Topic One - An Introduction to Beekeeping

Interesting Thought: Honeybees make the best farmers and foresters. They can make something (honey) without destroying anything. They help the trees and plants that they visit.

Objectives

To develop an interest in honeybees and beekeeping
To learn some of the history of beekeeping
To learn some of the reasons why people keep bees
To think about some of the reasons some people might not want to keep bees
To learn some of the reasons why the Solomon Islands is a good place to keep bees

Key Words:

Honey Bee – a flying insect that makes honey. Bees live together in a large family or colony.

Beekeeping (Apiculture) – the work of raising and keeping honeybees

Beeswax – the wax that bees make to build the comb.

Colony – a family of bees that live together in one place

Comb – comb is made by the bees out of beeswax. It has many small holes called cells. The bees use comb for storing honey. The queen also lays eggs in the cells

Hive – the place where a colony of honeybees live. It maybe a natural place like a tree or hollow log or it may be wooden boxes made by a beekeeper.

Honey – a sweet sticky liquid that bees make from the nectar they collect from flowers

Nectar – the sweet liquid that bees collect from flowers to make honey.

Pollination - The movement of pollen from the male part of a plant to the female part of a plant. Honeybees do this when they visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen.

Pollen – a coloured powder that bees collect and use to feed the bee larvae (baby bees). It is made in the male part of the flower and is needed by the plant to make seeds.