Glossary
Terms and abbreviations used on this website.
ADR – see Annual Disease Return.
AFB – see American foulbrood.
AFB NPMP – the American Foulbrood National Pest Management Plan, as per section 54 (‘Pest Management’) of the Biosecurity Act 1993. The Biosecurity Act confers certain powers on NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity for the implementation of the AFB NPMP in an effort to eliminate American Foulbrood from New Zealand.
American foulbrood (AFB) – a brood disease of honey bees caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae larvae.
Annual Disease Return (ADR) – an annual statutory declaration in which a beekeeper confirms and updates their apiary location details, reports all cases of AFB found in their beehives during the preceding 12 months and records all hives, purchases, and sales. ADR is a legal requirement of the AFB NPMP for all beekeepers in New Zealand.
Apiary – The exact location where one or more beehives owned by a beekeeper are kept for more than 30 consecutive days, provided the place is more than 100m from any other such place occupied by beehives belonging to the same beekeeper.
Apiary Quarantine – a beekeeping management technique where each apiary is managed separately, without any interchange of equipment between apiaries; to reduce the spread of AFB.
Approved Beekeeper – a beekeeper with a Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement (DECA) with NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity, in adherence to the AFB NPMP.
Area Quarantine – a beekeeping management technique where apiaries in a certain area are managed as a unit, without any interchange of equipment with other units to reduce the spread of AFB.
Beehive – a structure constructed for the keeping of honey bees and is either being used for that purpose or has in the past been used for that purpose. It also includes the supers, bottom board and other equipment used together to contain a honey bee colony. This includes both nucs and mating nucs.
Biosecurity Act 1993 – an Act of Parliament used to implement the AFB NPMP.
Bottom Board – a specially constructed board that the brood boxes sit on to create an entrance that the bees use to exit and enter the hive.
Brood – honey bees during any of the developmental stages (eggs, larvae and pupae) before the adult stage.
Brood Box – box or boxes used to contain brood combs. The queen bee is confined to the brood box (see Super).
Brood Cappings– the covering over a cell containing a larva before the larva pupates.
Capped Brood – brood in the prepupal and pupal stage after the larvae are sealed by brood capping.
Cappings – the wax covering that bees put over cells once the cells have become full of honey. This is also the name of the by-product that results from uncapping frames for honey extraction.
Certificate of Inspection (COI) – an annual statutory declaration under the AFB NPMP that all colonies on all apiaries owned by a beekeeper without a DECA have been inspected for AFB by an approved beekeeper.
COI – see Certificate of Inspection.
Colony – a group of honey bees living in a beehive. Does not include a queen honey bee and attendant worker honey bees for the time being held in a mailing cage or an introduction cage.
Commercial Beekeeper – a beekeeper whose main source of income originates from beekeeping.
Composite Samples – samples collected from multiple sources that are combined prior to testing by either the beekeeper (for the completion of a field test) or by a laboratory technician for a laboratory test.
Contaminated Colony – a colony during the incubation period of the disease. Signs are not visible yet, but a test can confirm whether an infection will develop.
Culture Test – time-consuming laboratory test where samples of brood, adult bees or bee products are processed by the laboratory technician before being inoculated onto an agar plate and incubated to allow the germination of AFB spores and the growth of the vegetative state of the AFB bacteria. This was the traditional way to verify the presence of AFB in the laboratory.
DECA – see Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement.
Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement (DECA) – a voluntary agreement entered into by a beekeeper with NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity which specifies the practices and procedures the beekeeper shall adhere to in their effort to reduce the incidence of AFB and eliminate it from their operation. In return, NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity grants an Exemption from the annual Certificate of Inspection (COI) obligation.
Division Board – a thin board with rims that is used to divide a beehive into halves to make tops. Division boards are also often used as hive mats.
Dump Site – a place where beehives are brought together, either just before or just after they are used in an orchard for pollination.
Drawn Comb – a frame that the bees have built out with a comb. This usually refers to an empty comb.
Drift – the natural movement of bees from their hive of origin to another hive within the same apiary.
EFB – see European foulbrood.
European foulbrood – an Exotic, extremely contagious brood disease of honey bees caused by the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius.
Extraction, Extractor – the process of removing honey from frames, using a machine that applies centrifugal force to the frames (called an “extractor”).
Feed Honey – combs containing honey that a beekeeper retains over winter and puts back into hives in the spring.
Feral Colonies – colonies of honey bees that exist in the wild and are not managed by a beekeeper.
Foundation – thin, purpose-made beeswax sheets imprinted with a hexagonal pattern. The foundation is put into frames and then placed in the beehive where the bees build wax comb on top of the foundation (called “drawing out”). May also be made of plastic which beekeepers may brush with melted beeswax.
Frame – the wooden surround of a comb found in a beehive. Also the entire structure (wood and comb). A frame may also be made of plastic.
Half-moon Syndrome – a group of symptoms caused by a nutritional disorder of the virgin queen that shows characteristics closely resembling the symptoms of EFB. No organism has ever been found that produces this syndromes signs.
Hive Mat – a cover underneath the weather-proof lid of the beehive. Usually made either of plastic sacking, plywood or particle board.
Hive Quarantine – a beekeeping management technique where each honey bee colony is managed by itself, with no interchange of equipment between hives to control the spread of AFB.
Hive Tool – a purpose-built lever and scraper used by beekeepers to pry apart supers and help remove frames.
Hobbyist – a beekeeper who doesn’t keep bees for a living.
Honey Super – a box and frames used mainly or only during the honey production part of the year. These are put above the queen excluders and are used exclusively to collect honey. Honey supers are removed when they are full and taken back to the beekeeper’s shed to be extracted and stored.
Hygienic Behaviour – a genetic trait that allows nursing bees to identify and remove any sick/dead larvae in capped brood.
Inapparent Infection – a subclinical or non-visible infection of AFB.
Incidence of AFB – the number of honey bee colonies found with AFB compared with the total number of colonies in a population. AFB incidence is often calculated on an annual basis.
AFB Incidence = total number of colonies infected with AFB divided by the total number of colonies.
Larva (plural: larvae) – The first developmental stage of a honey bee once the egg(s) has hatched. This stage is 5 days in duration and the first three days is the period during which brood can become infected with AFB.
Laying Workers – an abnormality caused when the colony loses its queen and another queen is not produced. Worker bees develop their rudimentary ovaries and begin laying unfertilised eggs which become drones. This results in many eggs being laid in each cell.
Lid – the weather-proof cover and top of a beehive. Some are made of wood with metal, metal only or full plastic.
Mummies – the dried-down remains of larvae infected with chalkbrood.
Nuc, Nucleus – a small beehive, generally consisting of 4 frames, in a purpose-built super (called a “nuc box”). Nucs are often used in queen rearing (called “mating nucs”).
NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity (previously The Management Agency) – the organisation that administers and implements the American Foulbrood National Pest Management Plan (AFB NPMP) under the Biosecurity Act 1993.
Outbreak – a situation in which AFB is found at much higher than normal levels in an apiary, beekeeping outfit, or georgraphical location.
Package Bees – a broodless nucleus colony, comprised of a caged queen and an artificial swarm of bees in a screened shipping carton.
Paenibacillus larvae – the bacterium that causes AFB. Previously the bacterium was known as Bacillus larvae, but scientists have now determined that the organism should be in its own unique genus (Paenibacillus). (Also see American Foulbrood.)
Pollen Mites – tiny scavenger mites that feed on pollen in stored combs and produce a fine powder of pollen that covers cell walls and falls to the bottom of stacks of stored supers.
Prepupa – a larva laying out along the bottom wall of a cell before pupation. AFB symptoms are often identified at this stage.
Pupa (plural: pupae) – the final stage of development of the honey bee when brood takes on the adult form before emerging as an adult bee. AFB symptoms can be found at both the pupal and prepupal stages.
Pupates; Pupation – the process of change from a larva into a pupa.
Quarantine – the isolation of a population or gear that might carry a disease so that the disease will not have the chance to spread.
Quarantine apiary - an apiary subject to both an increased frequency of AFB inspections and a reduced level of hive manipulation to ensure that any subclinical cases of AFB can be identified before they spread to other apiaries.
Quarantine period – the time period that quarantine measures are to be implemented. These are typically twice the length of the disease incubation period.
Queen Cell – a specially built cell the bees produce that holds a developing queen bee. Also the ‘wax cell’ either before or after it holds a developing queen.
Queen Excluder – a purpose-built device made of small wire or plastic grids that are small enough not to allow a queen to pass through, but which do not restrict worker bees. Used to restrict the queen to the brood box(es) preventing the queen’s access to the honey supers.
Queen, Failing – a queen that, as a result of old age or lack of retained semen, slows down her egg-laying rate and begins to lay drone eggs in worker cells.
Queen Rearing – the production of queen cells through the use of beekeeping management techniques. Also the production of mated queens.
Registration Number / Beekeeper Registration Number – a unique code issued to each beekeeper by NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity when the beekeeper first registers an apiary. Often branded on supers or frames as a means of identification. The number must be displayed in an apiary.
Re-queening – the removal of the queen in a beehive by a beekeeper, and the replacement with a new queen or in some cases a queen cell.
Robbing –A strong behavioural response of bees to the presence of honey or sugar syrup outside the hive or inside weak or dead colonies. Strong colonies rob honey from weak colonies. AFB in nature exploits this behaviour as its main pathway of spread.
Ropiness / Ropiness Test – characteristic stringing of diseased larval or pupal tissue when the tissue is slightly stirred with a stick and then slowly removed. The ropiness test is used as a field diagnosis for AFB.
Sacbrood – a viral disease affecting honey bee brood. Some symptoms of sacbrood resemble AFB.
Scale – the dried remains of brood that lie on one or more walls of the cell, commonly found in association with AFB, sacbrood, EFB, Parasitic Mite Syndrome (PMS) and half-moon disorder.
Semi-Commercial Beekeeper – a beekeeper who doesn’t make a full-time living from beekeeping.
Shook Swarming – an illegal method of AFB control used in the past in New Zealand. Bees were shaken from infected hives into hives that contained only foundation. Some hives still developed heavy infections and had to be destroyed. Shook Swarming was made illegal in New Zealand because it is an unreliable method.
Site Book – a diary used by beekeepers to record management operations in individual apiaries.
Smoker – a purpose-built device comprising of a metal canister and bellows used to blow smoke onto bees when the beekeeper is working a hive. The smoke has a calming effect on the bees and also moves the bees away from the area where the smoke is blown.
Split – the creation of a new beehive using bees, brood frames and honey frames from one or more hives (often called “parent hives”). The split is usually given a newly mated queen or a queen cell. (See Top.)
Spore / Spore Form – the life stage of the AFB bacteria at which it is capable of spreading within the hive and from one hive to another. AFB spores have a remarkably hard outer coat that protects their germplasm contents from destructive forces and can survive for over three decades.
Spotty Brood Pattern – a frame of mostly capped brood where many of the cells are not capped. Normally, queens lay eggs of similar age in close proximity, resulting in almost all cells being capped at the same time. Spotty Brood Pattern is caused by failing queen, disease, or chilling.
Subclinical Infection – an infection of AFB where no visual symptoms appear in the colony.
Super – the box that holds frames. Also the box and the frames together. Supers are put on top of one another (“superimposed”) in order to make a beehive. Typically super is only used to name the boxes with frames intended to use to collect honey.
Swarm – a large number of honey bees, including a queen, that have left their parent colony to establish a new colony elsewhere. The natural means of colony multiplication and dispersal.
Top – a split that is kept on top of the parent colony above a division board.
Vegetative Stage / Vegetative Rods – the bacterial stage at which AFB multiplies rapidly inside a larva or pupa.
Wax Dipping / Paraffin Dipping / Dipping – the sterilisation of beekeeping woodenware by immersion for at least 10 minutes in paraffin wax heated to above 160 °C; kills AFB spores. The treatment of woodware to extend its lifespan by making it resistant to fungal attack.
Wet Honey Supers / Wets or Stickies – honey supers containing frames after they have gone through the extractor. Called “wets” because a residue of honey remains on the combs.