Brushy Mountain Bees has put together a good set of Webinars for beginning beekeepers. There areall kinds of topics from Mead Making to New Colony Care  are perhaps at time too simplistic, but maybe thats because I'm an experienced beekeeper.

Check them out for yourself.

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Apis Mellifera - Latin name for the European honeybee, native to western Asia, Europe and Africa. Most prolific bee strain used in the USA. Yes, Honeybees as we know them, are not native to the Americas. They were introduced by English Settlers in Jamestown around 1644. The beneficial products from the bees as well as pollination, was deemed essential to success in the new world. Unfortunately, within 10 years, Apis Mellifera, a stinger wielding bee, had all but vanquished the native smaller, stingless native honeybee.  Its believed there may still be traces of this bee found in Cuba and parts of the Yucatan Penninsula.

Bee Chain - When creating new comb, Bees join hands (legs) to measure out their space. Sometimes when removing comb during inspections, you'll see long chains of bees held together by their legs. They were previously measuring the tight tolernaces for wax comb to fit the hive space. So don't pull em apart too fast or you might throw off their measurements ;-)

Bee Gum Hive - a beehive located in a hollow tree or log. Not to be confused with Propolis, or bee glue.

Beepods - the name given to the coolest looking top bar hive around! Actually an elegant solution for urban farmers, gardeners and educators. Beepods were conceived by starting with an ancient Kenyan Top Bar Hive design and adding new ideas an innovations using modern computer controlled cutting and routing machinery to achieve soft curves, precision fit and tight tolerances.

Brood - the name given for wax comb containing the four stages of pre-emerged bees (Egg, Larve, Pupae and Emerging Adult). Brood comb is always located close to the hive's entrance and is tended by worker bees in their early stages of development (before they begin flying out of the hive). Flat, darkly colored capped honeycombs are  distinct from combs used only for honey storage. Even brood combs will contain a certain amount of honey, in an arch above the brood which can look a little like worker brood to a beginner, but the cappings are generally flatter, more uniform and do not have the dull appearance of capped worker brood. The colour of the cappings on honey cells can vary between pure white and a dark honey shade.

Brood Ball - the combs that contain baby bees (brood). The queen lays eggs in a spiral pattern near the entrance to the hive. The spiralsd eventually create a sphere or ball-like shape. The size and shape of the ball are determined by the quality and performance of the queen.

Comb - The matrix of hexagonal cells of various sizes built by bees from wax secreted from special glands in the early stages of their lives. These wax scales are collected and fashioned into comb by workers using their legs and jaw-like mouth mandables. Cell size varies but is always precisely built to exacting standards the ensure the geatest strength. One can observe this in natural comb by seeing how the comb made on one side, is offset to have the joints, or strongest points of the comb design, locate in the center of the opposide side's comb pattern. Comb is used for raising young and for storage of nectar and pollen.

Drawing Comb - the process of making the comb performed by the bees. Comb is built by worker bees who stick tiny bits of wax together much the same way a snow fort could be made by using only snowball sized bits. Bees use their mandibles (mouths) to carry and pack the wax bits together into perfect honey combs. They join legs together in beechains to determine all the precision measurments.

Drones - male bees that are produced by either workers or the Queen throughout spring and summer. Drones are notably larger than workers and have very large eyes and no stingers. Once thought to be solely for the purpose of mating with queens, they could be involved in other important tasks, such as maintaining the temperature of the brood nest and finding the locations of local Drone Zones where unfertilized Queens go to mate.

Drone Zones - are areas in nature, often high above trees, where male bees gather to wait for freshly hatched Queens to come to mate. Considered nature's "pickup joints" these boy parties in the sky are  the only time bees (other than the Queen) socialize with members of other hives. Its believed this is why Drones evolved to have such large eyes, to help them find these elusive cruiser parties.

Drone Brood - are larger cells containing developing drone eggs, larvae or pupae. When capped, the cells are heavily domed and protrude from the surface of the comb in a noticeable manner, looking quite distinct from capped worker brood.

Drone Comb - Larger than worker comb in terms of cell diameter (often around 6.4mm). Used by the queen or worker bees to lay drone eggs or store pollen and honey. Natural honey comb often contains cells intermediate in size between the smallest worker and largest drone cells.

Feeder bars - are follower bars with special fittings for external removable food source containers (mason jars) with access holes for bees in the inner chamber

Follower bars - are the moving walls that define the inner chamber of a top bar hive. These bars are moved along by adding more top bars to a growing bee colony.

Foragers - Flying bees that bring nectar, pollen and propolis back to the hive. Generally bees become foragers at around 3 weeks of age.

Foundation - thin beeswax sheet embossed with the hexagonal cell pattern, used in framed hives.

Inner Chamber - the name given the part of the top bar hive that contains the hive. It is defined by the sliding follower bars and top bars where the comb is drawn.

House Bees - Bees less than 3 weeks old that attend to the housekeeping of the hive: secreting wax and making comb, feeding larvae and the queen, processing nectar into honey and generally cleaning and protecting the hive. Bees of different ages tend to specialize in different tasks. Older house bees will start flying eventually becoming full fledged foragers.

Langstroth hive - the first practical. movable-frame hive patented by the Revd. L L Langstroth in 1852. The most widespread framed hive design; ubiquitous in the USA and Canada and the basic pattern for variants such as the UK 'National', the French 'Layens', and the Scottish 'Smith' hive. All such hives comprise deep boxes for the brood chamber and shallow boxes for honey storage, the latter being removed - usually at the end of the season - to provide the honey crop.

Kenyan Top Bar Pattern - top bar hive with inward sloped sides, like a cradle as distinct from the Tanzanian pattern, which has vertical sides more like a box. Both thought to be discovered by ancient Greek and Romans while conquesting the southern Mediterranean lands. 

Nadiring - placing empty boxes (nadirs) at the bottom of a vertical hive, such as a Warre, to allow the bees to expand their colony downwards. The opposite of supering.

Perone hive - a type of vertical top bar hive with a super-large brood and bee stores area. Empty boxes are placed above this area for the storage of excess honey that is available for harvesting.

Propolis - A resinous material collected from tree buds. Among other things, bees use propolis as a form of glue to close gaps in the hive. It also has anti-microbial properties and is thought to play an important part in hive hygiene. Propolis is found in medicines wax compounds, make-up and cremes.

Queen bee - the mother of the hive, but not - contrary to popular opinion - the leader or 'queen' in the sense of ruler. She is the only fertile bee in a colony and her job is to lay eggs, while being fed and groomed by a small retinue of attendants.

Queen Cells - Special cells constructed by the bees to rear new queens. Queen cells hang downward from the face or edges of the comb and have the rough size and appearance of a peanut husk. There are three types of Queen Cells. The presence of developing queen cells indicates that the hive is getting ready to swarm or replace the queen ('supercedure').

Queen Cups - are cells that resemble large downward facing goblets. They are presumed to be the start of a Queen Cell, however do not, by themselves, indicate either swarming or supercedure.

Sex Determination - Female bees (the queen and all workers) carry a double set of chromosomes (one from the female parent and one from the male) whereas drones carry only a single set (which comes from the female parent - the queen). It is this difference in the number of chromosomes that determines the sex of the bee, and that allows the queen to determine the sex of an egg by whether or not it is fertilized.Worker bees can only lay single set eggs, hence Drones.

Supercedure - the replacement of a potentially failing queen with a new queen, which does not require swarming. Often a new queen will be raised towards the end of the season if the bees sense that their current queen is about to lose her ability to lay. Supercedure is characterized by one or two queens being raised, as compared with six or more during the swarming season. Supercedure cells are usually near the centre of a comb, whereas swarm cells are more often found around the edges of comb.

Swarming - the means by which honeybees reproduce their colonies. Typically occurring in the late spring/early summer in temperate zones, the bees will raise a new queen (usually several) and their current mother queen will leave the hive accompanied by about half the flying bees to look for a new home. Usually they will cluster within a short distance of their old hive, sending out scouts to find a suitable nesting place. Once the scouts have reported back, a collective decision is reached as to which site is the most desirable and the bees will move in without delay.

Swarm lure - a scented concoction intended to attract bees to an empty hive. Lemongrass is commonly used, sometimes mixed with geranium and neroli essential oils, while the most reliable attractant is probably a mixture of beeswax and propolis rubbed into the woodwork of the hive body.

Super - a box place on top of a vertical hive, such a Perone or Langstroth that allows the bees to move upwards as they expand their colony. Honey-filled Supers can weigh in excess of 60lbs and are oftern stacked seven feet tall. This is an often overlooked challenge for new beekeepers. The process is know as supering, the opposite of nadiring.

Top Bar Hive - any hive that has wooden bars arranged for bees to hang comb on, as opposed to framed hives, which use wooden frames to contain comb, usually based on wax foundation.

Warre Hive- a vertical top bar hive in which empty boxes are placed below the brood and bee stores area. The bees gradually move their brood and bee stores area downwards, and place excess honey in the now vacated boxes above them from where it can be harvested.

Worker bees - generally infertile female bees that make up the vast majority of bees in a hive. Each worker performs all the tasks necessary to maintain a beehive as they develop with the exception of the duties of Drones and Queen. Workers live up to 5 weeks during the active seasons and as much as 3 months during the winters.

Worker Brood - cells containing developing worker eggs, larvae or pupae (the three stages of development leading to adult bees). The cells are 'capped' with a wax cover just before the larva turns into a pupa. The slightly domed cappings are lighter in color when new, dulling in appearance as they age.

Worker Comb - Bees make comb with different sizes of cells. The smallest cells are used by the queen to lay worker eggs and by the bees to store honey or pollen. Commercial foundation uses a uniform cell size of around 5.4mm in diameter all comb. Left to their own devices, bees generally construct mostly worker comb with larger areas for honey and pollen storage as well as Drone cells.

Welcome new beekers or curious friends of the bees. Please post your questions here about Bees, Beepods and Top Bar Hives and together we'll build an information resource for others to bee-gin their dance with the bees.