Section 1
 

1. Ignoring the actual material a hive is made off i.e. Poly or Wood, name as many hive design types as you can. Provide one distinguishing feature/use for each hive you list that differentiates specifically from others ?

2. What is a "super" and where does its name derive from ?

3. What is the difference between a "Manley" frame and a "Hoffman" frame ?

4. If I wanted to purchase "Hoffman" frames for a National Brood box and also "Manley" National Super frames, what 3 letter frame designator type would I buy for each respectively ?

5. Why would you choose the use either  "wired" or "unwired" wax foundation in a super ?

6. What is the importance of "bee space" ?

7. How can you encourage bees to draw out wax foundation ?

8. What is the purpose of the "Queen Excluder" ?

9. What is the name of the "glue" bees use to seal the hive and what is it made from ?

10. What is "bee bread" ?

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Section 2

1. What three types of bee can make up a colony, and what distinguishes each type ?

2. What is the significance of Day 8 in a bee's development cycle, and  why is this most important with respect to a developing queen ?

3. What tasks do newly hatched bees do ?

4. At what age are bees able to produce wax and comb ?

5. When the queen is laying at a fixed rate, what would you expect the ratio of eggs, open brood, and sealed brood to be given the development cycle of the bee ?

6. What mechanisms do bees use to communicate within the hive ?

7. What functions do the oldest worker bees in the hive perform ?

8. How many bees would develop from a full national frame of sealed brood (both sides) ?

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Section 3

1. What is the main navigational reference used by bees in the "waggle dance" ?

2. How is distance, quality, and direction communicated in the "waggle dance" ?

3. How many eyes does a bee have ?

4. What are "ocelli" and how does a bee use them ?

5. As well as the sun's position, what other mechanisms do bee's use to navigate ?

6. How do bee's regulate temperature in the cold, and hot ?

7. How does the colony reproduce ?

8. Typically how many drones does a queen mate with ?

9. What are Drone Congregation Areas ?

10. Why is it advantageous for the queen to mate with as many drones as possible (polyandrany) ?

11. What is a super-sister ?

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Section 4

1. What are the typical signs of a "laying worker" and why is this a problem ?

2. What serious bee diseases are notifiable ?

3. Why is it important to register your hives on beebase ?

4. What is the "matchstick" test for American Foulbrood ?

5. How can you identify European Foulbrood ?

6. What do white mummified larvae in a cell signify ?

7. What is the relationship of the varroa mite and other chronic bee viruses ?

8. What treatments can be used for varroa mite infestation ?

9. When is is best to use Oxalic acid as a varroa treatment ?

10. What is the only oxalic acid formulation that can be used in the UK and why ?

11. What can you do to minimise "robbing" of a colony by other bees or wasps ?

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Section 5

1. Why is it advantageous for a beekeeper to prevent a colony from swarming ?

2. What is a classic sign that a colony is preparing to swarm ?

3. What is the difference between "swarm preparation" and "swarm management" ?

4. What is the significance of a finding a sealed celled queen cell during a hive inspection ?

5. What techniques can be used by a beekeeper on finding an open populated queen cell during an inspection to prevent a colony swarming ?

6. Why is just removing queen cells not sufficient to prevent swarming ?

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