Basic Beekeepers More Details
- You need to know:
- What care should you take when handling a colony?
- Reaction of honey bees to smoke
- Preparations to open hive
- Why is apiary hygiene important?
- Why do bees need to store honey?
- Why do we need to keep records?
- You need to show you can:
- Open a colony of bees calmly
- Demonstrate the lighting of the smoker and how to use it.
- Manipulate the frames using the hive tool.
- Remove frames and identify worker, drone and queen cells if present.
- Comment on the state of the comb
- Identify females castes and the drones
- Identify brood at all stages
- Demonstrate the difference between drone, worker and stores cappings.
- Identify the stored nectar, honey and pollen.
- Take a sample of worker bees into a suitable container.
- State the number of workers required for disease diagnosis.
- Shake bees from the comb and look for brood diseases.
- Name the principal parts of the hive.
- Assemble a brood frame with wired wax foundation
- Explain the importance of bee spacing and how it is achieved
- You may also be asked to:
- Explain the development of queens, workers and drones
- Explain how long the various castes spend at each stage
- Name the local flora and describe how the bees collect the nectar.