Pets

Bees (Apoidea superfamily) are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. There are approximately 20,000 species of bees, and they may be found on every continent except Antarctica. Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used for food for the brood.

Bees have a long proboscis that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. Bees have antennae made up of thirteen segments in males and twelve in females. They have two pairs of wings, the back pair being the smaller of the two.

Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are called pollinators. Bees may focus on gathering nectar or on gathering pollen, depending on their greater need at the time. Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of this accomplished by bees.

Bees are fuzzy and carry an electrostatic charge, thus aiding in the adherence of pollen. Bees periodically stop foraging and groom themselves to pack the pollen into specialized pollen baskets which are on the legs of honeybees and some other species, and on the ventral abdomen on other species.

Bees are extremely important as pollinators in agriculture, with contract pollination having overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. Monoculture and pollinator decline have increasingly caused honeybee keepers to become migratory so that bees can be concentrated in areas of pollination need at the appropriate season. Many other species of bees are increasingly cultured and used to meet agricultural pollination need. Bees also play a major, though not always understood, role in providing food for birds and wildlife. Many of these bees survive in refuge in wild areas away from agricultural spraying, only to be poisoned in massive spray programs for mosquitoes, gypsy moths, or other pest insects.

Many species of bees are poorly known. The smallest bee is a dwarf bee (Trigona minima) and it is about 2.1 mm (5/64") long. The largest bee in the world is the Megachile pluto, which can be as large as 39 mm (1.5").


Beekeeping (or apiculture, from Latin apis, a bee) is the practice of intentional maintenance of honeybee hives by humans. A beekeeper may keep bees in order to collect honey and beeswax, or for the purpose of pollinating crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. A location where bees are kept is called an apiary.

There are several types of beekeepers:

* Hobbyists ? They have a different day job but find beekeeping fun as just a hobby.
   
* Sideliners ? Basically, sideliners have other income but moonlight as "beekeepers" for extra money.
   
* Commercial ? Beekeeping is their only source of income.


Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of food production. Some of the earliest evidence of beekeeping is from rock painting, dating to around 13,000 BC.

Traditionally beekeeping was done for the bees' honey harvest, although nowadays crop pollination service can often provide a greater part of a commercial beekeeper's income. Other hive products are pollen, royal jelly and propolis, which are also used for nutritional and medicinal purposes, and wax which is used in candlemaking, cosmetics, wood polish and for modelling. The modern use of hive products has changed little since ancient time.

The modern hobby beekeeper is more likely to be a suburbanite: he or she tends to be a member of an active bee club, and is well-versed on modern techniques.

Success for the hobbyist also depends on locating the apiary so bees have a good nectar source and pollen source throughout the year.

In the Southern Hemisphere, beekeeping is an all-the-year-round enterprise, although in cooler areas (to the south of Australia and New Zealand) the activity may be minimal in the winter (May to August). Consequently, the movement of commercial hives is more localised in these areas.


Protective clothing

When interacting with the bees, novice beekeepers usually wear protective clothing (including gloves and a hooded suit or hat and veil). Experienced beekeepers do not use gloves because they make movement clumsy and can transmit disease from one hive to another. The face and neck are the most important areas to protect, so most beekeepers will at least wear a veil. Bees are calmed with a puff of smoke, triggering a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to fire and masking any alarm pheromone, before the beekeeper opens the hive. Knowledge of bee behavior is the beekeeper's first line of defense. Smoke is the beekeepers second line of defense; protective clothing provides remarkably little protection from agitated bees.


The bees are usually kept in a Langstroth hive, also called a super, which is a wooden box filled with frames that each hold a sheet of wax or plastic foundation. The bees produce wax and build honeycomb using the wax sheets as a starting point, after which they may raise brood or deposit honey and pollen in the cells of the comb. These frames can be freely manipulated and honey supers with frames full of honey can be taken and extracted for their honey crop. The more traditional skep is now largely unlawful in the United States, as the comb and brood cannot be inspected for diseases.

A few hobby beekeepers are adapting various top-bar hives commonly found in Africa. These have no frames and the honey filled comb is not returned to the hive after extraction, as it is in the Langstroth hive. Because of this the production of honey in a top bar hive is only about 20% that of a Langstroth hive, but the initial costs and equipment requirements are far lower. Top-bar hives also offer some advantages in interacting with the bees.