First Lessons in Beekeeping: Honey Bee Biology

Learn about bee biology as a prerequisite to successful beekeeping

Honey Bee Biology

The honey bee larva is an undistinguished white grub and quite active although this movement is undetectable to a casual observer.

Being Chapters 1 and 2 of FIRST LESSONS IN BEEKEEPING
by Keith S. Delaplane
Submitted to the Bee Health Community of Practice for use as an e-bulletin
Reproduced with permission by the publishers Dadant & Sons, Hamilton, Illinois, USA. Copyright ©, 2007

These chapters cover some of the necessary bee biology information needed to make informed management decisions. As Keith Delaplane says in his book,”It is safe to say that the bees’ agenda are not necessarily the beekeeper’s. The one is interested in securing a large honey supply to ensure the colony’s survival and ability to reproduce itself. The other is interested in securing a large honey crop to sell at the market. Both goals involve large honey supplies, but the beekeeper wants to accomplish this without permitting colony-level reproduction which is a road-block to maximum honey crops. A solid grounding in bee biology is necessary to be a successful beekeeper.

A few images from other sources have been added to the First Lessons text and are indicated within the web-pages. We hope you enjoy and learn from the following pages from First Lessons in Beekeeping

• Table of Contents
  • Subspecies: The Place of Honey Bees in the World
  • The Place of Beekeeping in the World
  • Biology of Individual Honey Bees
  • Biology of the Honey Bee Colony

Source:
Chapters 1 and 2 of “First Lessons in Beekeeping” by Keith S. Delaplane, reproduced with permission by the publishers Dadant & Sons, Hamilton, Illinois, USA, Copyright, 2007. This book can be purchased in its entirety from Dadant & Sons