Beekeeping Glossary

A

• Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV) Krankheiten The Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, ABPV for short, belongs to a group of closely related viruses that are present latently in many colonies.
• Adding the Honey Super Arbeiten am Bienenstand As soon as the cherry blossoms and the nectar flow begins, the colony gets its honey super.
• Afterswarm Verhalten der Bienen After the prime swarm has left, the parent colony remains with brood and queen cells.
• Alarm Pheromone Lexikon When stinging, a bee releases an alarm pheromone at the base of her sting and from the mandibular glands, a chemically complex mixture of dozens of scent compounds.
• American Foulbrood Krankheiten American Foulbrood is a bacterial brood disease caused by Paenibacillus larvae.
• Amitraz Behandlungsmittel Amitraz belongs to the substance group of triazapentadienes and, like many antiparasitics, originates from crop protection.
• Amoeba Dysentery Krankheiten Amoeba dysentery is caused by the single-celled organism Malpighamoeba mellificae.
• Animal Disease Fund (Germany) Lexikon The Animal Disease Funds (Germany) are institutions of the federal states.
• Api Life Var Behandlungsmittel Api Life Var is a thymol-based combination product.
• Api-Bioxal Behandlungsmittel Api-Bioxal is an oxalic-acid-based veterinary medicinal product from an Italian manufacturer.
• Apiary Lexikon An apiary is the place where a beekeeper has set up his colonies, and at the same time the simple roof or stand on which the hives are placed.
• Apiary Inspection Arbeiten am Bienenstand The winter walk-through of the apiary, without opening a colony.
• Apiary Mating (Open Mating) Lexikon With apiary mating, the mating units with the young queens are simply set up at one's own apiary.
• Apiguard Behandlungsmittel Apiguard is a thymol product in gel form.
• Apitraz Behandlungsmittel Apitraz is an impregnated strip containing 500 milligrams of amitraz.
• Apivar Behandlungsmittel Apivar is an impregnated plastic strip containing 500 milligrams of amitraz per strip.
• Artificial Swarm (Package) Lexikon An artificial swarm is a bee colony deliberately created by the beekeeper that imitates the natural swarming process.
• Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) Krankheiten The Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax is an introduced species that has been spreading in Germany since it was first detected near Karlsruhe in 2014.

B

• Baker's Honey Lexikon Under the Honey Regulation (Germany), baker's honey is honey suitable for industrial purposes or as an ingredient in other foods, which may show a foreign taste or smell, may have begun to ferment, may have fermented, or may have been overheated.
• Bayvarol Behandlungsmittel Bayvarol consists of plastic strips, each containing 3.6 milligrams of flumethrin.
• Bearding Verhalten der Bienen On hot summer days part of the colony hangs as a cluster outside the entrance.
• Bee Bread Lexikon Pollen stored in the cells and fermented by lactic acid bacteria.
• Bee Brush Lexikon The bee brush is a narrow, soft hand brush used to sweep bees off a comb or off the hive wall.
• Bee Disease Ordinance (Germany) Lexikon The Bee Disease Ordinance is the central German regulation for protecting bee stocks from notifiable diseases.
• Bee Escape Lexikon The bee escape is a small one-way device that lets bees pass down from the honey super into the brood chamber but blocks their way back up.
• Bee House Lexikon A bee house is a fixed building in which several hives stand and in which equipment, comb and often also the extractor are housed at the same time.
• Bee Louse Krankheiten The bee louse, Braula coeca, is despite its name not a louse but a wingless fly about one to one and a half millimeters in size.
• Bee Space Lexikon Bee space refers to the gap between two comb surfaces, or between a comb and the hive wall, that honey bees neither build up with wax nor seal with propolis.
• Bee Venom Lexikon Bee venom, technically apitoxin, is the acidic mixture of secretions from the worker's venom gland.
• Beeswax Lexikon Beeswax is the colony's building material and is exuded by the wax glands of young worker bees.
• Beewolf Krankheiten The beewolf Philanthus triangulum is a digger wasp that, despite its name, is neither related to bees nor a bee pest in the strict sense.
• Bienenkiste (German Top-Bar Box) Lexikon The Bienenkiste is a single-chamber horizontal box developed by Mellifera e.V.
• Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV) Krankheiten The Black Queen Cell Virus, BQCV for short, mainly affects queen pupae.
• Blossom Honey Lexikon Blossom honey, also called nectar honey in the Honey Regulation (Germany), is honey that comes wholly or predominantly from the nectar of plants.
• Bottling Honey Lexikon Bottling is the last step of honey processing, in which the fully clarified honey, creamed if required for the desired consistency, goes into its sales jars.
• Bottling Honey Arbeiten am Bienenstand Bottling is done into hygienically clean jars, in clean work clothes, and over a calibrated scale.
• Breeding Assessment (Körung) Lexikon Körung is the formal recognition of a queen as a breeding mother by the responsible breeding association.
• Breeding Material Lexikon Breeding material refers to the young larvae of a selected queen from which new queens are reared.
• Breeding Value Lexikon The breeding value estimates what hereditary share a queen has in the performance of her colony.
• Bringing In Pollen Verhalten der Bienen Pollen is the colony's protein source. According to the Celle Bee Institute, a strong colony needs more than 25 kilograms a year.
• Brood Chamber Lexikon The brood chamber is the part of a hive where the colony's actual nest is located: this is where the queen lays her eggs, where the larvae grow, and where the bees store pollen and part of their stores in the immediate vicinity of the brood.
• Brood Hygiene Lexikon Brood hygiene refers to a colony's ability to detect, uncap and remove damaged, diseased or dead brood.
• Brood Nest Lexikon The brood nest is the area of the comb where the queen lays eggs and the brood develops.
• Brood Nucleus Lexikon Brutling is another name for the brood split, by far the most commonly used way of making splits in Germany.
• Brood Rearing Begins Verhalten der Bienen Around the turn of the year, usually from mid-January and in mild winters already in December, the queen begins laying eggs again.
• Brood Rearing Declines Verhalten der Bienen With shorter days and a declining nectar flow, the queen throttles her laying step by step.
• Brood Removal Lexikon The deliberate removal of brood combs with adhering bees from a very strong colony.
• Brood Separation Lexikon Brood interruption refers in beekeeping to a group of biotechnical measures in which the queen's egg laying is separated in time or space from the brood already present in order to interrupt the reproductive cycle of the Varroa mite.
• Brushed Swarm Lexikon The brushed swarm is a variant of the artificial swarm (package) and refers to a new bee colony formed by brushing bees off the combs of various colonies, using a bee brush, and putting them into an empty hive.
• Buckfast Bee Lexikon The Buckfast bee is not a subspecies but a breeding strain.
• Building Queen Cells Verhalten der Bienen Three types of queen cells need to be told apart.

C

• C-Shaped and Stretched Larva Lexikon The larva of the bee passes through two clearly distinguishable stages.
• Calistrip® Biox Behandlungsmittel Calistrip® Biox is a veterinary medicinal product containing oxalic acid in the form of plastic strips that are hung in the colony.
• Capping Cells Verhalten der Bienen Once the larva is fully grown, the workers seal the cell with an air-permeable wax cap.
• Carniolan Bee Lexikon The Carniolan bee, the most widespread race of the western honey bee in Central Europe.
• Casting Foundation Arbeiten am Bienenstand Anyone processing their own wax casts foundation in a mold.
• Catching a Swarm Arbeiten am Bienenstand If the swarm is hanging within easy reach, a well-aimed knock against the branch is usually enough to get most of it into the swarm box.
• Cement Honey Lexikon Cement honey is the term for honey that crystallizes so hard, due to a high proportion of the trisaccharide melezitose, that it can barely be worked at all.
• Certified Bee Inspector Lexikon Certified bee inspectors are trained beekeepers who support the veterinary authorities in matters of bee health.
• Chalkbrood Krankheiten Chalkbrood is a fungal disease of the bee brood.
• Checking Food Stores Arbeiten am Bienenstand The most common avoidable loss is starvation in late winter.
• Checking for a Queen Arbeiten am Bienenstand Only one finding is certain: an egg standing upright on the cell floor.
• Checking the Water Source Arbeiten am Bienenstand During the season, a colony collects water to mix brood food and to cool the brood nest.
• Chilled Brood Krankheiten Chilled brood is spoken of when the colony can no longer maintain the brood nest temperature and the brood dies as a result.
• Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) Krankheiten Chronic Bee Paralysis is caused by the Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus, CBPV for short, and affects the adult bees of a colony.
• Cleaning Hives Arbeiten am Bienenstand Hives and frames from dead or diseased colonies must not be reused without cleaning.
• Cleaning instinct and hygienic behaviour Verhalten der Bienen Two things are often lumped together here.
• Cleansing Flight Verhalten der Bienen On the first mild days, when the daily high reaches about 10 degrees Celsius and the sun is shining, the bees leave the winter cluster and empty their rectum in flight.
• Collecting Resin Verhalten der Bienen Bees collect bud resins from poplar, birch, alder, willow, horse chestnut, and conifers, and carry them in the pollen baskets of their hind legs, just like pollen.
• Colony Register (Bestandsbuch) Lexikon The colony register is the record of which medicines a beekeeper has used in his colonies.
• Comb Constancy Lexikon The trait of a colony to remain calm on a comb when it is lifted out, rather than becoming agitated, festooning, or running off it.
• Comb Honey Lexikon Comb honey, also known in German as Scheibenhonig, is honey that the bees have stored in freshly built, brood-free comb and that is sold, along with the comb, in whole or divided pieces.
• Comb Hygiene Lexikon Comb hygiene refers to the regular renewal of the combs in a bee colony, above all in the brood chamber.
• Comb Storage Lexikon Drawn comb kept over winter or between two nectar flows is above all threatened by the Greater and Lesser Wax Moth.
• Combined Brood Nucleus Arbeiten am Bienenstand From several strong, healthy colonies, one predominantly capped brood comb is taken from each and combined with at least two food combs into a new colony.
• Compound Eye Lexikon Compound eye and faceted eye refer to the same organ: the two large eyes located on either side of the bee's head.
• Coumaphos Behandlungsmittel Coumaphos is an organophosphate and was commonly used in Varroa control for many years, in Germany mainly in the form of a trickle treatment.
• Counting Varroa Infestation Arbeiten am Bienenstand The natural mite drop on the varroa board is the simplest way to estimate a colony's infestation.
• Courtship Behavior Verhalten der Bienen On warm days, many bees suddenly swirl in front of the hive, heads toward the entrance, flying in ever-larger circles.
• Crystallization Lexikon Honey crystallizes as soon as a sugar exceeds its saturation limit and precipitates out of the supersaturated solution.
• Cutting Out Drone Brood Arbeiten am Bienenstand The capped drone frame is removed and the drone brood cut out.

D

• Dadant Lexikon The Dadant hive goes back to the American beekeeper Charles Dadant, who developed it in the second half of the nineteenth century.
• Dance Language Lexikon When a forager returns from a rewarding flight, she dances on the comb and thereby recruits more bees for the same source.
• Dany's BienenWohl Behandlungsmittel Dany's BienenWohl is an approved oxalic-acid-based veterinary medicinal product.
• Dark Bee (European Dark Bee) Lexikon The dark bee, scientifically Apis mellifera mellifera, is the subspecies of the honey bee originally native to Central, Western, and Northern Europe north of the Alps.
• Debris Diagnosis Arbeiten am Bienenstand The varroa board under the screened bottom board tells you what is going on in the colony without lifting the cover.
• Deformed Wing Virus Krankheiten The deformed wing virus, DWV for short, is one of the most significant viruses of the honey bee.
• Diastase Lexikon Diastase is an enzyme that the bees add to the honey during processing and that can break down starch-like carbohydrates.
• Disease Check Arbeiten am Bienenstand A checking look at the brood nest is part of every inspection.
• Divide and Treat Lexikon Split and treat, often abbreviated TuB in German, is a biotechnical concept for Varroa control recommended by bee institutes that combines late-summer colony care with a particularly effective treatment.
• Divider Board (Intermediate Floor) Lexikon A divider board is a flat panel the size of the box that is placed between two boxes and separates them from each other.
• Division of Labor by Age Verhalten der Bienen A worker changes tasks over the course of her life.
• Drone Lexikon The drone is the male bee in the colony. It develops from an unfertilized egg and therefore carries only a single set of chromosomes, so it has no father, but can become the father of the next bee generation.
• Drone Brooding Lexikon Drone brooding refers to a colony that produces only drones.
• Drone Brooding (Laying Workers) Krankheiten A colony is drone-brooding when only unfertilized eggs are laid, producing exclusively drones.
• Drone Congregation Area Lexikon A drone congregation area is a meeting point in the air where drones from many colonies in the wider surroundings gather and wait for virgin queens.
• Drone Expulsion Verhalten der Bienen After the main nectar flow ends, the workers no longer tolerate the drones.
• Drone Frame Lexikon The drone frame (Drohnenrahmen) is essentially the same as the plain drone frame used for unguided comb building (Baurahmen): a frame without a preformed wax foundation that the bees build out with the noticeably larger cells typical of drones.
• Drone Frame Lexikon The building frame is an empty frame without foundation, which the bees draw out themselves as free natural comb.
• Dysentery (Winter Bee Diarrhea) Krankheiten Dysentery is not a contagious disease but a diarrheal condition of the winter bees.

E

• Egg Laying Lexikon The laying of eggs by the queen. She first inspects the cleaned cell, then lowers her abdomen into it and fixes the egg to the bottom of the cell, where it stands upright.
• Eggs (in Cells) Lexikon The freshly laid eggs of the queen. They stand singly and upright on the cell floor and are tiny, a good millimetre long.
• Electrical Conductivity Lexikon Electrical conductivity is one of the most important measured values in honey analysis.
• Emergency Feeding Arbeiten am Bienenstand When a colony gets light in late winter, every hour counts.
• Emergency Queen Cell Lexikon An emergency queen cell is a queen cell that a bee colony builds as an emergency measure when the queen is suddenly lost, for example through death, illness or a beekeeping error.
• Empty Comb Lexikon An empty comb is a comb that has already been fully built out, with cells the bees have finished shaping, but that contains neither brood nor stores such as honey or pollen.
• Entrance Reducer Lexikon The entrance reducer is a simple wood or plastic aid used to narrow the opening of the hive entrance without closing it completely.
• Estimating Colony Strength Lexikon Colony strength means the approximate number of bees a colony comprises at a given point in time.
• European Foulbrood Krankheiten European Foulbrood, also called sourbrood (Sauerbrut) in beekeeping German, is caused by the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius.
• European Hornet at the Apiary Krankheiten The European hornet Vespa crabro is the only species of the genus Vespa originally native to Germany.
• Extracting Honey Arbeiten am Bienenstand Uncapping is done with an uncapping fork or a warmed knife, guided flat over the comb so the cell walls do not break out.

F

• Fanning Lexikon Fanning is the bees beating their wings in place, thereby creating an airflow.
• Fat Body Lexikon The fat body is the bee's central storage and metabolic organ and is located mainly in the abdomen.
• Feed Ring Test (AFB Sampling) Lexikon The feed ring is the ring of honey and pollen cells immediately around the brood nest.
• Feed Super Lexikon The feed super is a special hive box that, unlike the other boxes of a modern box hive, holds no frames but instead has a closed floor and so serves as a container for liquid feed.
• Feeding for Winter Arbeiten am Bienenstand After the last harvest, every colony gets its winter stores.
• Fermentation of Honey Lexikon Honey ferments when yeasts break down the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
• Final Mite Treatment Arbeiten am Bienenstand The last varroa treatment of the year only works in a broodless colony, since oxalic acid does not penetrate capped cells.
• First Formic Acid Treatment Arbeiten am Bienenstand The first summer treatment follows directly after the last honey harvest.
• First Spring Inspection Arbeiten am Bienenstand The hive is not opened until the cleansing flight has taken place.
• Fitting Woodpecker Protection Arbeiten am Bienenstand In winter, woodpeckers search hives for food and peck their way through the wall.
• Flight Swarm Lexikon With a flyer split, the beekeeper uses the homing behavior of the foragers to form a new colony.
• Flight Swarm with Queen Cell Lexikon The flight swarm with queen cell is the second variant of the flight swarm and likewise a swarm pre-emption.
• Flower Constancy Verhalten der Bienen A forager sticks to one plant species during a foraging trip, and usually also to the same location.
• Flumethrin Behandlungsmittel Flumethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid, i.e.
• Food Business Operator Lexikon Anyone who supplies honey is, under food law, a food business operator, even as a hobby beekeeper and even when the honey is only given away to acquaintances.
• Food Comb Lexikon A comb that predominantly contains capped honey or stored feed.
• Food Sharing (Trophallaxis) Verhalten der Bienen Bees are constantly passing food to one another.
• Forager Bee Lexikon The forager, also called the field bee, is a worker in the last stage of her life.
• Forest Honey Lexikon According to the guidelines for honey, forest honey is a honeydew honey that comes entirely from plants in the forest, with parks in towns explicitly not counting as forest.
• Formic Acid Lexikon Formic acid is an organic acid and one of the approved active ingredients against varroosis.
• Formic Acid 60% Behandlungsmittel Formic acid in a 60% preparation is the classic remedy for summer treatment of production colonies.
• Formic Acid 85% Behandlungsmittel Formic acid in an 85% preparation contains the same active substance as the 60% solution but is considerably more concentrated.
• Forming a Nucleus Colony Arbeiten am Bienenstand The nucleus colony is young-colony production and swarm prevention in one.
• Forming an Artificial Swarm Arbeiten am Bienenstand The artificial swarm is a swarm produced by hand: bees are shaken off, put into a box with a queen, and later hived onto foundation.
• Formivar Behandlungsmittel Formivar is a brand name for formic acid ad us.
• Frame Lexikon The wooden frame in which a comb hangs. It makes the comb movable, which is what makes the whole of modern beekeeping possible in the first place.
• Frame Feeder Lexikon The frame feeder is a trough-shaped container that is hung into the box in place of a frame and holds feed syrup.
• Full Development Verhalten der Bienen With the first strong nectar flow the colony tips into full operation: the queen lays well over a thousand eggs a day, with sources giving figures for peak periods ranging from about 1,200 to 2,000.

G

• Gentleness (Temperament) Lexikon Gentleness is one of the four classic traits of performance testing.
• German Beekeepers' Association (Deutscher Imkerbund) Lexikon The German Beekeepers' Association is the umbrella organization of German beekeeping.
• German Beekeepers' Honey Jar Lexikon The beekeeper's honey jar with the guarantee seal of the German Beekeepers' Association is a registered trademark, not merely packaging.
• German Honey Guidelines (Leitsätze) Lexikon The guidelines for honey are part of the German Food Code and describe what is generally understood by particular names such as acacia honey, rapeseed honey, or forest honey.
• German Normal Measure Lexikon The German Normal Measure, DNM for short, is a frame size with outer dimensions of 370 by 223 millimeters, which was defined as the standard size in 1880 and introduced as the German Normal Measure after the Second World War to standardize the many frame sizes that had developed regionally in the Ge
• Giving Fondant Arbeiten am Bienenstand Fondant contains only about 10 percent water, whereas feeding syrup contains about 27.5 percent.
• Grafting Lexikon Grafting in queen rearing refers to the targeted transfer of very young bee larvae from normal worker cells into artificial queen cups.
• Grafting Queens Arbeiten am Bienenstand In grafting, a youngest female larva is transferred with a grafting tool from a worker cell into a queen cup.
• Granulation (Crystallization) Lexikon Granulation is the everyday term for the natural crystallization of honey, in which the dissolved glucose separates out in the form of solid crystals and the honey changes from a liquid to a firm or creamy consistency.
• Greater and Lesser Wax Moth Krankheiten Two species of wax moth occur in Central Europe: the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella and the lesser wax moth Achroia grisella.
• Guard Bees Verhalten der Bienen At around the 18th to 21st day of life, in the transition from house bee to forager, workers take over guard duty.

H

• HMF (Hydroxymethylfurfural) Lexikon HMF stands for hydroxymethylfurfural, a substance that forms from the sugar fructose when honey is heated or stored for a long time or incorrectly.
• Hairless Black Syndrome (Schwarzsucht) Krankheiten In hairless black syndrome, also called forest-flow disease in German usage, the bees lose their hair.
• Haplodiploidy Lexikon In the honey bee, the queen and the workers develop from fertilized, diploid eggs, while drones develop from unfertilized, haploid eggs.
• Harvesting the Spring Flow Arbeiten am Bienenstand Harvesting is done when the honey is ripe, not by the calendar.
• Harvesting the Summer Flow Arbeiten am Bienenstand The last harvest of the year. Here too: only harvest ripe honey, meaning predominantly capped combs and a water content under 18 percent, as the German Beekeepers' Association requires for Real German Honey.
• Health Certificate Lexikon The health certificate under Section 5 of the Bee Disease Ordinance is a certificate from an official veterinarian that must be presented when bee colonies are moved into the district of another authority.
• Heater Bee Lexikon Heater bees, also called warming bees, are workers that actively generate heat to keep the brood nest at an even temperature.
• Hive Lexikon The housing of a honey bee colony in beekeeping.
• Hive Box Lexikon A box component of a modern box hive in which the frames hang.
• Hive Debris Lexikon Hive debris refers to everything that accumulates in the colony and trickles down onto the hive floor: wax particles from gnawed-open cell caps, pollen residue, feed crystals, legs and wings of dead bees, and, of course, fallen varroa mites too.
• Hive Debris Lexikon In beekeeping, hive debris refers to the material that, over time, falls down from the combs onto the floor of the hive.
• Hive Design (Kastenwesen) Lexikon There are three castes in a bee colony: the queen as the only fully reproductive female, the workers as thousands of non-reproductive females, and the drones as several hundred males in spring and summer.
• Hive Entrance Lexikon The entrance to the hive and at the same time the window through which a colony can be assessed without opening it.
• Hive Expansion Lexikon Expanding means giving a growing colony more space, by hanging in frames or wax foundation, or by adding a whole hive box at once.
• Hive Floor Lexikon The floor is the lowest component of the hive and carries the entrance.
• Hive Record Card Lexikon The hive record card is the record kept for a single bee colony.
• Hive Scale Lexikon A hive scale stands under a bee colony and records its weight.
• Hive Scent Lexikon The shared scent of a colony, made up of the queen's pheromones, the comb material, the food that has been brought in, and the bees' genetic makeup.
• Hive Tool Lexikon The hive tool, also called a lever chisel, is part of every beekeeper's basic equipment and accompanies practically every colony inspection.
• Honey Bees Lexikon Bees are a very species-rich group of insects.
• Honey Comb Lexikon A comb from the honey super that contains ripe honey.
• Honey Extractor Lexikon The honey extractor is the central piece of equipment in the honey harvest.
• Honey Labeling Lexikon A honey jar must carry the sales designation, the net quantity, the best-before date, the name and address of the food business operator, and the country of origin.
• Honey Regulation (Germany) Lexikon The Honey Regulation (Honigverordnung) is the central legal basis for honey in Germany and transposes the European Honey Directive into national law.
• Honey Stomach Lexikon The honey stomach is an expandable enlargement of the foregut in the bee's abdomen, located directly behind the wasp waist.
• Honey Super Lexikon The honey super is the part of the hive that the bees use exclusively for storing and ripening nectar and honey, while brood is raised in the brood chamber below it.
• Honeydew Lexikon Honeydew is not a plant product but an animal excretion that comes from aphids, scale insects, and similar insects, which suck the sugary sap from the phloem of trees and excrete the excess sugar again as sticky droplets.
• House Bee Lexikon As a house bee, one refers to a worker in the first phase of her adult life, roughly from the first to the twentieth day of life.
• Humped Brood (Laying Workers) Lexikon Bullet brood is the name for the characteristic, irregularly domed brood pattern that develops when drone larvae grow up in worker cells that are actually too small for them.
• Hypopharyngeal Gland Lexikon The brood food glands, also called hypopharynx or hypopharyngeal glands, lie as a pair in the worker's head.

I

• Infestation Level Lexikon The infestation level describes how heavily a colony is affected by the varroa mite at a given point in time, usually expressed as the ratio of the number of mites to the number of sampled bees, or as the daily natural mite drop.
• Inner Cover and Cover Foil Lexikon Between the topmost box and the actual outer cover lies the inner cover.
• Inserting the Bee Escape Arbeiten am Bienenstand The bee escape is a one-way passage in the divider board.
• Inserting the Drone Frame Arbeiten am Bienenstand An empty frame at the edge of the brood nest gives the colony a chance to work off its building urge.
• Inserting the Queen Excluder Arbeiten am Bienenstand The queen excluder sits between the top brood box and the honey super.
• Instrumental Insemination Lexikon In instrumental insemination, also called artificial insemination, drone semen is transferred to the queen under a stereomicroscope using a fine glass cannula.
• Interim Nucleus Lexikon An interim nucleus is a method for calming a colony that has already fallen into swarming mood at the same site, without sacrificing its foraging performance.
• Introduction Cage Lexikon An introduction cage is a small cage made of mesh or plastic in which an unrelated queen is hung into a colony.
• Invertase Lexikon Invertase is an enzyme that the bees add to the honey with their saliva when bringing in and processing nectar or honeydew.

K

• Keeping the Colony Register Arbeiten am Bienenstand Under German veterinary medicines law, bees count as food-producing animals.
• Kuntzsch (Frame Size) Lexikon The Kuntzsch frame is an older German frame size that was widespread above all in Saxony, Thuringia, and neighboring areas, where it is still used in part today.

L

• Lactic Acid 15% Behandlungsmittel Lactic acid 15% ad us. vet. is applied as a spray solution.
• Langstroth Lexikon The Langstroth hive goes back to the American clergyman and beekeeper Lorenzo Langstroth, who in 1852 patented the first hive with fully movable frames, using bee space as the principle of its design.
• Laying Worker Lexikon A laying worker is a worker bee that, in a colony that has been queenless for a long time, becomes an egg-laying bee itself.
• Leaf Honeydew Lexikon Leaf honey is a special form of honeydew honey that comes from aphids and similar insects living on deciduous trees such as oak or maple, as opposed to classic forest honey, which is obtained mainly from conifers such as spruce or fir.
• Liebefeld Estimation Method Lexikon The Liebefeld method is a standardized procedure for assessing the strength of a bee colony much more accurately than by simply counting occupied spaces between the combs.
• Log Hive Lexikon The log hive is one of the oldest artificial bee dwellings and consists of a hollowed-out tree trunk, into the side of which a hive entrance is cut and into whose interior wooden bars are fitted crosswise, from which the bees hang their combs.
• Lot Marking Lexikon A lot is the totality of sales units produced or bottled under practically identical conditions.

M

• MAQS / Formic Pro (Formic Acid Strips) Behandlungsmittel MAQS is a solid formulation of formic acid: impregnated gel strips containing 68.2 grams of formic acid each, wrapped in a hardboard layer.
• Major Flow (Mass Nectar Flow) Lexikon A major flow refers to forage sources that bloom over a wide area at the same time and deliver very large amounts of nectar and pollen in a short period.
• Marking Lexikon Marking is what beekeepers call marking the queen.
• Marking the Queen Arbeiten am Bienenstand Marking is done with a solvent-free marker pen or with a glued-on opalith disc on the thorax.
• Mating Flight Verhalten der Bienen About five to ten days after emerging, the young queen flies to the drone congregation areas on warm, calm afternoons.
• Mating Nuc Box Lexikon A mating nuc box is a very small hive in which a young queen is kept until mating and the start of egg laying.
• Mating Nucs Arbeiten am Bienenstand An unmated queen needs a small colony from which she can start her mating flight.
• Mating Station Lexikon A mating station is a remote site where only selected drone colonies are kept and where queens are mated under controlled conditions.
• May Disease Krankheiten May disease, also called pollen constipation or protein constipation, is a non-contagious digestive disorder of young bees.
• Mead Lexikon Mead, also called honey wine, is produced by fermenting honey in water.
• Measuring Water Content Arbeiten am Bienenstand Measurement is done with a handheld refractometer.
• Melezitose Lexikon Melezitose is a trisaccharide made up of two molecules of glucose and one molecule of fructose, occurring mainly in the honeydew of certain aphid species, especially on spruce and other conifers.
• Melting Down Wax Arbeiten am Bienenstand Old combs are melted down in a steam wax melter, a solar wax melter, or a hot water bath.
• Metamorphosis Lexikon The complete transformation of the bee from egg through larva and pupa to the finished insect.
• Mice and Woodpeckers at the Apiary Krankheiten In the winter half of the year, it is less disease than vertebrates that threaten colonies.
• Migratory Beekeeping Lexikon Migratory beekeeping refers to moving entire bee colonies to another location, usually to use a particular nectar flow such as rapeseed, forest, or linden blossom, or to provide pollination for orchards and special crops.
• Migratory Trailer Lexikon The migratory trailer is a trailer or platform on which several bee colonies are transported and managed.
• Modern Box Hive Lexikon The box hive is by far the most widespread type of bee housing in Germany today.
• Mouse Guard Lexikon The mouse guard closes the entrance in winter just enough that bees can pass in and out while mice stay outside.

N

• Nasonov Gland Lexikon The Nasonov gland, also called the scent gland, lies at the rear end of a worker's abdomen, more precisely at the front part of the seventh tergite.
• Natural Comb (Wild Build) Lexikon Comb building outside the frames, for example crosswise between the combs, beneath the top bars, or in the empty space of a box.
• Natural Comb Building Lexikon Natural comb building refers to bees building their comb themselves without a preformed foundation as a guide.
• Natural Mite Drop Count Lexikon The natural mite drop count records how many varroa mites die on their own and fall onto the board beneath the bee colony, without any bees needing to be removed or the colony opened.
• Nectar Lexikon The sugary liquid that plants secrete in their flowers to attract pollinators.
• Nectar Dearth Verhalten der Bienen Two periods of the year are tight. Early spring from about mid-February, when the brood nest grows and pollen is scarce.
• Nectar Flow Lexikon Nectar flow is the collective term for what the bees find in their surroundings in the way of nectar, pollen and honeydew.
• No Brood Verhalten der Bienen In the darkest weeks of the year, brood rearing usually stops entirely and the queen ceases laying.
• Nosema (Nosematosis) Lexikon Nosematosis is a disease of the midgut of adult bees.
• Nosema Disease Krankheiten Nosemosis is the most common disease of adult bees.
• Notifiable Bee Diseases Lexikon Since March 11, 2026, the German Animal Disease Notification Ordinance (Tierseuchenmeldeverordnung) has governed which diseases must be reported to the responsible authority.
• Nucleus Colony (Nuc) Lexikon A split is a young small colony that the beekeeper forms from the material of a strong production colony.
• Nurse Bee Lexikon A young worker bee that tends the brood from about the fourth day of life until the tenth or twelfth day.
• Nurse Bees Verhalten der Bienen Nurse bees feed the brood. They are on duty roughly from the fourth to the tenth or twelfth day of life.
• Nurse Colony (Cell Builder) Lexikon The nurse colony is the colony that accepts the grafted breeding larvae, supplies them with royal jelly and rears them into queens.

O

• Observing the Entrance Arbeiten am Bienenstand The shortest and most honest check in the beekeeping year: standing in front of the hive for a few minutes and watching, without opening anything.
• Ocelli Lexikon In addition to the two large compound eyes, bees have three tiny simple eyes on the forehead, the ocelli.
• Oxalic Acid Lexikon Oxalic acid is an approved active substance against the varroa mite and the usual active substance for the winter treatment, the so-called residual mite removal.
• Oxalic Acid Dihydrate Solution 3.5% ad us. vet. Behandlungsmittel The oxalic acid dihydrate solution 3.5% ad us.
• Oxalic Acid Spray Method Behandlungsmittel In the spray method, a diluted, sugar-free oxalic acid solution is applied as a fine mist directly onto the bee-covered combs.
• Oxalic Acid Trickle Method Behandlungsmittel In the trickle method, an oxalic acid solution, to which sugar is added immediately before application, is applied evenly to the bees in the occupied spaces between the combs using a syringe or dosing bottle.
• Oxalic Acid by Vaporization (Sublimation) Behandlungsmittel In vaporization, crystalline oxalic acid dihydrate is heated in an electrically heated device until it sublimates.
• Oxuvar Behandlungsmittel Oxuvar is an oxalic-acid-based veterinary medicinal product available in two variants.

P

• Performance Testing Lexikon Performance testing is the systematic assessment of bee colonies according to fixed traits over an entire season.
• Perizin Behandlungsmittel Perizin was a coumaphos-based veterinary medicinal product for Varroa control, applied as a trickle treatment.
• Pesticide Poisoning Krankheiten Poisoning by plant protection products usually shows up as a sudden, unusually high die-off in front of the entrances and in the vicinity of the affected colonies, often at several colonies of an apiary at the same time.
• Pheromones Lexikon Scent substances that bees use to communicate within the colony.
• Pollen Lexikon Pollen is the flower dust that bees collect as their only source of protein.
• Pollen Analysis (Melissopalynology) Lexikon Pollen analysis, technically also called melissopalynology, is a microscopic examination method used to verify the botanical and geographical origin of honey.
• Pollen Comb Lexikon A comb with stored pollen, usually forming a ring around the brood nest.
• Pollen Load (Pollen Basket) Lexikon The pollen load is the pollen package a forager bee carries on the outside of her hind legs.
• Pollination Lexikon Pollination means: pollen has to reach the stigma of a flower so that seeds and fruit can form.
• PolyVar Yellow Behandlungsmittel PolyVar Yellow is a flumethrin-based veterinary medicinal product that differs from all other varroacides in its form of application.
• Polyandry Lexikon Polyandry means that the queen mates with several males.
• Powdered Sugar (Biotechnical Method) Behandlungsmittel Powdered sugar is not a medicinal product and contains no active substance.
• Powdered Sugar Method Lexikon The powdered sugar method is a bee-friendly procedure for estimating a colony's Varroa infestation without killing the bees taken.
• Powdered Sugar Test Arbeiten am Bienenstand The varroa board shows the mite drop, the bee sample shows the infestation level.
• Preparing for Migration Arbeiten am Bienenstand Anyone moving colonies to another location needs, in Germany, an official veterinary health certificate under the Bee Disease Ordinance.
• Pressed Honey Lexikon Pressed honey is honey obtained by pressing combs without brood, without heating or with heating to no more than 45 degrees.
• Prime Swarm Lexikon The first swarm of a colony, which leaves with the old, mated queen.
• Proboscis Lexikon The bee's proboscis is a sucking and licking organ made up of several mouthparts.
• Propolis Lexikon The resin mixture with which bees seal their hive and keep it low in germs.
• Pupa Lexikon The developmental stage between larva and finished bee, which takes place in the capped cell.

Q

• Queen Lexikon The queen is the only fully developed female in the colony.
• Queen Cell Lexikon The queen cell is the special comb cell in which a new bee queen grows.
• Queen Cup Lexikon Queen cups are small, cup-shaped globs of wax that bees build on the comb surface or at the comb edge, without the queen having laid an egg into them yet.
• Queen Excluder Lexikon The queen excluder is a grid made of metal or plastic that is placed between the brood chamber and the honey super.
• Queen Flight Swarm Lexikon The queen flight swarm is a form of swarm pre-emption: the beekeeper divides a colony in swarming mood themselves, instead of waiting for the swarm to issue.
• Queen Marking Lexikon Queen marking is the marking of a queen bee with a small dot of color on the thorax, usually with a lacquer-type marking pen or a glued-on Opalith disc.
• Queen Substance Lexikon Queen substance refers to the pheromone blend produced by the queen mainly in her mandibular glands.
• Queenless Lexikon A bee colony that no longer has a queen is called queenless.
• Queenless Agitation and Queenlessness Krankheiten Queenless roar describes the behavior of a colony that has lost its queen or no longer perceives her as adequate.
• Queenlessness Lexikon Queenlessness means that a colony no longer has a laying queen.
• Queenright Lexikon A bee colony is considered queenright when it has a present, egg-laying queen.

R

• Reading the Scale Hive Arbeiten am Bienenstand A hive scale under a colony replaces many looks into the hive.
• Rear-Access Hive Lexikon The rear-access hive is an older type of hive in which the beekeeper works not from above, as with today's box hive, but from the back of the fixed box.
• Reducing Hive Space Arbeiten am Bienenstand Before winter, every colony gets exactly as much space as it can occupy.
• Reducing the Entrance Arbeiten am Bienenstand Toward autumn, the entrance is reduced to a few centimeters.
• Refractometer Lexikon A refractometer is an optical measuring device with which beekeepers can determine the water content of their honey themselves without having to send a sample to a laboratory.
• Registering Colonies Arbeiten am Bienenstand Anyone wanting to keep bees must notify the responsible authority at the latest when starting the activity, stating the number of colonies and their location.
• Registration Requirement for Beekeepers Lexikon Anyone who wants to keep bees in Germany must notify the competent authority no later than when they start, stating the number of colonies and their location.
• Remainder Colony Lexikon What remains in the hive after a swarm has left: the young bees, the capped brood and the ripening queen cells.
• Removal of dead bees and dead bee fall Verhalten der Bienen A colony carries its dead out. There is therefore always something lying in front of the hive and on the debris board, and the question is never whether, but how much and what.
• Removing Old Combs Arbeiten am Bienenstand Combs are consumable material. With every brood cycle, cocoon residue is left behind, the cells become narrower, and residues and disease pathogens accumulate in the wax.
• Removing the Entrance Wedge Arbeiten am Bienenstand When the colonies are flying strongly again in spring and the brood nest is growing, the winter restriction is opened up.
• Repairs at the Apiary Arbeiten am Bienenstand The broodless period is the workshop season of beekeeping.
• Requeening Arbeiten am Bienenstand A queen is replaced once she is past her second productive year, if the colony is underperforming, if it is unpleasant to work, or if it is noticeably disease-prone.
• Requeening Lexikon The replacement of a colony's queen, either by the colony itself or by the beekeeper.
• Residues in Wax Lexikon Beeswax stores foreign substances particularly reliably because it is built up from lipophilic, that is fat-loving, molecules.
• Resin (Propolis Raw Material) Lexikon The popular name for propolis. Bees collect resin from buds, mainly on poplars and conifers, and mix it with wax and saliva.
• Restricted Zone Lexikon If American foulbrood is officially detected at an apiary, the responsible authority declares the area within a radius of at least one kilometer around that apiary a restricted zone.
• Retinue Lexikon The retinue refers to the group of young nurse bees that constantly surrounds and attends to a bee colony's queen.
• Robbing Krankheiten Robbing refers to bees raiding foreign colonies to steal their stores.
• Robbing Lexikon Robbing is the term for bees breaking into other colonies to steal their stores.
• Round Dance Verhalten der Bienen If the nectar source lies close to the apiary, below about a hundred meters, the forager does not dance a figure eight but runs tight circles, frequently changing direction.
• Royal Jelly Lexikon The brood food from the head glands of the nurse bees, also called queen jelly.

S

• Sacbrood Krankheiten Sacbrood is caused by the sacbrood virus, SBV for short, and is one of the most widespread bee viruses.
• Scenting (Fanning Behavior) Verhalten der Bienen The bee raises her abdomen, pulls back the last tergite, and thereby exposes the Nasonov gland.
• Screened Bottom Board Lexikon The screened bottom board is the lowest part of many modern box hives and consists of a fine-mesh screen instead of a closed wooden floor.
• Second Formic Acid Treatment Arbeiten am Bienenstand The second treatment does not follow a fixed calendar interval but the feeding schedule: it follows once the winter feed is in the colony, usually in early to mid-September.
• Seeding Honey Lexikon In beekeeping, seeding means deliberately mixing small amounts of already finely crystallized honey into liquid honey so that crystallization proceeds in a controlled and even way.
• Segeberger Hive Lexikon The Segeberger hive is a box hive made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), named after the beekeeping school in Bad Segeberg in Schleswig-Holstein and very widespread especially in northern Germany.
• Settling Tank Lexikon The settling tank is a large vessel, usually made of food-grade stainless steel, in which freshly extracted and strained honey can rest for a few days before bottling.
• Shake Test (Honey Ripeness) Lexikon The shake test is a simple practical test with which beekeepers check before the harvest whether the honey in the combs is already ripe enough for extracting.
• Shallow Super Lexikon A shallow box or half box is a box that is lower than the brood box of the same system and accordingly takes lower frames.
• Silent Supersedure Lexikon The queen changeover without swarming and without any intervention by the beekeeper.
• Silent Supersedure Verhalten der Bienen The colony replaces its queen without swarming.
• Skimming Honey Lexikon After extraction the honey runs through a sieve into the bucket and is left to stand there, covered, for a few hours.
• Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida) Krankheiten The Small Hive Beetle Aethina tumida originates from southern Africa and has spread worldwide through trade.
• Smoker Lexikon The smoker, also called a smoke tool or bee pipe, is the classic tool for calming bee colonies during an inspection.
• Solar Wax Melter Lexikon The solar wax melter is a flat box covered with glass or twin-wall panels, in which comb remnants and cappings wax melt using only the heat of the sun.
• Spring Flow Lexikon The spring flow is the first substantial nectar flow of the year that is harvested from.
• Steadiness on the Comb Lexikon Steadiness on the comb describes how calmly the bees stay on the comb when the beekeeper pulls it out.
• Steam Wax Melter Lexikon In the steam wax melter, whole frames are hung or placed inside and melted out with steam.
• Sting Apparatus Lexikon The bee's sting apparatus is a modified ovipositor and therefore occurs only in female bees, that is in worker bees and the queen.
• Stirring Honey Arbeiten am Bienenstand Stirring is done so the honey crystallizes fine and spreadable instead of coarse and hard.
• Stirring Honey (Creaming) Lexikon Stirring honey, or creaming, is a craft technique with which beekeepers deliberately control natural crystallization so that the honey ends up spreadable and finely creamy instead of coarse-grained and hard.
• Stonebrood (Aspergillosis) Krankheiten Stonebrood is a rare but serious fungal disease in the honey bee colony.
• Storing Combs Arbeiten am Bienenstand Combs are stored cool and well ventilated, ideally under 10 degrees Celsius for brood combs and food combs.
• Sulfuring Lexikon Sulfuring means killing an entire bee colony with burning sulfur in the hive.
• Summer Bee Lexikon Summer bees are the workers of the flow season.
• Swarm Lexikon Swarming is the natural reproduction of the bee colony.
• Swarm Cell Lexikon The swarm cell is a queen cell that a bee colony builds proactively when preparing for natural reproduction by swarming.
• Swarm Cluster Lexikon The cluster of bees formed by a swarm that has left the hive, usually on a branch near the parent colony.
• Swarm Control Arbeiten am Bienenstand From cherry blossom until into June, every colony is checked weekly for queen cells; nine days is the outer limit between checks.
• Swarm Control Lexikon Swarm control refers to the regular inspection of a bee colony during the spring and early summer months to detect in time whether it is building swarm cells.
• Swarm Pre-emption Lexikon Swarm pre-emption is a method that imitates a colony's natural swarm departure instead of simply preventing it.
• Swarm Season Verhalten der Bienen Between May and June a strong colony prepares its natural reproduction.

T

• Tau-Fluvalinate Behandlungsmittel Tau-fluvalinate is a synthetic pyrethroid that was introduced into the colony via impregnated strips and was among the most widely used varroacides worldwide in the 1980s and 1990s.
• The Bien (Colony as Superorganism) Lexikon The Bien refers to the bee colony as a whole, that is, not as the sum of individual insects but as a living being in its own right.
• Thymol Behandlungsmittel Thymol is a phenolic substance that occurs naturally in the essential oil of thyme and a number of other flowering plants.
• Thymovar Behandlungsmittel Thymovar consists of impregnated cellulose strips, each containing 15 grams of thymol.
• Top-Bar Hive Lexikon The top-bar hive is a horizontal box with sloping side walls, in which the bees build their comb freely on top bars.
• Total Brood Removal Arbeiten am Bienenstand All the brood is taken from the colony, ideally about two weeks before the nectar flow ends.
• Tracheae Lexikon The bee's respiratory system. Instead of lungs, fine, air-filled tubes run through the entire body and supply every tissue directly with oxygen, independent of the circulation of the hemolymph.
• Tracheal Mite (Acarapisosis) Krankheiten The tracheal mite Acarapis woodi is a tiny parasite, about a tenth of a millimeter in size, that lives in the front pair of tracheae of adult bees.
• TrachtNet Lexikon TrachtNet is not a physical network but a joint measuring network run by the bee institutes of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Bavaria that makes the nectar flow, i.e.
• Transferring Queen Cells Lexikon Caging queen cells means placing capped queen cells in cages so that the queen that emerges first does not sting the others to death.
• Trap Comb Lexikon The trapping comb, sometimes also called a comb cage or queen cage, is a tool of biotechnical, that is, chemical-free Varroa control.
• Trap Comb Method Arbeiten am Bienenstand The queen is confined in a comb cage whose side faces are made of queen excluder.
• Trickle Flow Lexikon Trickle flow refers to the small-scale intake of nectar and pollen spread across many plant species, in which the scale rises only slightly or not at all, while the colony is nonetheless supplied continuously.
• Tropilaelaps Mite Krankheiten Tropilaelaps mites are brood parasites of the honey bee, originally from Asia, where they live on the giant honey bees found there.

U

• Uncapping Lexikon Uncapping means removing the thin wax cappings with which the bees seal ripe honey cells.
• Uniting Colonies Arbeiten am Bienenstand A colony that does not reach sufficient strength by late summer rarely survives the winter.

V

• Varietal Honey Lexikon Varietal honey is honey that comes predominantly from a particular plant species and may therefore be sold with a botanical name such as rapeseed honey, acacia honey, or linden honey.
• VarroMed Behandlungsmittel VarroMed is a ready-to-use dispersion for trickling that combines two organic acids: 44 milligrams of oxalic acid and 5 milligrams of formic acid per milliliter.
• Varroa Board Lexikon The varroa board, also called a diagnostic board, varroa insert or floor insert, is the tool beekeepers use to catch the debris falling from the bee colony.
• Varroa Mite (Varroa destructor) Lexikon The Varroa mite is the most significant parasite of the honey bee.
• Varroa Treatment Concept Lexikon A varroa treatment concept is a plan coordinated across the whole beekeeping year, combining biotechnical measures and authorized treatment products, with which the infestation of a colony by the varroa mite is to be kept below a dangerous threshold.
• Varroosis (Varroa Mite) Krankheiten Varroosis is the disease of a bee colony caused by the mite Varroa destructor.
• Varroxal Behandlungsmittel Varroxal is a powder for use in the hive containing 0.71 gram of oxalic acid per gram, corresponding to 1 gram of oxalic acid dihydrate per gram.
• Ventilating Verhalten der Bienen The colony keeps its brood nest at about 35 degrees, regardless of the weather outside.
• Veterinary Medicinal Products Lexikon Any product used to treat a disease in a bee colony is a veterinary medicinal product and must have gone through a state authorization procedure.
• Veterinary Office (Germany) Lexikon The veterinary office of the district or independent city is, for the beekeeper, the responsible authority in all matters of disease control law.
• Vitellogenin Lexikon Vitellogenin is a protein that serves as a yolk precursor in many animals.

W

• Waggle Dance Verhalten der Bienen A returning forager runs a figure eight on the vertical comb and waggles her abdomen during the straight middle section.
• Waggle Dance Lexikon The dance language for more distant nectar sources.
• Warm-Way and Cold-Way Lexikon Warm way and cold way describe how the combs inside a hive are aligned relative to the entrance.
• Warré Hive Lexikon The Warré hive goes back to the French priest and beekeeper Émile Warré, who described it as the Ruche Populaire, or people's hive.
• Wash Method (Mite Count) Lexikon The alcohol wash, also called the washing method, is considered particularly accurate among the common methods for determining Varroa infestation.
• Wasps Krankheiten The common wasp and the German wasp hunt insects in late summer, including honey bees.
• Water Collecting Verhalten der Bienen Bees collect water to digest pollen and mix brood food, to regulate humidity in the hive, and to cool the colony in heat.
• Water Content in Honey Lexikon Water content is one of the most important quality characteristics of honey, because it shows whether the bees have thickened the nectar or honeydew sufficiently and whether the beekeeper has extracted honey that was harvested ripe.
• Wax Adulteration Lexikon Beeswax is occasionally adulterated with cheaper substances, in recent times above all with stearin and paraffin, and formerly also with tallow.
• Wax Cycle Lexikon The wax cycle refers to the path of beeswax within a beekeeping operation: the bees build out combs, the beekeeper cuts worn-out or surplus combs out of the frames, melts them down and has new foundation cast from them, which is hung back into the colonies.
• Wax Foundation Lexikon A thin, embossed sheet of wax that is fused into a frame as a building template.
• Wax Gland Lexikon Workers have eight paired wax glands on the underside of the abdomen, one on each of the ventral scales of the third to sixth segments.
• Wax Scale Lexikon Wax scales are the small, colorless and translucent flakes of wax that a worker bee exudes on the underside of her abdomen.
• Weighing Colonies Arbeiten am Bienenstand Instead of estimating the food stores, they can be calculated.
• Weisel (Queen) Lexikon The queen of a bee colony and the only fully developed female bee in it.
• Winter Bee Lexikon Winter bees are the workers reared in late summer and early autumn that carry the colony through the winter.
• Winter Cluster Verhalten der Bienen When outside temperatures drop to about 8 to 10 degrees, the bees pack tightly together and form a ball.
• Winter Starvation Krankheiten Food shortage in winter is one of the most common causes of loss and, at the same time, one of the most preventable.
• Wintering Lexikon Wintering preparation is everything that prepares a colony for the cold season after the last honey harvest.
• Wiring In Foundation Arbeiten am Bienenstand Frames are strung with wire and foundation is fixed onto it, so the bees build straight, load-bearing comb and the combs later survive extraction.
• Withdrawal Period Lexikon The withdrawal period is the length of time that must pass after the last application of a veterinary medicinal product before products from the treated animal may be placed on the market.
• Worker Bee Lexikon Workers are the female bees that do the everyday work in the colony.

Z

• Zander Lexikon The Zander size is one of the most commonly used frame sizes in Germany and was developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by the zoologist and bee researcher Enoch Zander together with the beekeeper Johann Merz.