Honey Hygiene

Question 1

Describe the organisation and structure of honey production.

Answer 1

Queen (lays eggs)

Drones (males, mate with queens)

Workers (female, do everything else)

Question 2

Understand the compositional characteristics of honey, their pharmacological properties and how these relate to the uses of honey.

Answer 2

• Low water activity(aw) restricts microbial growth
• H2O2 in some honey
• Hundreds of bioactive compounds which have overlapping spectra of antimicrobial action

Question 3

Describe the main microbiological and pharmacological residue issues associated with honey

Answer 3

• May contain viable Cl. botulinum - do not feed honey to children under 12m as immature gut microflora cannot comepete
• Risk of pesticide residues - organophosphates , organochlorines

Question 4

Give 4 notifiable diseases of bees

Answer 4

European Foul Brood
American Foul Brood
Tropilaeplaps
Small hive beetle

Question 5

Describe the lifecycle of a honey bee

Answer 5

• Egg laid in hexagonal wax cell and hatch into larvae

- Workers cap cells when larvae ready to pupate

Question 6

Describe the difference in cells of the three be categories

Answer 6

Queen - large hangs off edge
Drone - domed cap
Worker - Flat cap

Question 7

Describe the difference in cells of the three bee categories

Answer 7

Queen - large hangs off edge
Drone - domed cap
Worker - Flat cap

Question 8

Describe the process of honey bee feeding

Answer 8

Nectar:
Mainly sucrose.
Invertase converts sucrose to glucose and fructose.

Nectar regurgitated into storage cells.

Pollen collected in ‘baskets’ and packed down into cells by worker ‘house’ bees.

Question 9

Describe the honey extraction process

Answer 9

Take a knife, scrape off the honey cappings and place into a centrifugal extractor
Can eat the wax as well as the honey

Question 10

What percentage water should honey have to reduce fermentation issues ?

Answer 10

20%

Question 11

What percentage water should honey have to reduce fermentation issues ?

Answer 11

20%

Question 12

Describe European Foulbrood in bees

Answer 12

M.plutonius
Brood exhibits shotgun pattern
Dead larvae, brown tan comour and melted appearance
(healthy larvae should be c shaped and pearl coloured)

Question 13

Describe American Foulbrood in bees

Answer 13

Paenibacillus larvae
- Brood die after being capped
- Ropiness test - melting of larvae results in them becoming string like
Descroy colony and burn equipment

Question 14

Describe the Tropilaelaps mite in bees

Answer 14

Parasitic mites affecting both developing brood and adult honey bees
Can cause abnormal brood development and death of both brood and bees

Question 15

Descrive the small hive beetle in bees

Answer 15

A.tumida
Larvae eat wax, pollen, honey, bee brood, and eggs
Contaminate honey causing fermentation
Good husbandry effective defence