Beekeeping glossary
Beekeepers have a language of their own. Newcomers hear words like queen, nucleus colony and brood break go past as if everyone knows what they mean. Here they are simply explained, so you do not have to ask.
In our articles these words carry a dotted underline. Hover over one or tap it, and the explanation appears right next to the text.
24 terms
Terms starting with A
- American foulbrood
- A highly contagious bacterial brood disease that must be reported to the authorities. Spores stay viable for decades, which is why bees must never be fed honey of unknown origin.Also: AFB, foulbrood
Terms starting with B
- brood box
- The box in which the queen lays and the brood is raised. The honey supers sit above it, usually separated by a queen excluder.Also: brood chamber, brood nest
- brood break
- Temporarily caging the queen, usually for 21 to 24 days, so no new brood is added. Afterwards every brood cell has hatched and all the varroa sit on the bees themselves, where a treatment can actually reach them.Also: brood interruption, caging the queenRead more about this
Terms starting with C
- comb
- The structure of six-sided wax cells in which bees raise brood and store supplies. They build it themselves from wax secreted by glands on their abdomen.Also: combs, honeycomb, wax comb
Terms starting with D
- drones
- The male bees. They gather no nectar and cannot sting; their only job is to mate with young queens. Varroa prefers drone brood, which beekeepers use to trap mites.Also: drone, drone brood
Terms starting with E
- extracting
- Getting honey out of the combs with a centrifuge, leaving the comb intact so it can be used again. The cells are uncapped first, then the honey is spun out.Also: extract, extractor, honey extractor, spinning outRead more about this
Terms starting with F
- formic acid
- The only varroa treatment that also reaches mites under capped brood. It works by evaporation and so depends heavily on temperature: below 15 °C too little effect, above 30 °C dangerous for the colony.Read more about this
Terms starting with H
- hive entrance
- The opening the bees fly in and out of, usually with a small board in front for them to land on. Reducing it is the simplest protection against wasps and robbing.Also: entrance, landing board, entrance reducerRead more about this
- HMF
- A compound that forms when sugar is heated too strongly and that is harmful to bees. The reason to make up feeding syrup with warm water but never to boil it.Also: hydroxymethylfurfuralRead more about this
- honey super
- The box above the brood nest where the bees store their honey and which the beekeeper harvests. A queen excluder in between keeps that honey free of brood.Also: super, supers, honey box
Terms starting with M
- mite board
- A removable tray under the hive floor on which you can count the natural mite drop. Cheap and simple, but less reliable than a powdered sugar roll or an alcohol wash.Also: sticky board, varroa tray, bottom board insert
Terms starting with N
- nectar flow
- The nectar and pollen on offer around the hive. A good flow means there is plenty to bring in; during a gap there is little to find and a colony can even go backwards.Also: honey flow, forage, forage plants, flowRead more about this
- nosema
- A gut disease caused by a single-celled parasite, which mostly flares up in colonies that have been unable to fly for a long time. Often visible as brown droppings on the landing board or the front of the hive.Also: nosemosis
- nucleus colony
- A new colony the beekeeper makes by taking frames of brood, bees and stores from an existing one. A way to increase numbers without waiting to see whether a colony swarms.Also: nuc, split, artificial swarm
Terms starting with O
- oxalic acid
- An organic acid that kills varroa on the bees but does not penetrate capped brood. It therefore only works well on a broodless colony: after a brood break, or in December when there is no brood anyway.
Terms starting with P
- powdered sugar roll
- A way to measure varroa infestation: about 300 bees in a jar, dusted with powdered sugar and shaken out over a white sheet. More reliable than a mite board, and the bees survive.Also: sugar roll, icing sugar method, powdered sugarRead more about this
- propolis
- A sticky resin bees collect from buds and bark and use to seal gaps and keep the colony clean. It inhibits bacteria, and it glues hive parts together.Also: bee glue
Terms starting with Q
- queen
- The only bee in the colony that lays fertilised eggs. A colony that has lost her is called queenless and will die out without intervention.Also: queen bee, queenless
- queen excluder
- A grid with gaps that workers can pass through but the queen cannot, because of her longer abdomen. That keeps the honey super free of eggs and brood.Also: excluder
Terms starting with R
- robbing
- Wasps or bees from other colonies breaking into a hive to carry off the stores. Mostly an August problem as the flow drops away; a weak colony can succumb within days.Also: robbed out, robber beesRead more about this
Terms starting with S
- swarm
- The natural way a colony multiplies: the old queen leaves with part of the bees to start again elsewhere. For the beekeeper a swarm usually means losing a large share of the colony and of the honey crop.Also: swarming, swarm cell, swarm cells
Terms starting with V
- varroa
- A parasitic mite that feeds on bee larvae and adult bees, passing on viruses as it does. Almost every colony in the Netherlands and Belgium carries varroa; the aim is not to wipe it out but to keep the pressure low. Left untreated, a colony usually collapses within two years.Also: varroa mite, varroa mites, Varroa destructorRead more about this
Terms starting with W
- winter bees
- Bees born in August and September that live until spring, where summer bees only reach about six weeks. They carry larger fat bodies and are built to get through the winter; a varroa infestation as a larva measurably weakens them.Also: winter beeRead more about this
- winter preparation
- Getting the colony ready for winter: dealing with varroa, giving enough stores and reducing the entrance. A strong colony in a standard hive needs roughly 15 to 18 kilos of feed.Also: winterising, winter feeding, winter storesRead more about this
Missing a word, or could an explanation be better? Let us know on the forum. This list belongs to beekeepers together, so it grows with what you put into it.