https://bushfarms.com/beesterms.htmI recommend saving the above link if you want to find these again.
P
Package bees = A quantity of adult bees (2 to 5 pounds), with or without a queen, contained in a screened shipping cage.
Parasitic Mite Syndrome aka Bee Parasitic Mite Syndrome= A set of symptoms that are caused by a major infestation of Varroa mites. Symptoms include the presence of Varroa mites, the presence of various brood diseases with symptoms similar to that of foulbroods and sacbrood but with no predominant pathogen, AFB-like symptoms, spotty brood pattern, increased supersedure of queens, bees crawling on the ground, and a low adult bee population.
Parasitic Mites = Varroa and tracheal mites are the mites with economic issues for bees. There are several others that are not known to cause any problems.
Paralysis aka APV aka Acute Paralysis Virus = A viral disease of adult bees which affects their ability to use legs or wings normally.
Parthenogenesis = The development of young from unfertilized eggs laid by virgin females (queen or worker); in bees, such eggs develop into drones.
Para Dichloro Benzene (aka PDB aka Paramoth) = Wax moth treatment for stored combs.
PermaComb = Fully drawn plastic comb in medium depth and about 5.1mm equivalent cell size after allowing for cell wall thickness and taper of the cell..
PF-100 and PF-120 = A small cell one piece plastic frame available from Mann Lake. Measures 4.95mm cell size. Users report excellent acceptance and perfectly drawn cells.
Phoretic = In the context of Varroa mites it refers to the state where they are on the adult bees instead of in the cell either developing or reproducing.
Piping = A series of sounds made by a queen, frequently before she emerges from her cell. When the queen is still in the cell it sounds sort of like a quack quack quack. When the queen has emerged it sounds more like zoot zoot zoot.
Play flights aka orientation flights = Short flights taken in front and in the vicinity of the hive by young bees to acquaint them with hive location; sometimes mistaken for robbing or swarming preparations.
Pollen = The dust-like male reproductive cells (gametophytes) of flowers, formed in the anthers, and important as a protein source for bees; pollen is essential for bees to rear brood.
Pollen basket = An anatomical structure on the bees legs where pollen and propolis is carried.
Pollen bound = A condition where the brood nest of a hive is being filled with pollen so that there is no where for the queen to lay.
Pollen box = A box of brood moved to the bottom of the hive during the honey flow to induce the bees to store pollen there, or a box of pollen frames that was put on the bottom purposefully. This provides pollen stores for the fall and winter. The term was coined by Walt Wright.
Pollen pellets or cakes = The pollen packed in the pollen baskets of bees and transported back to the colony made by rolling in the pollen, brushing it off and mixing it with nectar and packing it into the pollen baskets.
Pollen substitute = A food material which is used to substitute wholly for pollen in the bees' diet; usually contains all or part of soy flour, brewers' yeast, wheast, powdered sugar, or other ingredients. Research has shown that bees raised on substitute are shorter lived than bees raised on real pollen.
Pollen supplement = A mixture of pollen and pollen substitutes used to stimulate brood rearing in periods of pollen shortage
Pollen trap = A device for collecting the pollen pellets from the hind legs of worker bees; usually forces the bees to squeeze through a screen mesh, usually #5 hardware cloth, which scrapes off the pellets.
Porter bee escape = Introduced in 1891, the escape is a device that allows the bees a one-way exit between two thin and pliable metal bars that yield to the bees' push; used to free honey supers of bees but may clog since drone bees often get stuck.
Prime swarm = The first swarm to leave the parent colony, usually with the old queen.
Proboscis = The mouthparts of the bee that form the sucking tube or tongue
Propolis = Plant resins collected, mixed with enzymes from bee saliva and used to fill in small spaces inside the hive and to coat and sterilize everything in the hive. It has antimicrobial properties.
Propolize = To fill with propolis, or bee glue.
Pupa = The third stage in the development of the bee during which it is inactive and sealed in its cocoon.
Push In Cage = Cage made of #8 hardware cloth used to introduce or confine queens to a small section of comb. Usually used over some emerging brood.
Q
Queen = A fully developed female bee responsible for all the egg laying of a colony.
Queen Bank = Putting multiple caged queens in a nuc or hive.
Queen cage = A special cage in which queens are shipped and/or introduced to a colony, usually with 4 to 7 young workers called attendants, and usually a candy plug.
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; usually over an inch in length, it hangs vertically from the comb.
Queen clipping = Removing a portion of one or both wings of a queen to prevent her from flying or to better identify when she has been replaced.
Queen cup = A cup-shaped cell hanging vertically from the comb, but containing no egg; also made artificially of wax or plastic to raise queens
Queen excluder = A device made of wire, wood or zinc (or any combination thereof) having openings of .163 to .164 inch, which permits workers to pass but excludes queens and drones; used to confine the queen to a specific part of the hive, usually the brood nest.
Queenright = A colony that contains a queen capable of laying fertile eggs and making appropriate pheromones that satisfy the workers of the hive that all is well.
Queen Mandibular Pheromone aka Queen substance aka QMP = A pheromone produced by the queen and fed to her attendants who share it with the rest of the colony that gives the colony the sense of being queenright. Chemically QMP is very diverse with at least 17 major components and other minor ones. 5 of these compounds are: 9-ox-2-decenoic acid (9ODA) + cis & trans 9 hydroxydec-2-enoic acid (9HDA) + methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate (HOB) and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylethanol (HVA). Newly emerged queens produce very little of this. By the sixth day they are producing enough to attract drones for mating. A laying queen makes twice that amount. QMP is responsible for inhibition of rearing replacement queens, attraction of drones for mating, stabilizing and organizing a swarm around the queen, attracting a retinue of attendants, stimulating foraging and brood rearing, and the general moral of the colony. Lack of it also seems to attract robber bees.
Queen muff = A screen wire tube that resembles a "muff" to keep your hands warm in shape but is used to keep queens from escaping when marking them or releasing attendants. Available from Brushy Mountain.
R
Rabbet = In wood working a groove cut into wood. The frame rests in a Langstroth hive are rabbets and the corners are sometimes done as rabbets and sometimes as finger or box joints.
Races of Bees
Radial extractor = A centrifugal force machine to throw out honey but leave the combs intact; the frames are placed like spokes of a wheel, top bars towards the wall, to take advantage of the upward slope of the cells.
Rauchboy = A particular brand of smoker that has an inner chamber to provide more consistent oxygen to the fire.
Raw honey = Honey that has not been finely filtered or heated.
Regression = As applied to cell size, large bees, from large cells, cannot build natural sized cells. They build something in between. Most will build 5.1 mm worker brood cells. Regression is getting large bees back to smaller bees so they can and will build smaller cells.
Requeen = To replace an existing queen by removing her and introducing a new queen.
Rendering wax = The process of melting combs and cappings and removing refuse from the wax.
Retinue = Worker bees that are attending the queen.
Reversing aka Switching = The act of exchanging places of different hive bodies of the same colony; usually for the purpose of nest expansion, the super full of brood and the queen is placed below an empty super to allow the queen extra laying space.
Robber screen = A screen used to foil robbers but let the local residents into the hive.
Robbing = The act of bees stealing honey/nectar from the other colonies; also applied to bees cleaning out wet supers or cappings left uncovered by beekeepers and sometimes used to describe the beekeeper removing honey from the hive.
Ropy = A quality of forming an elastic rope when drawn out with a stick. Used as a diagnostic test for American foulbrood.
Round sections = Sections of comb honey in plastic round rings instead of square wooden boxes. Usually Ross Rounds.
Rolling = A term to describe what happens when a frame is too tight or pulled out too quickly and bees get pushed against the comb next to it and "rolled". This makes bees very angry and is sometimes the cause of a queen being killed.
Royal jelly = A highly nutritious, milky white secretion of the hypopharyngeal gland of nurse bees; used to feed the queen and young larvae.
Russian bees
S
Sac Brood Virus
Sclerite = Same as Tergite. An overlapping plate on the dorsal side of an arthropod that allows it to flex.
Screened Bottom Board = A bottom board with screen (usually #8 hardware cloth) for the bottom to allow ventilation and to allow Varroa mites to fall through. In Europe this is called an Open Mesh Floor.
Scout bees = Worker bees searching for a new source of pollen, nectar, propolis, water, or a new home for a swarm of bees.
Scutellum = Shield shaped portion of the back of the thorax of some insects including Apis mellifera (honey bees). In this sense it is sometimes used as a synonym for Scutum. Also used with other terms to refer to portions of the Scutum.
Scutum = Shield shaped portion of the back of the thorax of some insects including Apis mellifera (honey bees). Usually divided into three areas: the anterior prescutum, the scutum, and the smaller posterior scutellum.
Sections = Small wooden (or plastic) boxes used to produce comb honey.
Self-spacing frames aka Hoffman frames = Frames constructed so that they are a bee space apart when pushed together in a hive body.
Settling tank = A large capacity container used to settle extracted honey; air bubbles and debris will float to the top, clarifying the honey.
Shallow = A box that is 5 11/16 or 5 3/4" deep with frames that are 5 1/2" deep.
Shaken swarm = An artificial swarm made by shaking bees off of combs into a screened box and then putting a caged queen in until they accept her. One method for making a divide. Also the method used to make packages of bees.
Skep = A beehive without moveable combs, usually made of twisted straw in the form of a basket; its use is illegal in all the states in the U.S as the combs are not inspectable.
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. Popularized by C.C. Miller and Carl Killion.
Slumgum = The refuse from melted combs and cappings after the wax has been rendered or removed; usually contains cocoons, pollen, bee bodies and dirt.
Small Cell = 4.9mm cell size. Used by some beekeepers to control Varroa mites.
Small Hive Beetle = A recently imported pest whose larvae will destroy comb and ferment honey.
Smith method = A method of queen rearing that uses a swarm box as a cell starter and grafting larvae into queen cups.
Smoker = A metal container with attached bellows which burns organic fuels to generate smoke; used to control aggressive behavior of bees during colony inspections.
Solar wax melter = A glass-covered insulated box used to melt wax from combs and cappings using the heat of the sun.
Sperm cells = The male reproductive cells (gametes) which fertilize eggs; also called spermatozoa.
Spermatheca = A small sac connected with the oviduct (female organ) of the queen bee in, which is stored, the spermatozoa received in mating with drones.
Spiracles = Openings into the respiratory system on a bee that can be closed at will. These are on the sides of the bee. They are considerably smaller than the Trachea they protect. The first thoracic spiracle is the one that is infiltrated by the tracheal mites as it is the largest. If you throw bees in water they will shut their spiracles completely to prevent drowning. When closed the spiracles are air tight.
Split = To divide a colony for the purpose of increasing the number of hives.
Spur embedder = A device used for mechanically embedding wires into foundation by employing hand pressure.
Starline = An Italian bee hybrid known for vigor and honey production. It was an F1 cross of two specific lines of Italian bees. Originated by Dadant and sons and produced for many years by York.
Starter hive aka a Swarm box = A box of shaken bees used to start queen cells.
Sting = An organ belonging exclusively to female insects developed from egg laying mechanisms, used to defend the colony; modified into a piercing shaft through which venom is injected.
Streptococcus pluton = Old deprecated name for the bacterium that causes European Foulbrood. The new name is Melissococcus pluton.
Sucrose = Principal sugar found in nectar.
Sugar syrup = Feed for bees, containing sucrose or table (cane or beet) sugar and hot water in various ratios. Usually 1:1 in the spring and 2:1 in the fall.
Sugar roll test = A test for Varroa mites that involves rolling a cupful of bees in powdered sugar and counting the number of mites dislodged. This was invented as a non-lethal alternative to an alcohol wash or an ether roll.
Super = A box with frames in which bees store honey; usually placed above the brood nest.
Supering = The act of placing honey supers on a colony in expectation of a honey flow.
Supersedure = Rearing a new queen to replace the mother queen in the same hive; shortly after the daughter queen begins to lay eggs, the mother queen often disappears.
Suppressed Mite Reproduction aka SMR = Queens from a breeding program by Dr. John Harbo that have less Varroa problems probably due to increased hygienic behavior..
Surplus (foundation) = Refers to thin foundation used for cut comb honey.
Surplus honey = Any extra honey removed by the beekeeper, over and above what the bees require for their own use, such as winter food stores.
Survivor stock = Bees raised from bees that were surviving without treatments.
Swarm = A temporary collection of bees, containing at least one queen that split apart from the mother colony to establish a new one; a natural method of propagation of honey bee colonies.
Swarm box aka a Starter hive = A box of shaken bees used to start queen cells.
Swarm cell = Queen cells usually found on the bottom of the combs before swarming.
Swarm commitment = The point just after swarm cutoff where the colony is committed to swarming.
Swarm cutoff = The point at which the colony decides to swarm or not. Past this point they either commit to swarming or they commit to swarming or they commit to just looking out for colony stores for the coming winter.
Swarm trap aka Bait hive aka Decoy hive = A hive placed to attract stray swarms.
Swarm preparation = The sequence of activities of the bees that is leading up to swarming. Visually you can see this start at backfilling the brood nest so that the queen has no where to lay.
Swarming = The natural method of propagation of the honey bee colony.
Swarming season = The time of year, usually late spring to early summer, when swarms usually issue.
T
Tanzanian Top Bar Hive = A top bar hive with vertical sides.
Telescopic cover = A cover with a rim that hangs down all the way around it usually used with an inner cover under it.
Ten frame = A box made to take ten frames. 16 1/4" wide.
Terramycin = Called oxytet in Canada and other locations. It is an antibiotic that is often used as a preventative for American and a cure for European foulbrood diseases.
Tested queen = A queen whose progeny shows she has mated with a drone of her own race and has other qualities which would make her a good colony mother.
Tergal = Pertaining to the Tergum.
Tergite = A hard overlapping plate on the dorsal portion of an arthropod that allows it to flex. Also known as sclerite.
Tergum (plural terga) = The dorsal portion of an arthropod.
Thelytoky = A type of parthenogenetic reproduction where unfertilized eggs develop into females. Usually with bees this is referring to a colony rearing a queen from a laying worker egg. This is very rare, but documented, with European Honey Bees. It is common with Cape Bees.
Thin surplus foundation = A comb foundation used for comb honey or chunk honey production which is thinner than that used for brood rearing. Thinner than surplus.
Thixotropic = A quality of a liquid where its viscosity gets thinner when shaken, stirred or agitated and thicker when left undisturbed so that it becomes a gel. In the case of honey some honey sources have this quality such as heather and manuka and these often require special ways of extracting.
Thorax = The central region of an insect to which the wings and legs are attached.
Tiger striped (queen) = Markings of a particular type on a queen. Not striped like a worker (who have very even bands) but more like "flames".
Top bar = The top part of a frame or, in a top bar hive, just the piece of wood from which the comb hangs.
Top Bar Hive = a hive with only top bars and no frames that allows for movable comb without as much carpentry or expense.
Top feeder
Top supering = The act of placing honey supers on TOP of the top super of a colony in expectation of a honey flow as opposed to putting it under all the other supers, and directly on top of the brood box, which would be BOTTOM supering..
Tracheal Mites = A mite that infests the trachea of the honey bee. Resistance to tracheal mites is easily bred for.
Transferring or cut out = The process of changing bees and combs from trees, houses or bee gums or skeps to movable frame hives.
Travel stains = The darkened appearance on the surface of honeycomb caused by bees walking over its surface.
Triple-wide = A box that is three times as wide as a standard ten frame box. 48 3/4".
Trophallaxis = The transfer of food or pheromones among members of the colony through mouth-to-mouth feeding. It is used to keep a cluster of bees alive as the edges of the cluster collect food and share it through the cluster. It is also used for communication as pheromones are shared. One very important one is QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone) which is shared by trophallaxis throughout the hive to let the hive know they are queenright.
Twelve frame = A box made to take twelve frames. This is 19 7/8" by 19 7/8".
Two Queen Hive = A management method where more than one queen exists in a hive. The purpose is you get more bees and more honey with two queens.
Tylan, Tylosin, Tylocine = Different names for the same antibiotic. It was at one time approved for treatment of Terramycin resistant AFB. It currently requires a prescription from a Veterinarian in the US and is illegal for use on bees in most countries.
U
Uncapping knife = A knife used to shave off the cappings of sealed honey prior to extraction; hot water, steam or electricity can heat the knives.
Uncapping tank = A container over which frames of honey are uncapped; usually strains out the honey which is then collected.
Unfertilized = An ovum or egg, which has not been united with the sperm.
Uniting = Combining two or more colonies to form a larger colony. Usually done with a sheet of newspaper between.
Unlimited Brood Nest aka "food chamber" = running bees in a configuration where the brood nest is not limited by an excluder and they are usually overwintered in more boxes to allow more expansion in the spring.
V
Varroa destructor used to be called Varroa Jacobsoni. An obligate parasite of the honey bee. Originally on Apis Cerana. Made the jump to Apis mellifera and then spread across the world. By the early 1960s it was in Japan and the USSR; 1960s?1970s Eastern Europe; 1971 Brazil; Late 1970s South America; 1980 Poland; 1982 France; 1984 Switzerland; Spain, Italy; 1987 Portugal; 1987 United States; 1989 Canada; 1992 United Kingdom;2000 New Zealand (North Island);2006 New Zealand (South Island); 2007 Hawaii (Oahu, Hawaii Island); 2008 Hawaii (Big Island)
Veil = A protective netting that covers the face and neck; allows ventilation, easy movement and good vision while protecting the primary targets of guard bees.
Venom allergy = A condition in which a person, when stung, may experience a variety of symptoms 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 anaphylactic shock. A person with this condition should carry an emergency insect sting kit at all times during warm weather
Virgin queen = An unmated queen bee.
Vitellogenin = In the context of bees, this is a protein that is in the fat bodies of bees that results in greater longevity. There is a much higher amount in winter bees as opposed to summer bees. There is a feedback loop in the colony where vitellogenin and juvenile hormone mutually suppress each other. This causes bees raised in the fall or leading up to swarming to have higher levels of vitellogenin and therefore longer lives than at other times.
W
Walter T. Kelley = A beekeeping supply company out of Clarkson, KY. They have many things no one else does.
Washboarding = When the bees on the landing board or the front of a hive are moving in unison resembling a line dance.
Warming cabinet = An insulated box or room heated to liquefy honey or to heat unextracted honey to speed extraction.
Wax Dipping Hives = A method of protecting wood and also of sterilizing from AFB where the equipment is "fried" in a mixture of wax and gum resin. Usually done with paraffin sometimes done with beeswax.
Wax glands = The eight glands located on the last 4 visible, ventral abdominal segments of young worker bees; they secrete beeswax flakes.
Wax moths
Wax scale or flake = A drop of liquid beeswax that hardens into a scale upon contact with air; in this form it is shaped into comb.
Wax tube fastener = A metal tube for applying a fine stream of melted wax to secure a sheet of foundation into a groove on a frame. Sometimes called a Van Deusen wax-tube fastener after the inventor.
Western = A box that is 6 5/8" in depth and the frames are 6 1/4" in depth. AKA Illinois AKA Medium AKA 3/4 depth.
Western Bee Supply = A beekeeping supply company out of Montana. The company that makes all of Dadant's equipment. Also sell eight frame equipment.
Windbreaks = Specially constructed, or naturally occurring barriers to reduce the force of the (winter) winds on a beehive.
Winter cluster = A tight ball of bees within the hive to generate heat; forms when outside temperature falls below 50 degrees F.
Winter hardiness = The ability of some strains of honeybees to survive long winters by frugal use of stored honey.
Wire, frame = Thin 28# wire used to reinforce foundation destined for the broodnest or honey extractor.
Wire cone escape = A one-way cone formed by window screen mesh used to direct bees from a house or tree into a temporary hive.
Wire crimpers = A device used to put a ripple in the frame wire to both make it tight and to distribute stress better and give more surface to bind it to the wax.
Worker bees = Infertile female bee whose reproductive organs are only partially developed, responsible for carrying out all the routine of the colony.
Worker comb = Comb measuring between 4.4mm and 5.4mm, in which workers are reared and honey and pollen are stored.
Worker Queen aka laying workers = Worker bees which lay eggs in a colony hopelessly queenless; such eggs are not fertilized, since the workers cannot mate, and therefore become drones.
Worker policing = Workers that remove eggs laid by workers.
Y
Yellow (queen or bees) = When used to refer to honey bees this refers to a lighter brown color. Honey bees are not yellow. A Yellow queen is usually a solid light brown.
Topic: Glossary of Beekeeping Terms Part III (Read 670 times)