European foulbrood (EFB): a severe disease. Early in the year, colonies may be treated by shook swarms, but preferably, the hives should be destroyed. It is not derived from Europe.

Emerged: a term that expresses that pupating bees, particularly the queen, have come out of / hatched from their cells.

Every board (EB) is my innovation. It is a manipulation board with 3–4 entrances above and below the board (a total of 7–8). A disc can be turned to select how the boxes communicate: mesh, closed, QE, or open. By incorporating eight entrances, it could be used as a Snelgrove board.

Extraction: Remove honey from the comb.

F

Feed: sugar syrup, sugar fondant, pollen, pollen supplements

Festooning: bees hang on to each other and form daisy chains. The aetiology is unknown, but it is commonly believed to be caused by bees that are manufacturing wax.

Forager: a bee that leaves the hive to collect/forage for pollen, water, nectar, and tree resin. Gooey resin is derived from trees and buds (and used to make propolis). Scouts are foragers who look for good forage.

Foulbrood / Foul brood: serious diseases of bees: EFB — European, and AFB — American foulbrood.

Foundation: the sheet of material on which bees can build their comb. It may be plastic, wired wax or unwired.

14 × 12: a deeper than a deep National frame/box that will accommodate the whole brood. The advantage is that there are fewer frames to inspect.

Frame: the bit surrounding the foundation or the entire thing (frame and foundation). It may be made of wood or plastic.

G

Gamete refers to either the male or female reproductive “thing” (like egg or sperm) that only contains one of each set of chromosomes (they are haploid, like drones). If sex is successful, fertilisation occurs, and the two things become one thing with a complete set of chromosomes, i.e. diploid.

H

Haploid — see gamete or diploid

Heddon is a manipulation performed one week after a Pagden. The hive that has moved away from the home site is moved again 180 degrees, so it is positioned on the other side of the home (swarmed) portion.

Hive: man-made structure in which the colony lives.

Hive body: the same as a box or chamber. Contains the frames.

Honey bee or Honeybee: the colloquial name for Apis mellifera. It is a true bee of the order Hymenoptera. Scientists refer to them as honey bees (two words), and the rest of us generally use one.

Honeydew: a sugar-rich liquid excreted by aphids. A simplistic explanation is that the pressure of sap is so high in the veins of plants that when an aphid feeds, the honeydew is forced out of its anus.

Honey flow: A rich source of nectar is available; it is “being worked”.

Horsley board: This board is used for manipulations. It has a complicated door mechanism, and the position of the door determines how the upper and bottom boxes communicate.

Honey: scummy, sweet, sugary, sticky stuff. Its main constituents are fructose and glucose. It contains small amounts of other sugars, amino acids and about 0.2% indigestible “ash.” Its water content is 18%. More than 20%, and it will ferment. If it is less than 18%, it will crystallise rapidly.

I

Increase: make increase, make another colony.

Travel / Introduction cage: small plastic or wire box used to transport a queen and introduce her to a colony.

Injun Joe effect: bees are rigidly faithful to their habitual entrance. A term that is outside general usage.

In lay: the Q is laying eggs.

Isolation starvation: In cold weather, the bees cannot reach honey stores and die. It is unlikely to be a problem in poly hives

J

JzBz: a hair curler cage/device that transports and introduces queen bees.

June gap: a period that may arise between spring and summer flowers. It may last two weeks but does not occur every year. There is a risk that colonies starve.

K

Kinship group / patrilineage: workers who share the same father.

L

Larva: a grub/maggot. Insects undergo metamorphosis — a total change in their appearance. The lives of bees are in four stages: as an egg, then an eating phase as a maggot or caterpillar. Next, they seal themselves in a cell, case, or chrysalis, and all their mushy larval bits transform (they pupate). After some days, they emerge as something glorious and extraordinary, like a bee.

Laying workers: If a colony is queenless and broodless for several weeks, many workers start laying eggs.

Langstroth: the commonest hive used worldwide. It was named after Rev. Langstroph, who realised the importance of bee space and died dramatically while preaching a sermon.

Lifts: see WBC

Lugs: the bits that stick out at the top of the frames. They sit on the runners in the same way as folders are supported in a filing cabinet.

M

Make increase: increase the number of colonies.

Making up frames: The outer wooden frame is a push fit secured with small nails /gimp pins. A wax or plastic foundation sheet is fixed inside the frame. In all, it requires 11 pins.

Maisemore: produce light poly hives

Manipulation is the movement of bees and boxes/parts of the hive to change the way the colony operates. It is commonly used to control swarming.

Manley frames are useful for supers. The sides of the frame are straight, making removing the cappings with a knife easy.

MAQS (Mite Away Quick Strips) is a short, one-week treatment to kill varroa. It contains formic acid.

MRL Maximal residual level.

Medium box: This is a Langstroth box, larger than a super and smaller than a deep. Its volume is similar to that of a National deep hive box.

The Miller feeder is a rapid feeder that sits at the top of the hive. Two central walkways allow bees to access the syrup from below. The feeding area is twice that of an Ashforth feeder.

Miticide: one of several substances used to kill varroa mites.

Modern Beekeeping: the company that retails Paradise Honey hives in the UK

Modified Dadant Shallow: the size of foundation that fits medium frames.

MRL Maximal residual level

N

NBU: National Bee Unit. Deals with diseases.

National: the commonest hive used in England. The supers are considerably smaller than the deep boxes.

Nectar flow = Honey flow

Newbie: slang for inexperienced beekeeper, not in general use.

Nosema: a spore-forming intracellular “fungus” that is insidious in its effect. To be correct, it is a microsporidian. It may cause a colony to dwindle or die in the winter (winter loss); it lives in cells lining the gut, produces spores and may cause dysentery.

O

OMF: open mesh (screened) floor. The amount of varroa that falls through the mesh gives a rough gauge of the severity of the infestation. It gives misleading results when there is sealed brood.

OSR: Oil seed rape. A crop that produces yellow flowers, rape oil and loads of nectar and pollen.

P

Pagden / Artificial swarm: used to control swarming. The queen stays at the home site, and the brood is moved away. With a Heddon, the “moved away” component is moved as in a Pagden but also, a week later, through 180 degrees.

Paradise Honey Hive (PHH): a type of poly hive (made from polystyrene) more correctly called a Beebox Beehive.

Paynes: retailer of bee equipment. They manufacture sturdy poly hives, but the wall edges are unprotected.

Pheromones: substances rather like hormones, but they usually spread outside the body. A vast number of pheromones influence the members of a bee colony. They are spread between bees by sharing food (trophallaxis), scents, and touch.

Piping: An emerged queen and queen in her cell make vibrations to communicated to the workers whether a secondary swarm is possible or whether only one queen remains.

Pollen: the tiny little grains that are a flower’s equivalent to mammalian sperm. They are a rich source of protein, fat, and vitamins. Some flowers produce much better pollen than others, like pussy willow, compared with hazel, but bees cannot discern this. Each plant produces distinctive pollen.

Pollination: the process whereby the pollen (male-like sperm) from a flower is picked up (usually inadvertently) by an animal or bird and transferred to the female part of another flower. When the pollen reaches this, it grows a tube to reach the flower’s eggs. The flower is pollinated, and the egg becomes a seed. The creature that does the pollinating, like a hummingbird or bee, is known as a pollinator.

Pre-emptive swarm control: (prevention) doing something to prevent the start of the swarming process.

Primary swarm: the swarm that departs with the old queen.

Post prime, secondary swarms, casts: swarms that contain a virgin or more than one virgin that leave after the primary swarm.

Proactive swarm control: (control) managing swarming when the swarming process has already started.

Propolis: is derived from a sticky substance (resin) derived from tree sap, most frequently from poplar trees. It has antiseptic properties, fills cracks in the hive, and lines brood cells. Feral bees use it to line the inside of their nest cavity.

Push-in cage: a crown of thorns. A flat contraption with spikes (about 10 to 15 mm long) around the edges of one surface. The cage’s upper surface is covered by a grid. When it is pushed down on the comb over the queen, she is immobilised and can be marked.

Pupa(e) /sealed brood: The stage between being a larva and an adult. Duration: 8 days for a queen, 12 for a worker, 14 for a drone.

Q

Queen(Q) bee: usually only one in a colony, mates, lays eggs, dissipates pheromones, dies.

Queen cell (QC): A protuberance on the comb or edge of a frame that initially contains an egg. It is shaped like an acorn cup, maturing to look like a peanut or thimble. The queen larva pupates inside. Before it is sealed, it is known as an open QC. Once the QC is sealed, it is called a closed QC. It may be referred to by what sort of QC it is, e.g. supersedure cell.

Queenless Movement Behaviour — bees perform runs when the colony is queenless.

Queen cage: a small (plastic or wood) container with perforations in its walls used to store, transport, and introduce a Q into a queenless colony.

QE / QX, queen excluder: A sheet of plastic or metal with slots 4.3 mm wide. Worker bees can get through, but drones and the queen are too large.

QMP: Queen mandibular pheromone / mandibular substance: well known to beekeepers because of its influence on swarming.

Queen cup/play cup (PC): little cups prepared for swarming or supersedure. In the active season, a few are always present and have no significance. If a colony produces a lot, it is prone to swarm, “a swarmy colony”.

Queenright: The colony has a queen (Q).

Queenless — no Q.

Queen Trap: a manipulation board that traps the Q and QC when the colony is making swarm preparations. It has a front upper entrance and a central area of QE.

R

Robbing: bees enter another hive and steal its honey.

Runners: (i) queen or bees that don't stay still on the comb. (ii) A rail on which the lugs of a frame rest. (iii) Humans that like running.

S

Sealed brood: brood that has been capped so that the larvae can pupate.

Severe localised reaction: The body reacts strongly to a sting, so the swelling exceeds 10 cm in diameter. Some people erroneously refer to this as an allergic reaction.

Skep: a basket woven out of straw traditionally used to retrieve swarms. In the past, they were used to keep bees. But the nest had to be destroyed to harvest the honey.

Snelgrove board: a manipulation board with a 100 × 100 mm2 mesh in the middle of a square bit of ply. It has eight doors, four on each side. Bees can be drained from top to bottom colony, etc.

Split: a manipulation where the queen and some bees are moved away from their home site.

Splitting the brood: An empty frame is put inside the brood nest. The theory is that the queen is restricted, and less of her pheromone gets around the hive, precipitating swarming. This is not an issue in large colonies.

Spotty brood pattern: markedly scattered brood cells on a comb. It is sometimes caused by foulbrood.

Sublimation: transition from solid to gas without going through the liquid phase.

Super: a box of frames that store honey.

Supering: adding another super to the hive.

Supersedure: The colony replaces its queen without swarming. Only one to three QC are produced.

Starter strip: a thin ribbon of foundation or wood attached to the lower surface of the top bar of a frame, purposed to guide the bees to make straight comb

Stinger: Workers have a barbed needle-shaped stinger that is used for defence. It detaches when it pierces materials like human skin. This results in the bee being mortally wounded. The stinger continues to inject venom after it detaches. Queens have non-barbed stingers that they only use to fight other queens.

Stores: honey in the combs, less frequently, pollen stores.

Swarm: the verb or noun used to describe numerous bees leaving their hive with a queen to find a new home. A swarm refers to bees that are clumping together before they fly to their new home. A swarm also refers to a cloud of bees that are flying to their new home.

T

Thorax is the bit of an insect between its head and abdomen. It houses the flight muscles.

Test frame: contains some eggs (“a frame of eggs”). If put in a queenless hive, the bees will make QC. Rarely, it can be misleading if there are laying workers or the colony has recently swarmed.

Top space: the opposite to bottom space. It has nothing to do with the Earth's orbit.

Top ventilation: small vents under the roof are provided to remove water vapour in the winter and hot air in the summer. In Beeboxes, this is only necessary in blistering hot weather.

Trophallaxis: communication by sharing food.

U

Uniting colonies: combining two colonies to make one.

V

Varroa destructor: a mite that is a severe risk to bee health. Most beekeepers have to treat it at least twice each year. Some bees have developed resistance to the mite.

Varroa resistant traits: Colonies exhibiting these genetic traits have increased tolerance to varroa. Ultimately, they need no chemical treatment. The mechanism may be Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH).

Ventral: descriptor of the tummy aspect of an organism. Dorsal is the upper, backbone aspect.

Virgin: a queen who has not mated.

W

Warm way: frames are orientated in the same plane as the hive entrance. This makes the hive less draughty and suitable for inspection from behind.

Wax: a complex hydrocarbon which is soft or hard depending on the temperature. It is used to build comb and broach spaces (>9 mm) in the hive. Bees stiffen it with propolis. If you like, read more about wax.

WBC hive, named after William Broughton Carr: a pretty hive with an outer layer of boxes (lifts) insulating the inner hive from the elements. The problems with this design are that it is expensive, the lifts have to be removed when inspections are performed, it requires more upkeep, and the size of the brood box is smaller than other hives.

Wet frames: are frames that have had honey extracted from them. However, a spinner is inefficient, so frames are sticky and drip honey after extraction, and so they are “wet”.

Wing clipping: cutting off up to half of one of a queen's longest wings. It prevents a swarm from leaving, but the queen may be lost.

Winter losses: the number of colonies that die in the winter.

Working: foraging, collecting nectar or pollen.

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