I have fallen in love with bee keeping and thought I would share what I know about it so that I can spread my interest around. Before I get into the benefits of bee keeping for the environment, the financial gains that can be attained, how to get into the industry and the requirements for good bee keeping, I am going to give a glossary of terms in this hub so that you can understand bee keeping jargon and terms. I will explain everything else in upcoming hubs.

Apiary - Place and location where bees are kept by bee keepers.

Bee wax - Used by bees to build their combs.

Brood Chamber - Area of hive in which breeding takes place.

Colony - A group of bees consisting of a queen, workers and drones.

Cover - That section of the hive which is protected from sun and rain.

Drones - Male bees within the colony.

Foundation Mill - Equipment that makes sheets of wax for bee hives that teaches bees how to construct their cells.

Frames - Movable parts inside each hive consisting of combs.

Hive - This is where bees live.

Hive Body - The part of the hive which contains the frames.

Honey - Honey is a substance made by bee's that is made up of nectar with between 17 - 21% moisture.

Honey Extractor - Device used to remove honey from frames/combs.

Pollen - Used by bees to provide protein for baby bees.

Pollen Trap - Device used to collect honey from the hive.

Propolis - Gum like substance which is generated by trees and collected by bees to block off the entrance of the hive from intruders. It is also used to mummify dead bees that the worker bees cannot remove from the hive.

Queen - The queen is the mother of all bees and is generally the only mated female in the Hive.

Queen Excluder - A device used to stop the Queen Bee from moving up to the Super to lay.

Royal Jelly - Produced by worker bees and fed to the Queen Bee.

Super - A hive body which has been fitted with frames within the brood chamber to collect honey

Supering - Adding frames within a brood chamber to collect honey.

Swarming - Process of splitting a hive. The Queen Bee will leave her hive with workers and drones and leave a younger queen with her workers and drones.

Top Bar - Combs are built on these movable bars.

Venom - Toxin that is generated and injected by a bee into a bee's victim

Workers - Infertile female bees within a hive.