Bee Terms

When you are unfamiliar with the world of bee keeping some of the common terms may seem a little daunting. This list is designed to explain some of the more common terms.

Abscond	Bees suddenly abandon the hive – generally a new one
Apiary	A set of bee hives
Apiculture	The farming of bee’s and their products
Brood	The area where the next generation is being raised.
Capping	Just before the larvae pupates the workers seal the cell with a cap
Caste	The different categories of bees – queen, worker, drone
Colony	The bees which live in the bee hive
Comb	The collection of cells where the larvae are raised and pollen and honey are stored
Diastase	Amylase a sucrose enzyme
Drifting	Where bees fail to enter the right hive within an apiary
Drone	The male bee – from an unfertilized egg
Frame	The support which the comb is built upon
Hygroscopicity	The determination of the water content of honey
Instar	The change between different stages in the larval life – bees have 5 changes
Langstroth	A type of bee hive
Larvae	The juvenile form of bee.
Migration	Bees leave a hive which they have occupied for some time. Leaving combs with brood and honey
Migratory hive	Moving of hives to pollinate specific areas/fields
Pollen	The major source of protein for bees.
Pollination	The movement of pollen (male genetics) from plant to plant.
Proplis	The resin materials from plants which bees collect to fill in holes in the hive and provide some protection from pathogens
Pupae	The stage when the larvae transforms into the adult
Queen	The egg laying female
Queen right	A hive with a fertile healthy queen bee
Robbing	Bees from one colony collect and rob the honey from another hive
Royal Jelly	Substance produced by the mandibular and hyopharyngeal glands of worker bees
Scales	The dried remains of larvae or pupae
Smoker	Equipment to generate smoke
Super	The box (in a Langstroth hive) holding a brood or honey
Supercedure	Where the old queen is replaced within a hive
Top Bar	Popular hive in Africa
Undertaking	Removal of dead bees from the hive
Venom	Poison produced in the sting glands
Viscosity	The thickness of honey
Worker	The infertile female bee