Beekeeping Glossary

A simple method of dividing a colony in which the beekeeper splits the bees and brood into two boxes — one retaining the original queen and one left queenless — and allows the queenless portion to raise its own queen from eggs or young larvae already present. It requires no grafting or purchased queen and is an ideal first step for beekeepers learning to make increase.

A vertical top bar hive design developed by French beekeeper Abbe Emile Warre in the early 20th century, characterized by small square boxes that are added to the bottom of the hive as the colony expands downward, mimicking the way bees naturally build in tree cavities. It is designed for minimal intervention beekeeping.

A worker bee that specializes in collecting water, which the colony uses to regulate hive temperature through evaporative cooling and to dilute thick honey for feeding larvae. Water foragers are most active during hot summer days and in early spring when bees need water to dissolve crystallized honey stores.

Four pairs of specialized glands located on the underside of a young worker bee's abdomen that secrete liquid wax, which hardens into small flakes upon contact with air. Workers that produce wax are typically between 12 and 18 days old, and they consume significant amounts of honey to fuel wax production.

The larvae of Galleria mellonella, a moth that lays its eggs in hive debris or on comb, with hatching caterpillars tunneling through wax and destroying comb, pollen stores, and sometimes brood in the process. Healthy, well-populated colonies are usually able to police wax moths effectively, but stored empty comb and weak colonies are highly vulnerable.

The tight, ball-shaped formation that honey bees adopt inside the hive when temperatures drop, with bees on the outer shell holding still to insulate the group while bees at the core shiver their flight muscles to generate heat. The cluster maintains a core temperature between roughly 77 and 97 degrees F, contracting tighter as the outside temperature falls, and gradually moves through the hive to consume honey stores throughout the winter.

A female honey bee with undeveloped ovaries who performs virtually every task required to keep the colony functioning, from nursing brood and building comb as a young bee to foraging for nectar, pollen, and water as she ages. Workers make up the vast majority of the colony's population — a thriving summer hive may contain 50,000 or more — and their collective behavior drives everything from honey production to colony defense.

The standard-sized hexagonal cells that make up most of a natural comb, sized to rear worker bees and also used by the colony to store honey and pollen. Worker cells are notably smaller than drone comb, with roughly five cells per linear inch, and their consistent dimensions are what standard foundation is designed to replicate.