Beekeeping Glossary

Any method used to grow the number of colonies in your apiary. This includes making splits, catching swarms, or purchasing nucleus colonies. Most hobbyist beekeepers pursue increase either to replace winter losses, expand their operation, or prevent swarming by giving overcrowded colonies more room. Building colonies from your own bees is one of the most satisfying skills you can develop as a beekeeper.

A flat board placed directly on top of the uppermost hive body, beneath the outer cover. It creates a small air gap that improves ventilation and prevents bees from gluing the outer cover permanently in place with propolis. Most inner covers have an oval notch that can serve as a secondary entrance or ventilation point. It is a simple component that does important quiet work inside the hive.

A controlled breeding technique in which a queen is artificially inseminated using semen collected from selected drones, bypassing the natural mating flight entirely. It requires specialized equipment and considerable skill. Bee breeders use it to maintain specific genetic lines and advance selective breeding programs. It is not a common hobbyist practice, but understanding it helps you appreciate how queen genetics are deliberately managed at a professional level.

A systematic approach to controlling hive pests and diseases that combines regular monitoring, threshold-based decision making, and a range of cultural, mechanical, and chemical controls to minimize harm to bees and the environment. In beekeeping, IPM most often refers to Varroa mite management strategies.

An enzyme produced in the hypopharyngeal glands of worker bees and added to nectar as it is processed into honey. Invertase breaks sucrose — the primary sugar in nectar — down into glucose and fructose, the two simpler sugars that give honey its characteristic sweetness and help prevent crystallization. Without invertase, there would be no honey as we know it. It is one of many reasons bees are extraordinary chemical engineers.

The most widely kept honey bee race in North America, Apis mellifera ligustica, known for its gentle temperament, prolific brood rearing, and high honey production. Italian bees tend to be poor at overwintering in harsh climates and are prone to robbing and brood rearing that outpaces available forage.