Biology:Glossary of beekeeping

Short description: List of definitions of terms and concepts used in beekeeping

This page is a glossary of beekeeping.

A

• Africanized bee – a hybrid bee with characteristics unsuitable for beekeeping
• Apiary – a yard where beehives are kept
• Apicology – ecology of bees
• Apiology – scientific study of bees
• Apitherapy – a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products including honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom.

B

• Bee – a member of the order that includes ants and wasps
• Bee anatomy (mouth)
• Bee bread – the main source of food for most honey bees and their larvae
• Beekeeper – also called apiarist or apiculturist, a person who cares for bees
• Bee learning and communication
• Bee sting
• Bee venom therapy – also called apitherapy
• Beehive – a housing for cavity-dwelling bees that allows inspection and honey removal
• Beekeeping – bees are kept for their products (principally honey), and their utility in pollinating crops
• Bees and toxic chemicals
• Brood (honey bee) – the egg, larval, and pupal form of the bee and the comb in which they develop
• Buckfast bee – a productive breed of bee suitable for damp and cloudy climes

C

• Carniolan honey bee – a gentle bee good for variable nectar flow
• Characteristics of common wasps and bees
• Colony Collapse Disorder – malady of unknown cause characterized by disappearance of bees from hive

D

• Deseret – the beehive and its symbolism to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
• Diseases of the honey bee
• Drone bee – the male bee
• Drone laying queen

H

• Honey bee – all the species in the genus Apis
• Honey bee life cycle – the physical stages in the development of a mature bee starting from the egg

I

• Italian bee – the most well known honey bee subspecies

L

• Laying worker bee – this worker will produce only drone bees
• Langstroth hive – commonly seen in developed countries as stacks of white or muted colored boxes at the edges of fields and orchards

N

• Northern Nectar Sources for Honey Bees – common names and descriptions of northern latitude nectar plants

P

• Pesticide toxicity to bees
• Piping queen – queens will make audible sounds at certain times
• Pollinator decline – loss of bees and other pollinators is an environmental issue

Q

• Queen bee – a single egg laying bee capable of producing workers, drones, and queens

R

• Honey bee race
• Russian honey bee

S

• Stingless bees – Trigona and Melipona bees kept from ancient times in Central America and Australia
• Swarming – the means by which bee colonies propagate

T

• Top-bar hive – an alternative to the Langstroth box hive, with some advantages for casual beekeeping

V

• Virgin queen – a queen that has not yet bred with drones

W

• Western honey bee – European honey bees
• Worker bee – the many tasks performed by this class of bee during her short lifetime and her specialized single-use stinger

See also

• List of honey plants