Mating Yard
A mating yard is a term for an apiary which consists primarily of queen mating nucs and hives which raise drones. A queen bee must mate in order to lay fertilized eggs, which develop into workers and other queens, which are both female. Queens can lay eggs parthenogenetically, but these will always develop into drones (males). Mating nucs A mating yard allows dozens of queens to mate and begin to lay. The hives in a mating yard are primarily mating nucs or drone producing hives. Mating nucs are smaller than normal nucs, often containing non self-sustaining numbers of bees. The beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ... will replenish the workers in a mating nuc by shaking additional bees into mating nucs when their population is running low. Drone producing h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apiary
An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where Beehive (beekeeping), beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to a hobbyist's hives or those used for commercial or educational usage. It can also be a wall-less, roofed structure, similar to a gazebo which houses hives, or an enclosed structure with an opening that directs the flight path of the bees. History Apiaries have been found in ancient Egypt from prior to 2422 BCE where hives were constructed from moulded mud. Throughout history apiaries and bees have been kept for honey and pollination purposes all across the globe. Due to the definition of apiary as a location where hives are kept, its history can be traced as far back as that of beekeeping itself. Etymology The first known usage of the word "apiary" was in 1654. The base of the word comes from the Latin word "apis" meaning "bee", lea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Queen Bee
A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. There is normally only one adult, mated queen in a hive, in which case the bees will usually follow and fiercely protect her. The term "queen bee" can be more generally applied to any dominant reproductive female in a colony of a eusocial bee species other than honey bees. However, as in the Brazilian stingless bee ('' Schwarziana quadripunctata''), a single nest may have multiple queens or even dwarf queens, ready to replace a dominant queen in case of a sudden death. Development During the warm parts of the year, female "worker" bees leave the hive every day to collect nectar and pollen. While male bees serve no architectural or pollinating ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Worker Bee
A worker bee is any female bee that lacks the reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee and carries out the majority of tasks needed for the functioning of the hive. While worker bees are present in all eusocial bee species, the term is rarely used (outside of scientific literature) for bees other than honey bees, particularly the European honey bee (''Apis mellifera''). Worker bees of this variety are responsible for approximately 80% of the world's crop pollination services. Worker bees are the caste of bee that perform most of the fundamental tasks of the hive, and they are by far the most numerous type of bee. They are much smaller than drones or queen bees, with bodies specialized for nectar and pollen collection. They perform different tasks around the hive progressively over their lifespans in a predictable order based on their age. Worker bees gather pollen in the pollen baskets on their back legs and carry it back to the hive where it is used as food for the devel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek + ) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which the embryo develops directly from an egg without need for fertilization. In animals, parthenogenesis means the development of an embryo from an unfertilized Gametophyte, egg cell. In plants, parthenogenesis is a component process of apomixis. In algae, parthenogenesis can mean the development of an embryo from either an individual sperm or an individual egg. Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in some plants, algae, invertebrate animal species (including nematodes, some tardigrades, water fleas, some scorpions, aphids, some mites, some bees, some Phasmatodea, and parasitic wasps), and a few vertebrates, such as some fish, amphibians, and reptiles. This type of reproduction has been induced artificially in animal species that naturally reproduce through sex, including fish, amphibians, and mice. Normal egg cells form in the process of meiosis and are haploid, with half as many chromosomes as t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Beekeeper
A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper owns the hives or boxes and associated equipment. The bees are free to forage or leave (Swarming (honey bee), swarm) as they desire. Bees usually return to the beekeeper's hive as the hive presents a clean, dark, sheltered home. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin ''Wiktionary:apis, apis'', bee; cf. apiary). Purposes of beekeeping Value of honey bees Honey bees produce commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly. Some beekeepers also raise Queen (bee), queens and other bees to sell to other farmers, and to satisfy scientific curiosity. Beekeepers also use honeybees to provide pollination services to fruit and vegetable growers. Many people keep ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drone Congregation Area
A drone congregation area is an aerial region where honeybee drones and virgin queens gather to mate. Makeup Drone congregation areas are typically about in diameter and above ground. They have the shape of an upward-pointing cone, with the drone density being lower towards the top. The boundaries are sharply defined: drones will not mate with queens even slightly outside the area. Over the course of a day, approximately 12,000 drones visited one drone congregation area, and the drones represented at any one congregation area can be from hundreds of different colonies. However, these population numbers are highly variable depending on circumstances. Geographical features It is not known exactly why drone congregation areas have the locations they do, or how bees locate them. However, there is considerable evidence that they depend on static features of the landscape. Drones will congregate in these areas even in the absence of queens, and stay in similar areas year-to- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |