POLLINATION
Agriculture depends greatly on the honeybee for pollination. Honeybees account for 80% of all insect pollination. Without such pollination, we would see a significant decrease in the yield of fruits and vegetables.

POLLEN
Bees collect 66 pounds of pollen per hive. Pollen is the male germ cells produced by all flowering plants for fertilization and plant embryo formation. The Honeybee uses pollen as a food. Pollen is one of the richest and purest natural foods, consisting of up to 35% protein, and many natural occurring enzymes, minerals and vitamins.

HONEY
Honey is used by the bees for food all year round. There are many types, colors and flavors of honey, depending upon its nectar source. The bees make honey from the nectar they collect from flowering trees and plants. Honey is an easily digestible, pure food. Honey is hydroscopic and has antibacterial qualities. Eating local honey can fend off allergies.

BEESWAX
Secreted from glands, beeswax is used by the honeybee to build honey comb. It is used by humans in drugs, cosmetics, artists' materials, furniture polish and candles.

PROPOLIS
Collected by honeybees from trees, the sticky resin is mixed with wax to make a sticky glue. The bees use this to seal cracks and repair their hive. It is used by humans as a health aid, and as the basis for fine wood varnishes.

ROYAL JELLY
The powerful, milky substance that turns an ordinary bee into a Queen Bee. It is made of digested pollen and honey or nectar mixed with a chemical secreted from a gland in a nursing bee's head. It commands premium prices rivaling imported caviar, and is used by some as a dietary supplement and fertility stimulant.

BEE VENOM
The "ouch" part of the honeybee. Although sharp pain and some swelling and itching are natural reactions to a honeybee sting, a small percentage of individuals are highly allergic to bee venom. "Bee venom therapy" is widely practiced overseas and by some in the U.S. to address health problems such as arthritis, neuralgia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even MS.

THREE CASTES OF HONEYBEE

Queen Bee
There is only one queen per hive. The queen is the only bee with fully developed ovaries. A queen bee can live for 3 to 5 years. The queen mates only once with several male (drone) bees, and will remain fertile for life. She lays up to 2000 eggs per day. Fertilized eggs become undeveloped females (worker bees) and unfertilized eggs become male (drone bees). When she dies or becomes unproductive, the other bees will "make" a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a diet of "royal jelly."

Worker Bee
All worker bees are undeveloped females, and therefore are not able to reproduce. Worker bees live for 4 to 9 months during the winter season, but only 6 weeks during the busy summer months (they literally work themselves to death). Nearly all of the bees in a hive are worker bees. A hive consists of 20,000 to 30,000 bees in the winter, and over 60,000 to 80,000 bees in the summer. The worker bees sequentially take on a series of specific chores during their lifetime: housekeeper, nursemaid, construction worker, grocer, undertaker, guard, and finally, after 21 days they become a forager collecting pollen and nectar.

Drone Bee
These male bees are kept on standby during the summer for mating with a virgin queen. There are only 300 to 3000 drones in a hive. The drone does not have a stinger. Because they are of no use in the winter, drones are expelled from the hive in the autumn.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Foundation: Thin sheets of beeswax imprinted with a pattern of honey comb. The beekeeper installs these sheets into wooden frames as "starters" for the bees in making uniform combs.

Frames: The removable wooden structures, which are placed in the hive. The bees build their comb within these frames. The removable quality allows the beekeeper to easily inspect the colony.

Hive Bodies: The first one or two wooden boxes of the colony. The hive bodies contain the brood nest of the colony.

Larva: The grub-like, immature form of the bee, after it has developed from the egg and before it has gone into the pupa stage.

Nectar: Sweet fluid produced by flowers is 60% water and 40% solids. This is collected by the bees and converted into honey at 17 to 18% moisture content.

Pupa: The immature form of the bee (following the larval stage) while changing into the adult form.

Super: The supplementary wooden boxes placed on top of the hive body that expand the size of the colony, and to provide for storage of surplus honey.

Supercedure: When a colony with an old or failing queen rears a daughter to replace her.

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