Absconding: The proccess where all the bees in a colony abandon the hive.
AFB: American Foulbrood, a bacterial infection in bees.
AHB: Africanized Honey Bee
American foulbrood: A bacterial infection in bees.
Anther: The top part of the stamen (male part of a flower), which produces pollen.
Apiary: A beeyard.
Apiarist: A keeper of bees.
Apiguard: A slow-releasing thymol gel used to control varroa mites.
ApiLife Var: A chemical treatment for Varroa mites with thymol as the active ingredient.
Apis mellifera: The scientific name for the European honey bee.
Apistan: A chemical treatment for Varroa mites with fluvalinate as the registered active ingredient.
Backlot beekeeping: The old term for beekeeping in your backyard.
Balling: The process by which worker bees crowd around a new queen tht they don't accept and either suffocate her or sting her to death.
Bee beard: A collection of bees in the form of a beard made by placing a queen cage with a queen on the chin, and bees gather to her.
Bee bread: Pollen stored in the comb.
Bee space: 5/16th of an inch. Spaces smaller than this will be plugged with propolis. The discovery of bee space by L.L Langstroth paved the way for removable frames.
Brood: The term for the egg and larval stages of the bee, before they emerge from the cells.
Brood chamber: That part of the hive in which the queen deposits her eggs.
Burr comb: Small pieces of comb bees deposit on areas other than the foundation.
Caps: The wax topping of a cell, especially honey cells.
Carniolans: A popular bee in Europe. Known as carnies to its fans. A black bee.
Causanians: Gentle bees, popular with beekeepers.
Cells: The six-sided structures which make up a beehive. There are 4.83 cells to the inch of worker cells.
Checkmite: A chemical treatment for Varroa mites, with coumaphos as the registered active ingredient.
Chunk honey: Honey sold while the honey is still inside the comb cells.
Clipped quen
Comb: The collection of beeswax within which the queen lays her eggs and honey is stored.
Comb honey: Honey sold while the honey is still inside the comb cells.
concave: A cap of comb that is sunken in.
Constancy: In pollination, the tendency of individual bees to stick with one type of bloom per foraging trip. This phenomenon allows the bee to transfer pollen from a particular plant to another bloom of that same kind of plant.
Drifting:
Drone: A male bee. The queen makes a drone by laying an unfertilized egg. Thus, drones have no fathers, and no sons.
EFB: European Foulbrood, a bacterial infection in bees.
Entrance reducer
European foulbrood: A bacterial infection in bees.
F Hive: My term for the "forward" hive in your beeyard.
Food chamber: That part of the hive in which honey and pollen reserved for the use of the bees are stored.
Foulbrood: bacterial spores that attack bee larvae.
Foundation: The wax surface upon which bees build their comb.
Frame: Four pieces of wood that surrond a piece of foundation, the wax upon which the bees build their comb.
Good candy: Another name for queen candy, the substance in queen cages which the worker bees eat through to free the new queen.
Hive tool: A metal tool that a beekeeper uses for many tasks in the beeyard, including manipulating of hive bodies and frames.
Honey house: The facility in which honey is extracted. >
Hygroscopic: The tendancy to absorb and retain moisture. Honey is hygroscopic.
Killer Bees: A media term for Africanized Honey Bees.
Mated queen: An queen who has successfully performed her mating dance, and has collected sperm from multiple drones.
Mead: An alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey.
Nectar: The sweet liquid part of a flower. It is composed of several sugars and minerals.
Nosema: A parasitic disease of bees.
Package: A queen plus three pounds of worker bees (which is approximately 10,000 bees).
PDB: paradiclorobenzine--a chemical that repels wax moths.
Pollen: the dust-like grains produced by the anthers of a flower.
Pollination: Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred from the anther, which is the tip of the stamen (male part) of thebloom to the stigma (female part).
Propolis: Bee glue.
Queen cage: The (usually) wooden device in which a new queen is shipped to the beekeeper.
Queen candy: Queen candy is the substance in queen cages which the worker bees eat through to free the new queen.
Queen cells: The peanut shell shaped cells in which new queens emerge.
Queen cups: Short protrubanaces, usually at the bottom of frames. They hang down. They may become full-sized queen cells.
R Hive: My term for the "rearward" hive in your beeyard.
Robbing: The process where bees from another colony invade a week colony and steal their supplies of honey and pollen.
Royal jelly:
Scholz candy: The term used for queen candy in Europe. Queen candy is the substance in queen cages which the worker bees eat through to free the new queen.
SHB: Small Hive Beetle.
Sideline beekeeper: A beekeeper who operates for profit, but is not a full-time beekeeper.
Skep: A straw structure in which, before removable frames, bees were raised.
Solitary bees: A classification of bees that exist by themselves as opposed to in hives.
Stigma: The sticky section at the top of the pistil (female part of a flower) to which the pollen is deposited.
Sugar syrup: A mix of cane sugar and water. Used as a supplemental feed for bees.
Supersedure: The process where the old queen is killed by the workers and repalced with a new queen.
Swarm: The collection of bees that are swarming.
Swarming: The kprocess where the old queen leaves the hive with approximately two-thirds of the worker bees to establish a new hive.
Tracheal mites: Microscopic mites that live in the breathing tubes of bees.
Tupelo honey: The honey made famous in the film Ulee's Gold.
Varroa mites: A small mite, visible with the naked eye, that reproduces in cells and lives on adult bees.
Veil: A hat and cloth worn over the head to protect the beekeeper from stings.
Virgin queen: A newly emerged queen who has not yet mated.
Waggle dance: The movements by which bees signal the location of a nectar supply.
Wax moths: An opportunistic pest that invades weakened hives, destroying the comb.
Last revised March 10, 2008
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