Beekeeping Terminology: The Beginner's Dictionary

Apiary

The place where your beehives live — from one hive in a garden to hundreds in a field.

Apis mellifera

The western honeybee — the species kept by beekeepers worldwide.

Bearding

Bees clustering on the outside of the hive on hot nights, like a beard — a ventilation behavior, not an emergency.

Bottom board

The hive's floor; it supports the boxes and often has an entrance reducer and screened ventilation option.

Brood

Eggs, larvae, and pupae — the young bees. "Brood nest" is the area of the hive where the queen lays.

Brood pattern

How evenly a queen has laid across a frame. A solid, compact pattern signals a healthy queen.

Cappings

The wax caps sealing ripe honey cells or mature brood. "Capped honey" is ready to harvest; "capped brood" is about to emerge.

Caste

The three adult forms in a colony: queen, worker, and drone.

Cluster

Bees huddling together to keep warm in winter — the winter cluster shivers to generate heat.

Drone

Male honeybee; exists to mate with queens. No stinger, no foraging.

Drawn comb

Wax cells already built out by bees — bees move into drawn comb far faster than bare foundation.

Entrance reducer

A wooden block that narrows the hive entrance — used in winter and for new colonies to defend easily.

Forager

A worker bee old enough to fly out collecting nectar, pollen, water, or propolis.

Foundation

A sheet (wax or plastic) embossed with cell outlines that bees build comb onto, keeping it straight.

Hive tool

A flat prying bar with a hook — used to separate glued-together boxes and frames. Your daily companion.

Honey flow (nectar flow)

The period when masses of flowers bloom and bees pack in nectar — the season's "work rush."

Langstroth hive

The stackable-box hive invented by Lorenzo Langstroth; the world's most common hive type.

Mead

The ancient fermented drink made from honey and water.

Nuc (nucleus)

A starter colony on frames — usually 3–5 — with bees, brood, stores, and a queen. The beginner's easiest start.

Package

Bulk bees in a screened box with a caged queen, sold by weight (typically 2–3 lb).

Pollen basket

A concave area on a forager's hind legs where pollen is packed into colorful balls.

Propolis

"Bee glue" — resin collected from trees, used to seal gaps and polish the hive. Also a folk remedy.

Queen excluder

A grill over the brood boxes sized so workers pass but the queen cannot — keeping honey supers free of brood.

Queen cell

The peanut-shaped cell housing a future queen. Its location hints at swarming or supersedure.

Requeen

Replacing an old, failing, or aggressive queen with a fresh one — a standard yearly management practice.

Royal jelly

A protein-rich secretion fed to all young larvae and exclusively to queen larvae — the "queen-making" diet.

Smoker

The bellows device that puffs cool smoke, masking alarm pheromones and calming guards.

Split

Dividing one strong colony into two (or more) to grow your apiary and prevent swarms.

Super

A box placed above the brood nest — usually (not always) used for honey. "Medium super" fits the size.

Supersedure

The colony quietly replacing its own failing queen with a daughter — no swarming involved.

Swarm

Roughly half a colony leaving with the old queen to found a new nest — the colony's natural reproduction.

Varroa mite

The parasitic mite (Varroa destructor) that is the #1 threat to honeybee colonies worldwide. See Bee Health.

Waggle dance

The figure-eight dance foragers use to tell hive-mates the direction and distance of food.

Winter cluster

The tight ball of bees that keeps the colony warm through winter, consuming honey as fuel.

Worker

The (nearly always) sterile female bee that does all the colony's work.

See the print-friendly full glossary in Resources, or head back to the Beekeeping 101 learning path.