Honey Bees (Apiculture)

AnSci 200 Final Exam

By whom where bees first used by?

Cave dwellers

Who were bees important to in history?

Greeks and Romans

What is the nice thing about have hives/frames/foundations to collect honey?

You can remove the frames to get the honey, without damaging the hive

What was honey used for before sugar?

It was used as a main source of sweetener

What are some direct ways that bees are important to humanity

• Honey

• Bee pollen

• Royal jelly

• Beeswax

What is an indirect way that bees are important to humanity?

Pollination

In 2023, how many bee colonies were in WI?

62,000 colonies

In 2023, how many lbs of honey were produced?

2.79 million pounds

What was the value of production in 2023?

$8.4 million

What are the 3 social structures in a hive?

1. Queen

2. Drone

3. Worker

What is the queen bee?

the mother to all in the hive

How many queens are there per hive?

Generally, only one

Is the Queen bee a fully functional female?

Yes

Describe the queen bee in relation to drones and workers

Larger than workers and longer/thinner than drones

How long is a queen’s life?

Long (several years possible)

How is a queen bee produced?

Produced by feeding royal jelly

What is the only bee that lays eggs?

The Queen Bee

How many eggs will the queen bee lay per day, at peak?

May lay 2000 - 3000 eggs per day

Are the drones the males or females of the hive?

Males

Describe drones in relation to workers

Large and wider

Do drones have a stinger?

No

Do drones have a short or long tongue?

Short

Do drones have a good or bad antennae?

Very good! Helps to smell and find queen

What happens to the drones in the fall?

The workers push them out of the hive and they die (short life)

What is the only real purpose of drones?

To pass on genetic material

How do drones develop?

By parthenogenesis

What is parthenogenesis?

When an unfertilized egg develops into an organism

• Egg is not fertilized

• Haploid egg (one copy of DNA) spontaneously develops

• Development continues like a normal embryo

• Result: males really just multiple and deliver queen’s genetic material

• Queen “determine” sex of offspring 

How do bees reproduce?

• Virgin queen makes mating flight

• Several drones mate with her in flight

• Queen goes back to hive and stores sperm

Can bee reproduction be done artificially?

Yes

Describe the process from bee parturition to adult bee

• Queen lays an egg in each cell

• Egg hatches into larva

• Workers feed baby larvae

• Workers cap cell (pupa form)

• Emerges as adult worker bee

What is a baby larvae called?

A brood

What do the workers feed the larvae?

A mixture of pollen and nectar

Describe the worker bee compared to the queen and drones

It is the smallest and most abundant

How many worker bees are in a hive?

3,000 - 60,000

Is a worker bee a female or male?

A female, but undeveloped

What do worker bees have as characteristics?

• Pollen baskets

• Wax glands

• Scent glands

• Barbed stinger

• Long tongue

What are pollen baskets?

A bright yellow sack on the side of the bee

Worker bee’s duties

• Wax secretion

• Brood rearing

• Attending to queen

• Guarding hive entrance

• Nectar and pollen collection

  • Provides all necessary nutrients for bees (other than water)

True or false: The lifespan of worker bees depends on the time of year

True

How long may worker bee lifespan be during the summer?

One month

Will late fall worker bees live through winter?

Yes

Can worker bees wear out from flying?

Yes

How long do worker bee wings last?

Approximately 500 miles

Top of beehive to bottom of beehive

1. Roof ventilator

2. Crown board

3. Super

4. Super with frames

5. Queen excluder

6. Brood chamber

7. Frames

8. Floor

9. Entrance block

What is the queen excluder?

A frame where the spacing is just wide enough that the workers can fit through it, but the queen can’t

Why do we want to keep the queen bee out of the top of the hive?

So that she doesn’t lay eggs in honey

Other bee equipment

• Brush

• Smoker

• Clothing

• Hive tool

What is the purpose of the hive tool?

Since the bees are cleaners, and patch holes with stick material called propolis, the hive tools helps to pry frames apart so that honey can be collected

What is propolis?

“bee glue”

What is swarming important for?

The proliferation of species (it is a way for bees to multiply)

What causes swarming?

• Overcrowded hive

• Old queen

• Imbalanced population

• Genetics

What is the swarm made up of?

• Queen, commonly a virgin

• Workers, mostly young

• Drones, mostly young

How to prevent swarming

• Keep open brood area (add more chambers)

• Keep a productive young queen

How do bees communicate with each other?

• Dancing

• Chemical

  • Pheromones

Beehive location characteristics

• Off ground

• Facing east in summer

• Facing south in winter

• Sheltered from prevailing winds

• Sheltered from direct afternoon sun

• Often wrap or insulate in winter

What is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)?

Where nearly all feral hives and many “farmed” colonies are dying

What seems to be causing CCD?

• Varroa mites

• Israeli acute paralysis virus

• Nosema fungus

• GMA plants

• Pesticides

• Cell phone radiation

• Global warming

• Imidacloprid - insecticide

• Combination of two or several of these