Tag: apiculture

Four sets of wax glands, situated inside the last four ventral segments of the abdomen, produce wax for comb construction. Wax bees build cells from wax, repair old cells, and store nectar and pollen brought in by other workers. Early in the worker bee's career, she will exude wax from the space between several of her abdominal segments. 

The crop also called as honey stomach or honey sack is a specialized part of foregut. It is similar to distensible sack. The main function of the crop is transport and storage of liquid food (water, nectar and honeydew). Another function of crop is uptake of water from its lumen. 

Honey bee queen control the sex of their offspring as eggs pass through the ovary into the oviduct, a queen can determine whether a particular egg is fertilized or not. Unfertilized eggs become drone honey bees, while fertilized eggs develop into female workers and queens. Female workers do not mate, but they can lay infertile eggs, which in turn become male honey bees.

Propolis or bee glue is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used for sealing unwanted open spaces in the hive. Propolis is used for small gaps while larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax. Propolis is sticky at and above room temperature, 20$^o$C (68$^o$F). At lower temperatures, it becomes hard and very brittle.

Honey is made using the nectar of flowering plants and is saved inside the beehive for eating during times of scarcity. Nectar is extracted from flowers using a bee's long, tube-shaped tongue and stored in its extra stomach, or crop. While in the crop, the nectar mixes with enzymes that transform its chemical composition and pH, making it more suitable for long-term storage.

The honey bees exhibit 2 types of dance to communicate the location of food - the round dance and the tail-wagging or waggle dance.

A worker bee is any female bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee. They are smaller, their abdomens are shorter, and on their hind legs they possess pollen baskets, which are used to carry pollen back from the field. The life span of worker bee is six weeks during the colony's active season. However, worker bees live longer (four to eight months) during the less active winter months.

If the new source of food is farther from the hive than 75-100 meters, the returned scout performs a dance which follows a figure-eight course while the abdomen is being wagged or laterally vibrated (upright down tail waving dance). The dancer's speed is a function of the nearness of the supply. In a quarter minute she executes 9 to 10 full figures if she has flown in from only 100 meters. 

Levulose is a simple sugarfound in honey and in many ripe fruits. Its a sirupy variety of sugar, rarely obtained in crystallized form present widely in honey.