is stored and used to feed the colony during the winter.
Super: The boxes that make up the beehive; designed to typically hold 10 frames.
Supercedure: Natural replacement of a queen.
Sugar Water: A mixture of water and sugar used to feed bees.
Swarm: A flying collection of bees that leave their hive with their queen en route to a new location.
Swarm Cell: Queen cell found on the bottom of combs, indicating a plan to swarm.
Swarm Prevention: Various methods apiarists use to stop the bees from swarming.
T
Thin Foundation: A foundation sheet that is most often used for production of comb honey.
Thorax: The central part of a bee’s body that contains the wings and legs.
Tropilaelaps: Parasitic mites that can affect brood and adult bees; they are similar to the varroa mites. Its usual and most natural host is the Asian honey bee, but it can adapt to other colonies easily.
U
Uncapping Knife: A knife used during honey extraction to scrape off the wax cappings of the honey cells.
Uniting: Forming a larger colony by combining two or more colonies into one. This most often happens when one colony is weak or has lost its queen.
V
Varroa Mites: A serious threat to the health of a colony. Mites are incubated in brood cells and cause deformation and death. They can also be found attached to a healthy adult bee; they eventually cause death.