Beekeeping Glossary: 60+ Terms Explained
Plain-English definitions for every beekeeping term you'll encounter — no jargon, no assumptions.
A
Absconding
Entire colony abandons hive — usually due to severe pest pressure or repeated disturbance.
Alarm pheromone
Chemical isoamyl acetate bees release when threatened — smells like bananas, signals danger to nearby bees.
Apiary
Location where one or more beehives are kept.
Apiculture
Scientific term for the practice of beekeeping.
Apiarist
Person who keeps bees.
B
Bee bread
Fermented pollen stored in comb — primary protein source for developing larvae.
Bee space
3/8" gap bees maintain between surfaces — discovered by Langstroth, makes modern removable-frame hives possible.
Bottom board
The floor of the beehive — solid or screened.
Brood
Eggs, larvae, and pupae collectively.
Brood box
Hive body where the queen lays and brood develops — also called a deep super.
C
Capping
Thin wax seal placed over ripe honey and mature pupae.
Cappings
Wax removed during honey extraction — valuable beeswax byproduct.
Chalkbrood
Fungal disease causing larvae to dry into white chalk-like mummies — usually self-resolving in strong colonies.
Colony
One complete bee community — queen, workers, and drones.
D
Dearth
Period of scarce nectar and pollen — triggers defensive behavior and robbing between colonies.
Deep super
Standard brood box, 9 5/8" tall.
Drone
Male honey bee — no stinger, sole purpose is mating with virgin queens.
Division board feeder
Frame-shaped feeder hanging inside the brood box.
E
Egg
First stage of bee development — visible as tiny white grain in cell base for 3 days.
Entrance reducer
Wooden or metal insert restricting hive entrance width.
F
Fondant
Solid sugar paste fed in winter when liquid syrup is unsuitable.
Forager
Worker bee 3+ weeks old — collects nectar, pollen, water, propolis.
Foundation
Wax or plastic sheet embossed with hexagonal cell pattern — guides straight comb building.
Frame
Wooden rectangle holding comb — the basic removable hive unit.
G
Grafting
Transferring young larvae into queen cups to raise new queens.
H
Hive tool
Metal lever for prying frames and scraping propolis — the essential beekeeping tool.
Honey super
Box above the brood box designated for honey storage.
I
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Holistic pest control combining multiple methods to minimize chemical dependence.
L
Langstroth hive
Most common modern hive design, invented 1851 — removable rectangular frames in standardized boxes.
Larva
Second development stage — C-shaped white grub floating in royal jelly, days 3–8.
Laying worker
Unmated worker who lays unfertilized eggs when colony has been queenless too long.
M
Medium super
Hive box 6 5/8" tall — standard honey super size.
Mite drop
Varroa mites naturally falling onto the hive floor — used to estimate infestation level.
N
Nasonov gland
Scent gland on worker bee's abdomen producing orientation pheromone — used to call bees home.
Nectar
Sugar-rich flower liquid — primary raw material for honey.
Nucleus colony / Nuc
Small 4–5 frame colony complete with laying queen, workers, brood, and stores.
O
Oxalic acid
Organic acid used to treat varroa mites — FDA approved and USDA organic certified.
P
Package bees
3 lbs worker bees + mated queen shipped in screened wooden box.
Pollen
Protein-rich flower powder — essential larval nutrition.
Propolis
Plant resin bees collect as antibacterial hive sealant.
Pupa
Third development stage — bee transforms inside capped cell.
Q
Queen
Colony's only fertile female — lays up to 2,000 eggs per day.
Queen cell
Large peanut-shaped wax cell where new queens develop.
Queen excluder
Grid separating brood box from honey supers — keeps queen from laying in honey stores.
R
Robbing
When bees from one colony raid another colony's honey stores — common during dearth periods.
Royal jelly
Protein-rich secretion fed to larvae and queen — queen larvae receive it exclusively.
S
Scout bee
Forager responsible for locating new nest sites before a swarm departs.
Screened bottom board
Hive floor with wire mesh allowing varroa mites to fall through onto a sticky monitoring sheet.
Shallow super
Hive box 5 11/16" tall — often used for comb honey.
Slatted rack
Wooden slat frame placed between bottom board and brood box — improves hive ventilation and reduces swarming.
Smoker
Metal canister that produces cool smoke — masks alarm pheromones and calms bees during inspections.
Small hive beetle
Pest that destroys comb and ferments honey — most damaging in warm, humid regions.
Spring buildup
Period of rapid population increase as brood rearing accelerates with warming temperatures.
Super
Any box placed above the brood chamber for honey storage or expansion.
Supersedure
Colony's natural replacement of an aging or failing queen with a new one.
Swarm
Large cluster of bees with the old queen that departs to establish a new colony.
Swarm cell
Queen cell built along frame bottoms indicating the colony intends to swarm.
T
Top-bar hive
Horizontal hive with removable bars instead of frames — no foundation required.
Treaty
Informal term for a deliberate colony management action or intervention.
Trophallaxis
Mouth-to-mouth food exchange between bees — primary method of spreading pheromones and nutrition throughout the colony.
V
Varroa mite
External parasitic mite that feeds on bee hemolymph — the single greatest threat to honey bee health worldwide.
Virgin queen
Newly emerged queen that has not yet mated with drones on her nuptial flight.
W
Waggle dance
Figure-eight movement foragers perform to communicate distance and direction of nectar sources to hive mates.
Wax moth
Moth larvae that tunnel through and destroy stored comb — harmless to strong colonies but destructive to stored equipment.
Winter cluster
Tight ball of bees that forms during cold weather to maintain brood nest temperature around 95°F.
Worker bee
Sterile female bee responsible for all colony labor — nursing, foraging, guarding, and cleaning.