BEEKEEPING TERMINOLOGY - words we use

[beemaster]

Here is a link originally posted by Manowar (thanks) and well worth passing on as a STICKY in the forum main page. Thanks to the people who host the page where these terms are found too...

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/glossary.html

[KONASDAD]

Newbie from South Jersey and apreciate your site immensely. A glossary is great, but wat I have the most problems w/ are the initials not found in glossaries generally. Such as SHB,  and SMR to name a few. There more i cant think of at the moment, but thanx in advance to whomever helps us beginners.

[fredtioga]

Michael Bush's reply to my request posted mar 29 2005 covers many abreviations.

[buzzbeejr]

great site john. thats where my bee class instructer told us to go.
did you know the psu stands for penn state university?

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesglossary.htm

[Mici]

hmmm, are you sure that the last part is correct???
Honeydew - a sweet liquid excreted by aphids, leaflioppers, and some scale insects that is col lected by bees, especially in the absence of a good source of nectar.

i think, i'd have to disagree with this one, since aphids aren't active all year long, they also give honey flows

[Jerrymac]

http://www.answers.com/honeydew&r=67

hon·ey·dew (hŭn'ē-dū', -dyū') pronunciation
n.

   1. A sweet sticky substance excreted by various insects, especially aphids, on the leaves of plants.
   2. A sweet exudate similar to honeydew on the leaves of plants.
   3. A honeydew melon.

[Mici]

NUC
th word that boggles my mind everytime i hear it!! even in our language we have some...issues about the word that's the closest to your Nuc.

ok so a NUC, a nucleous, what are the specifics that make a hive only a NUC. i know it has to be small and non-honey harvestable, or can it?
would the most appropriate term for a nuc be-a reserve colony???

so, the most common nuc-hive box is what? a 5 frame LR deep, right? but..given the volume and all...let say...Brians hive could just as well serve one as a nuc, right? i mean, the volume of an 8 frame medium..is close to equvivalent to 5 frame deep right?

basicly, you call a nuc every hive, from which you don't expect to harvest honey from, right?

[Brian D. Bray]

Nuc: from nucleous (a center or core), a small beehive used for starting a hive or in rearing queens usually 3-5 frames in width.  Nucs are also used for holding extra queens and as bait hives for swarm collection.  I have a neighbor who is 94 and started beekeeping in 1945--he uses all medium 5 frame nuc boxes for everything--even harvesting his honey.  But, yes, one does not usually expect to harvest honey from a nuc hive.

A hive with 8 or more frames is considered a full sized hive even if it only has 1 box.  My Nucs are 5 frame mediums boxes.  The 2 splits I did in July were each put into a 5 frame medium box--2 frames brood, 2 frame honey/pollen and 1 foundationless frame.  Those 2 nucs are now on their 2nd box for a total of 10 medium frames each. 
When I add more to these 2 nucs in the spring I will put each 1 into a 2 tier 8 frame placing the brood frames in the center of both boxes with empty frames on the outside of each box.

[Michael Bush]

As Brian says, anything less than a full fledged colony, but having all the essentials of one is a nuc.  Meaning it has honey, pollen, open brood, capped brood, emerging brood, nurse bees, field bees and a queen.  But all in less than normal amounts so that it can build up to a real hive eventually.

[Michael Bush]

BTW as far as I know the term "nucleus" hive was coined by L.L. Langstroth in "The Hive and the Honey Bee". 

[thebeeladyintn]

Pingers

A term that I use to describe guard bees than ping the veil, even though they have been smoked.  Once in a while, there is always the rouge pinger.

With kind regards,

the bee lady in TN

[BEES4U]

LOB - Low on bees.
X - Cross or mean bees
SWM - Swarm
VQ - Virgin queen
+ Q - Plus a queen
- Q - minus a queen
8 F - Eight frames of bees
FQ - Failing queen
PH - Pulled honey
SWF - Supered with foundation.
SWC - Supered with comb.
F - Feeder
Regards,
Ernie

[Michael Bush]

And here is a dictionary:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesterms.htm

[G Bees]

Very useful information when speaking the bee language.  Very helpful.  Thank you for listing.
GB...Gerald Barrett   

[shakd]

Great thread!! Keep it up everyone!

[deanmontford]

Very informative 

[beequeensro]

Hi,
here you can find a polyglot dictionary (in english,romanian,french,italian,spanish):
http://world.proapicultura.ro/dictionar_poliglot/englez/poliglot_en.htm

or an bilingual beekeeping dictionary, in english and romanian:
http://world.proapicultura.ro/dictionar_apicol/dictionar_apicol.htm

I hope it will help.

[greg755]

Most of the words I use are not on the list...  

[iddee]

greg, this list is for when they are NOT stinging.