Honeybees and honey Flashcards
Bees are bred and kept by humans for two main purposes, they are?
- Honey and related products
- Pollination
Describe the activity of a hive throughout the year
Active hives only between spring and autumn when food is available. Over winter the queen and workers reduce their metabolic activity and survive on the honey reserves they produced during summer
Describe the different bees in a colony
- One queen
- Thousands of workers (females)
- Hundreds of drones (males; in summer)
What is the role of drones?
- Just flies out and mates with another queen from another hive
- When resources are low the males are kicked out of the hive and killed
Describe the life cycle of a bee
Starts as an egg born by the queen placed at the bottom of one of the wells, develops into larva, pupa and adult.
21 d cycle for workers and drones
16 d cycle for queens
Why do humans use and consume beehive products?
- Food
- Health / medicine (wound dressing, cold treatment)
- “Wellness”
What is propolis?
Glue from tree resin, data on this being used in medicine
Name the 3 beehive products that can be consumed
Nectar, pollen and propolis
Name all of the beehive products
- Honey
- Wax
- Royal jelly
- Pollen
- Propolis
- Bee venom
What is the UK/EU definition of honey
The natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the:
- Nectar of plants
- Secretions of living parts of plants
- Excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants (honeydew)
Describe natural honey collection
- Collected by the bee in the crop which is enlarged
- Transported to the beehive, transferred to workers and stored in the honeycomb where water content is reduced from 70% to 20%.
- Cell then capped with a layer of wax.
What are some considerations when removing honey?
- Honey is the bee’s winter food reserve; they do not appreciate it being removed!
- Leave enough for the hive too and/or replace with sugar syrup or fondant
How is the water content of honey tested?
Using a refractometer to test the water content by specific gravity
What are the 3 different ways of collecting honey?
- On the honeycomb
- By centrifugation manual or electric
- By pressing/mashed (heather honey)
How is debris and contaminants removed from honey?
Filtration after mild heating