Abdomen |
The largest body segment of the bee containing the heart, stomach and intestines. In the worker it also contains the sting and wax glands. In the drone, the testes. In the queen , the ovaries and the spermatheca. |
Acaricide |
A chemical preparation used to destroy mites. |
Acarine |
A disease caused by mites (Acarapis wood) which infests the tracheae i.e. breathing tubes, leading from the first pair of spiracles on the thorax. |
<Africanized bees |
>A hybrid between the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) and several European honeybees. Often referred to as ‘killer bees’. |
American Foul Brood (AFB) |
A notifiable disease, AFB is caused by a spore-producing bacterium. The spores develop in the gut of the larvae, which hide in their cells.The cell caps appearing darker and sunken and are often perforated. AFB may occur anywhere in the world. |
Anther |
The part of the flower that releases pollen. |
Apiary |
The place where one or more beehives are kept. |
Apiculture |
The practice of keeping bees. |
Ashworth Feeder |
A wooden feeder covering the hive cross section , with one syrup reservoir . The bees gain access to teh syrup from one side. |
Bee brush |
A very soft brush used to remove bees from the frame or to coax them into a confined space. A large feather could also be used. |
Bee cage |
A device for safely introducing a new queen into a hive. The other bees lick the queen through the mesh grid of the cage and pass her pheromones around the hive without harming her. |
Bee hive |
A container for housing honey bees, consisting of a floor, brood box an inner cover (crown board) and roof. Supers can also be added. |
Bee space |
The space of 7-8mm (about 1/4inch) left between the comb and other surfaces in the hive. frames The bees will the gaps with propolis (if smaller) or honeycomb (if larger). The bee space is large enough for the queen, the worker and the drone to pass through. The bee space enables the beekeeper to easily remove the frames. |
Bee suit |
A suit worn by a beekeeper for protection when opening the hives. |
Beeswax |
A hydrocarbon produced byglands on the underside of the abdomen of the worker bees. It is used by the bees to cap cells and build comb. |
Bottom bee space hive |
A hive in which the frames hang in the boxes with a space between the bottom of the frames and the boxThis style is most often seen in National type hives. |
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Bridges of wax built between adjacent surfaces within the hive. |
Brood |
The immature stage of the bees’ development (eggs, larvae and pupae) in cells that may be uncapped or unsealed (eggs and larvae) or capped or sealed (larvae)whichwill pupate into adult bees.) |
Brood box |
The area in which the queen is confined (by a queen excluder) and the brood is reared. A hive may contain more than one brood box. |
Candy/ fondant |
A solid food made from sugar, more frequently used to separate queens in a new hive. |
Capping |
The beeswax covering sealing a cell. Cappings over honey are made of wax. Cappings over brood contain hair and other materials. |
Cells |
Small, six sided compartments, made of wax. They are used to store honey, pollen and brood. |
Chalk brood |
Disease caused by a fungus Ascospheaera apis, which ‘mummifies’ larvae in the brood frame. |
Clearer board |
A board used to remove bees from supers before the honey is harvested. It is designed to accommodate one or two Porter bee escapes |
Cleansing flight |
A flight made by bees that have been inside the hive during the winter or bad weather. They avoid defecating inside the hive and make a cleansing flight when the weather improves. |
Crown board |
Also known as the inner cover. The board that is placed on the top super and below the roof of the hive. The board has a hole in it for ventilation. |
Drone |
A male bee. A drone has no sting, unlike the queen and worker bees, |
Entrance block |
A removable block of wood ,or other suitable covering, used to reduce the width of the hive entrance. |
European foul brood (EFB) |
A notifiable disease. EFB is caused by the bacterium Melissococcus pluton, which infects the guts of developing larvae and competes with them for food. |
Exoskelton |
The hard outside surface of an insect’s body which protects and supports it. |
Feeder |
One of two types are usually used, a large rectangular or smaller rounder version. They are filled with sugar syrup to feed the bees- particularly in the spring and the early autumn. |
Flight board |
The wooden strip in front of the hive on which bees land. Also referred to as to as the alighting board. |
Following |
The habit of some bees to follow and possibly sting the beekeeper/ other animal who has been near to the hive. |
Foraging |
The act of seeking and collecting, nectar, pollen, water and propolis. |
Foundation |
A wax sheet embossed with a hexagonal pattern used as the basis for bees to build comb. |
Frame |
A wooden or plastic structure that holds the wax comb and allows the beekeeper to remove the comb from the hive to inspect it. The beekeeper usually makes his/her own frames. |
Guard bees |
Bees that wait at the entrance to the hive to protect it from foreign bees, wasps, animals (including beekeepers!).These bees release pheromones to alert the other bees in the hive if the colony is threatened. |
Hefting |
The act of lifting the hive from its support to ascertain its weight. with the roof on but with no supers in it as a way of establishing its weight. |
Hive tool |
A metal tool used by beekeepers manipulating a colony i.e.for levering and separating frames. |
Hoffman frame |
A type of self- spacing frame. |
Honey flow |
The period during which the supply of nectar from flowers is at its peak. |
Integrated Pest Management /td> |
The use of chemical preparations and colony manipulators to reduce Varroa Destructor and other pests. |
Landing board |
Also know as the ‘alighting board’. The strip of wood that is attached to the bottom of the hive on which bees land before they enter the hive. |
Langstroth hive |
The most commonly used type of hive in North America. |
Mouse guard |
A metal strip punched with holes that allow bees in and out of the hive while excluding mice. |
Nasonov gland |
A gland on the abdomen of a worker bee that secretes a substance used to attract bees back to their hive. |
National hive |
A square, single walled hive. It is the most widely used hive in Britain. |
Nectar |
The sugary substance that is produced by plants in order to attract pollinating insects . Nectar is made into honey by bees. |
Nucleus |
A small colony, usually on three, four or five frames. Used for rearing new colonies or for rearing/ storing queens. Often referred to a s ‘nuc’ |
Nucleus hive |
A small hive designed to contain three, four or five frames only. |
Nosema |
A disease caused by a protozoan (Nosema apis), which affects the gut of adult bees. |
Nurse bee |
The name given to young worker bees 3-10 days old, which help to rear brood in the hive. |
Open mesh floor |
A fine mesh floor that is used to both improve ventilation in the hive and help control varroa mites, which fall through the mesh, but are unable to return to the hive. |
Pistil |
The female reproductive organ of a flower. |
Pollen |
The dust-like grains which are produced by a flower’s anthers (the male part of the flower) . These are used to fertilize the female ovule. |
Pollen basket |
The corbicula, also known as pollen sac. The area on the hind leg of a bee in which pollen is transported to the hive. The basket (actually a hollow in the tibia) is surrounded by brush like hairs, which enable the bee to scrape the pollen caught on its body hairs into the basket. It is also used to bring propolis back to the hive. |
Porter bee escape |
A one way bee escape, often used on clearer boards, which allow bees to exit but not return. |
Propolis |
Also known as bee gum or bee glue. The reddish or black-brown resinous substance which is collected by bees from plants, particularly trees. It is used in the construction of the hive. |
Queen |
The sexually developed female bee that lays eggs. |
Queen cell |
An elongated cell on the face or bottom of the frame whichhouses a grub destined to become a queen. |
Queen excluder |
A screen with slots or a mesh which allows worker bees to pass through it, but can be positioned to exclude the queen and drones from parts of the hive. |
Queen marking grid |
A device for holding a queen on the frame surface allowing the beekeeper to mark her. Marking sets the queen’s age and makes her more visible. |
Queen substance |
Pheromones produced by the queen. Transmitted throughout the colony by the exchange of food between workers to alert other workers of the queen’s presence. When there is a decrease /cessation in the queen’s pheromones, the workers begin to rear queens. |
Queenless |
>When a colony has no queen, if bees have access to eggs or very young larvae they are able to rear a replacement queen. |
Retinue |
Worker bees who attend the queen and care for her needs within the hive. |
Robbing |
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Royal jelly |
Also known as bee milk. The substance is a highly nutritious glandular secretion by the worker bees and fed to future queens. |
Sac brood |
A viral disease that causes larvae to die before their final moult. |
Scout bees |
Worker bees that search for new sources of nectar, pollen ,water andpropolis.When a colony is preparing to swarm, scout bees will search for a new home for the colony. |
Skep |
An old -fashioned type of hive, made of wicker or straw and without moveable Frames. Nowadays beekeepers mainly use to collect swarms. |
Smoker |
The device used by beekeepers to introduce cool smoke into a hive to calm bees before a hive is opened. |
Stigma |
The part of a flower’s pistil that receives the pollen during pollination. |
Sting |
Queen and worker bees have a barbed sting. When the sting is used, it is left in the wound together with parts of the bee’s viscera. This means that after the bee has stung it will die. The queen uses her sting to kill rival queens, usually when one or more are hatching during the swarming period. |
Sugar syrup |
A solution of 50-50 sugar: water. It is used to feed bees in times when no nectar is flowing or honey supplies are low. |
Super |
The boxes of frames placed above the brood box in which the bees store their honey . |
Supersedure |
The process of removing a queen and replacing her with a new one without a colony swarming. |
Sulphur candle |
A device for killing off a whole colony if some disease problem makes it necessary. |
Swarm |
A mass of bees that is not in the hive. The bees could be attempting to establish a new colony or absconding from an unsatisfactory hive/ environment. Usually a swam includes a mated queen. |
Top bee space hive |
A hive in which the frames are suspended so that there is a space between the top of the frames and the top of the box. This arrangement is most often seen in Langstroth hives. |
Uniting |
The act of combining two or more colonies to form a larger colony . |
Varroa destructor |
The mite which breeds in brood cells and feeds on the larval blood. It weakens the bees and although some may not be killed by it, it can trigger viruses which lead to serious deformations such as shrivelled wings. |
Varroa strips |
A plastic strip impregnated with insecticide that will selectively kill varroa mites in the hive. |
Virgin queen |
A young, unmated queen. |
Waggle dance |
A circular or figure of eight communication dance performed by the bees . They use this movement to inform other bees about the distance and direction of a food source from the hive. |
Wax moths |
Both the lesser (Achroia grisella) and the greater (Galleria mellonella) wax moth are serious pests in the hive. They damage stored comb. |
WBC hive |
A double walled hive designed in 1890. |
Winter cluster |
The roughly spherical mass adopted by bees to generate / maintain heat and survive the winter. |
Worker < |
Worker bees are the most numerous residents of a hive. They are female and perform tasks within the hive to maintain the hygiene of the hive environment, and feed the brood.They also forage for honey and nectar. |