Glossary of Beekeeping Terms
Abdomen - the posterior or third region of the body of a bee enclosing the honey
stomach, true stomach, intestine, sting, and reproductive organs.
Absconding swarm - an entire colony of bees that abandons the hive because of disease,
wax moth or other maladies.
Adulterated honey - any product labeled "Honey" or "Pure Honey" that contains
ingredients other than honey but does not show these on the label. (Suspected mislabeling
should be reported to the Food and Drug Administration.)
After swarm - a small swarm, usually headed by a virgin queen, which may leave the hive
after the first or prime swarm has departed.
Alighting board - a small projection or platform at the entrance of the hive.
American foulbrood - a brood disease of honey bees caused by the spore-forming
bacterium, Bacillus larvae.
Anaphylactic shock - constriction of the muscles surrounding the bronchial tubes of a
human, caused by hypersensitivity to venom and resulting in sudden death unless
immediate medical attention is received.
Apiary - colonies, hives, and other equipment assembled in one location for beekeeping
operations; bee yard.
Apiculture - the science and art of raising honey bees.
Apis mellifera - scientific name of the honey bee found in the United States.
Automatic uncapper - automated device that removes the cappings from honey combs,
usually by moving heated knives, metal teeth, or flails.
Bacillus larvae - the bacterium that causes American foulbrood
Bee blower - an engine with attached blower used to dislodge bees from combs in a
honey super by creating a high-velocity, high-volume wind.
Bee bread - a mixture of collected pollen and nectar or honey, deposited in the cells of a
comb to be used as food by the bees.
Bee brush - a brush or whisk broom used to remove bees from combs.
Bee escape - a device used to remove bees from honey supers and buildings by
permitting bees to pass one way but preventing their return.
Beehive - a box or receptacle with movable frames, used for housing a colony of bees.
Bee metamorphosis - the three stages through which a bee passes before reaching
maturity: egg, larva, and pupa.
Bee space - 1/4 to 3/8-inch space between combs and hive parts in which bees build no
comb or deposit only a small amount of propolis.
Beeswax - a complex mixture of organic compounds secreted by special glands on the
last four visible segments on the ventral side of the worker bee's abdomen and used for
building comb. Its melting point is from 143.6 to 147.2 degrees F.
Bee tree - a tree with one of more hollows occupied by a colony of bees.
Bee veil - a cloth or wire netting for protecting the beekeeper's head and neck from
stings.
Bee venom - the poison secreted by special glands attached to the stinger of the bee.
Benzaldehyde - a volatile, almond-smelling chemical used to drive bees out of honey
supers.
Black Queen Cell Virus- Black queen cell virus is associated with Nosema disease and
causes the death of queen larvae or prepupae after their cells are sealed.
Boardman feeder - a device for feeding bees in warm weather, consisting of an inverted
jar with an attachment allowing access to the hive entrance.
Bottom board - the floor of a beehive.
Brace comb - a bit of comb built between two combs to fasten them together, between a
comb and adjacent wood, or between two wooden parts such as top bars.
Braula coeca - the scientific name of a wingless fly commonly known as the bee louse.
Brood - bees not yet emerged from their cells: eggs, larvae, and pupae.
Brood chamber - the part of the hive in which the brood is reared; may include one or
more hive bodies and the combs within.
Buff comb - a bit of wax built upon a comb or upon a wooden part in a hive but not
connected to any other part.
Capped brood - pupae whose cells have been sealed with a porous cover by mature bees
to isolate them during their nonfeeding pupal period; also called sealed brood.
Capping melter - melter used to liquefy the wax from cappings as they are removed from
honey combs.
Cappings - the thin wax covering of cells full of honey; the cell coverings after they are
sliced from the surface of a honey-filled comb.
Castes - the three types of bees that comprise the adult population of a honey bee colony:
workers, drones, and queen.
Cell - the hexagonal compartment of a honey comb.
Cell bar - a wooden strip on which queen cups are placed for rearing queen bees.
Cell cup - base of an artificial queen cell, made of beeswax or plastic and used for rearing
queen bees.
Chalkbrood- A disease of bee brood caused by a fungus, Ascosphaera apis, which was
discovered in the United States in 1968.
Chilled brood - immature bees that have died from exposure to cold; commonly caused
by mismanagement.
Chunk honey - honey cut from frames and placed in jars along with liquid honey.
Clarifying - removing visible foreign material from honey or wax to increase its purity.
Cluster - a large group of bees hanging together, one upon another.
Colony - the aggregate of worker bees, drones, queen, and developing brood living
together as a family unit in a hive or other dwelling.
Comb - a mass of six-sided cells made by honey bees in which brood is reared and honey
and pollen are stored; composed of two layers united at their bases.
Comb foundation - a commercially made struc ture consisting of thin sheets of beeswax
with the cell bases of worker cells embossed on both sides in the same manner as they are
produced naturally by honey bees.
Comb honey - honey produced and sold in the comb, in either thin wooden sections
(4 x4 inches or 4 x 5 inches) or circular plastic frames.
Creamed honey - honey which has been allowed to crystallize, usually under controlled
conditions, to produce a tiny crystal.
Crimp-wired foundation - comb foundation into which crimp wire is embedded vertically
during foundation manufacture.
Chronic Bee Paralysis- Chronic bee paralysis is the only viral disease of adult bees that
has a clearly defined symptom: an abnormal trembling motion of the wings and body.
Cross-pollination - the transfer of pollen from an anther of one plant to the stigma of a
different plant of the same species.
Crystallization - see "Granulation."
Cut-comb honey - comb honey cut into various sizes, the edges drained, and the pieces
wrapped or packed individually
Decoy hive - a hive placed to attract stray swarms.
Demaree - the method of swarm control that separates the queen from most of the brood
within the same hive.
Dequeen - to remove a queen from a colony.
Dextrose - one of the two principal sugars found in honey; forms crystals during
granulation. Also known as glucose.
Dividing - separating a colony to form two or more units.
Division board feeder - a wooden or plastic compartment which is hung in a hive like a
frame and contains sugar syrup to feed bees.
Double screen - a wooden frame, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, with two layers of wire screen to
separate two colonies within the same hive, one above the other. An entrance is cut on the
upper side and placed to the rear of the hive for the upper colony.
Drawn combs - combs with cells built out by honey bees from a sheet of foundation.
Drifting of bees - the failure of bees to return to their own hive in an apiary containing
many colonies. Young bees tend to drift more than older bees and bees from small
colonies tend to drift into larger colonies.
Drone - the male honey bee.
Drone comb - comb measuring about four cells per linear inch that is used for drone
rearing and honey storage.
Drone layer - an infertile or unmated laying queen.
Drumming - pounding on the sides of a hive to make the bees ascend into another hive
placed over it.
Dwindling - the rapid dying off of old bees in the spring; sometimes called spring
dwindling or disappearing disease.
Dysentery - an abnormal condition of adult bees characterized by severe diarrhea and
usually caused by starvation, low-quality food, moist sur roundings, or nosema infection.
Electric embedder - a device allowing rapid em bedding of wires in foundation with
electrically produced heat.
European foulbrood - an infectious brood dis ease of honey bees caused by
Streptococcus p/u ton.
Extracted honey - honey removed from the comb by centrifugal force.
Fermentation - a chemical breakdown of honey, caused by sugar-tolerant yeast and
associated with honey having a high moisture content.
Fertile queen - a queen, inseminated instrumentally or mated with a drone, which can lay
fertilized eggs.
Field bees - worker bees at least three weeks old that work in the field to collect nectar,
pollen, water, and propolis.
Flash heater - a device for heating honey very rapidly to prevent it from being damaged
by sustained periods of high temperature.
Follower board - a thin board used in place of a frame usually when there are fewer than
the normal number of frames in a hive.
Food chamber - a hive body filled with honey for winter stores.
Frame - four pieces of wood designed to hold honey comb, consisting of a top bar, a
bottom bar, and two end bars.
Fructose - the predominant simple sugar found in honey; also known as levulose.
Fumidil-B - the trade name for Fumagillin, an antibiotic used in the prevention and
suppression of nosema disease.
Fume board - a rectangular frame, the size of a super, covered with an absorbent material
such as burlap, on which is placed a chemical repellent to drive the bees out of supers for
honey removal.
Glucose - see "Dextrose."
Grafting - removing a worker larva from its cell and placing it in an artificial queen cup
in order to have it reared into a queen.
Grafting tool - a needle or probe used for transferring larvae in grafting of queen cells.
Granulation - the formation of sugar (dextrose) crystals in honey.
Hive - a man-made home for bees.
Hive body - a wooden box which encloses the frames.
Hive stand - a structure that supports the hive.
Hive tool - a metal device used to open hives, pry frames apart, and scrape wax and
propolis from the hive parts.
Honey - a sweet viscid material produced by bees from the nectar of flowers, composed
largely of a mixture of dextrose and levulose dissolved in about 17 percent water;
contains small amounts of sucrose, mineral matter, vitamins, proteins, and enzymes.
Honeydew - a sweet liquid excreted by aphids, leaf hoppers, and some scale insects that is
col lected by bees, especially in the absence of a good source of nectar.
Honey extractor - a machine which removes honey from the cells of comb by centrifugal
force.
Honey flow - a time when nectar is plentiful and bees produce and store surplus honey.
Honey gate - a faucet used for drawing honey from drums, cans, or extractors.
Honey house - building used for extracting honey and storing equipment.
Honey pump - a pump used to transfer honey from a sump or extractor to a holding tank
or strainer.
Honey stomach - an organ in the abdomen of the honey bee used for carrying nectar,
honey or water.
Honey sump - a clarifying tank between the extractor and honey pump for removing the
coarser particles of comb introduced during extraction.
Increase- to add to the number of colonies, usually by dividing those on hand.
Inner cover - a lightweight cover used under a standard telescoping cover on a beehive.
Instrumental insemination - the introduction of drone spermatozoa into the genital organs
of a virgin queen by means of special instruments.
Invertase - an enzyme produced by the honey bee which helps to transform sucrose to
dextrose and levulose.
Larva (plural, larvae) - the second stage of bee metamorphosis; a white, legless, grub like
insect.
Laying worker - a worker which lays infertile eggs, producing only drones, usually in
colonies that are hopelessly queenless.
Levulose - see "Fructose."
Mating flight - the flight taken by a virgin queen while she mates in the air with several
drones.
Mead - honey wine.
Migratory beekeeping - the moving of colonies of bees from one locality to another
during a single season to take advantage of two or more honey flows.
Nectar - a sweet liquid secreted by the nectaries of plants; the raw product of honey.
Nectar guide - color marks on flowers believed to direct insects to nectar sources.
Nectaries - the organs of plants which secrete nectar, located within the flower (floral
nectaries) or on other portions of the plant (extra floral nectaries).
Nosema - a disease of the adult honey bee caused by the protozoan Nosema apis.
Nucleus (plural, nuclei) - a small hive of bees, usually covering from two to five frames
of comb and used primarily for starting new colonies, rearing or storing queens; also
called "nuc."
Nurse bees - young bees, three to ten days old, which feed and take care of developing
brood.
Observation hive - a hive made largely of glass or clear plastic to permit observation of
bees at work.
Out-apiary - an apiary situated away from the home of the beekeeper.
Package bees - a quantity of adult bees (2 to 5 pounds), with or without a queen,
contained in a screened shipping cage.
Paralysis - a virus disease of adult bees which affects their ability to use legs or wings
normally.
Parthenogenesis - the development of young from unfertilized eggs. In honey bees the
un-fertilized eggs produce drones.
PDB (Paradichlorobenzene) - crystals used to fumigate combs against wax moth.
Piping - a series of sounds made by a queen, frequently before she emerges from her cell.
Play flight - short flight taken in front of or near the hive to acquaint young bees with
their immediate surroundings; sometimes mistaken for robbing or preparation for
swarming.
Pollen - the male reproductive cell bodies produced by anthers of flowers, collected and
used by honey bees as their source of protein.
Pollen basket - a flattened depression sur rounded by curved spines or hairs, located on
the outer surface of the bee's hind legs and adapted for carrying pollen gathered from
flowers or propolis to the hive.
Pollen cakes - moist mixtures of either pollen supplements or substitutes fed to the bees
in early spring to stimulate brood rearing.
Pollen insert - a device inserted in the entrance of a colony into which hand-collected
pollen is placed. As the bees leave the hive and pass through the trap, some of the pollen
adheres to their bodies and is carried to the blossom, resulting in cross-pollination.
Pollen substitute - any material such as soybean flour, powdered skim milk, brewers
yeast, or a mixture of these used in place of pollen to stimu late brood rearing.
Pollen supplement - a mixture of pollen and pollen substitutes used to stimulate brood
rearing in periods of pollen shortage.
Pollen trap - a device for removing pollen loads from the pollen baskets of incoming
bees.
Pollination - The transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower.
Pollinator - the agent that transfers pollen from an anther to a stigma: bees, flies, beetles,
etc.
Pollinizer - the plant source of pollen used for pollination.
Prime swarm - the first swarm to leave the par ent colony, usually with the old queen.
Proboscis - the mouthparts of the bee that form the sucking tube or tongue.
Propolis - sap or resinous materials collected from trees or plants by bees and used to
strengthen the comb, close.up cracks, etc.; also called bee glue.
Pupa - the third stage in the development of the honey bee, during which the organs of
the larva are replaced by those that will be used by an adult.
Queen - a fully developed female bee, larger and longer than a worker bee.
Queen cage - a small cage in which a queen and three or four worker bees may be
confined for shipping and/ or introduction into a colony.
Queen cage candy - candy made by kneading powdered sugar with invert sugar syrup
until it forms a stiff dough; used as food in queen cages.
Queen cell - a special elongated cell, resembling a peanut shell, in which the queen is
reared. It is usually an inch or more long, has an inside diameter of about 1/3 inch, and
hangs down from the comb in a vertical position.
Queen clipping - removing a portion of one or both front wings of a queen to prevent her
from flying.
Queen cup - a cup-shaped cell made of beeswax or plastic which hangs vertically in a
hive and which may become a queen cell if an egg or larva is placed in it and bees add
wax to it.
Queen excluder - metal or plastic device with spaces that permit the passage of workers
but restrict the movement of drones and queens to a specific part of the hive.
Queen substance - pheromone material secreted from glands in the queen bee and
transmitted throughout the colony by workers to alert other workers of the queen's
presence.
Rabbet - a narrow piece of folded metal fastened to the inside upper end of the hive body
from which the frames are suspended.
Rendering wax - the process of melting combs and cappings and removing refuse from
the wax.
Resmethrin (SBP-1382) - a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide used to kill diseased honey
bee colonies.
Robbing - stealing of nectar, or honey, by bees from other colonies.
Royal jelly - a highly nutritious glandular secretion of young bees, used to feed the
queen and young brood.
Sacbrood - a brood disease of honey bees caused by a virus.
Scout bees - worker bees searching for a new source of pollen, nectar, propolis, water, or
a new home for a swarm of bees.
Sealed brood - see "Capped brood."
Self-pollination - the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma of the same plant.
Self-spacing frames - frames constructed so that they are a bee space apart when pushed
together in a hive body.
Skep - a beehive made of twisted straw without movable frames.
Slatted rack - a wooden rack that fits between the bottom board and hive body. Bees
make better use of the lower brood chamber with increased brood rearing, less comb
gnawing, and less congestion at the front entrance.
Slumgum - the refuse from melted comb and cappings after the wax has been rendered or
removed.
Small Hive Beetle- Adults and larvae of the small hive beetle are found in active bee
hives and stored bee equipment where they feed on honey and pollen.
Smoker - a device in which burlap, wood shavings, or other materials are slowly burned
to produce smoke which is used to subdue bees.
Solar wax extractor - a glass-covered insulated box used to melt wax from combs and
cappings by the heat of the sun.
Spermatheca - a special organ of the queen in which the sperm of the drone is stored.
Spur embedder - a device used for mechanically embedding wires into foundation by
employing hand pressure.
Sting - the modified ovipositor of a worker honey bee used as a weapon of offense.
Streptococcus pluton - bacterium that causes European foulbrood.
Sucrose - principal sugar found in nectar.
Super - any hive body used for the storage of surplus honey. Normally it is placed over or
above the brood chamber.
Supersedure - a natural replacement of an established queen by a daughter in the same
hive. Shortly after the young queen commences to lay eggs, the old queen disappears.
Surplus honey - honey removed from the hive which exceeds that needed by bees for
their own use.
Swarm - the aggregate of worker bees, drones, and usually the old queen that leaves the
parent colony to establish a new colony.
Swarming - the natural method of propagation of the honey bee colony.
Swarm cell - queen cells usually found on the bottom of the combs before swarming.
Terramycin - an antibiotic used to prevent American and European foulbrood. Tested
queen - a queen whose progeny shows she has mated with a drone of her own race and
have other qualities which would make her a good colony mother.
Thin super foundation - a comb foundation used for comb honey or chunk honey
production which is thinner than that used for brood rearing.
Tracheal Mites- Tracheal mites infest the tracheal system of the adult honey bee.
Transferring - the process of changing bees and combs from common boxes to movable
frame hives.
Travel stain - the dark discoloration on the sur face of comb honey left on the hive for
some time, caused by bees tracking propolis over the surface.
T-super - a comb honey super with T-shaped strips supporting the sections to provide
more space for bee travel.
Uncapping knife - a knife used to shave or re move the cappings from combs of sealed
honey prior to extraction; usually heated by steam or electricity.
Uniting - combining two or more colonies to form a larger colony.
Venom allergy - a condition in which a person, when stung, may experience a variety of
symp toms ranging from a mild rash or itchiness to anaphylactic shock. A person who is
stung and experiences abnormal symptoms should consult a physician before working
bees again.
Venom hypersensitivity - a condition in which a person, if stung, is likely to experience
an aphylactic shock. A person with this condition should carry an emergency insect sting
kit at all times during warm weather.
Verroa Mites- Varroa mites are external, obligate parasites of worker and drone honey
bees.
Virgin queen - an unmated queen.
Wax glands - the eight glands that secrete bees wax; located in pairs on the last four
visible ventral abdominal segments.
Wax moth - larvae of the moth Golleria mellonclia, which seriously damage brood and
empty combs.
Winter cluster - the arrangement of adult bees within the hive during winter.
Worker bee - a female bee whose reproductive organs are undeveloped. Worker bees do
all the work in the colony except for laying fertile eggs.
Worker comb - comb measuring about five cells to the inch in which workers are reared
and honey and pollen are stored.