Chapter 3 · Quiz

Chapter 3 Quiz: Equipment

21 questions from lessons 17–23. Answer from memory first, then check the lesson if you're unsure. This quiz is for your own practice; nothing is graded.

Lesson 17: The Standard (Langstroth) Hive, Part by Part ★

  1. What does a queen excluder do?
  2. Why shouldn't you put a medium frame in a deep box?
  3. Name one advantage of a screened bottom board.

Lesson 18: Bee Space: The Measurement Every Hive Depends On ★

  1. What do bees build in a gap much bigger than bee space?
  2. What do they do with a gap smaller than bee space?
  3. You open a hive and find a mass of comb hanging from the inner cover. What probably happened?

Lesson 19: Frames and Foundation: Assembly

  1. Why shouldn't a beginner buy used hives from someone they don't know?
  2. What's one advantage of plastic foundation?
  3. Why put all 10 frames in the box when bees are drawing new foundation?

Lesson 20: Protective Gear

  1. Why is a sting to the face more serious than a sting to the arm?
  2. Why is a dark watch band a bad idea?
  3. What's a sensible order for going from heavy gloves to no gloves?

Lesson 21: The Smoker and Hive Tool ★

  1. Give two reasons smoke calms bees.
  2. What makes good smoker fuel?
  3. Why do you need a hive tool to open a hive?

Lesson 22: Feeders

  1. What's the main drawback of an entrance feeder?
  2. What must you put in a division board feeder, and why?
  3. It's winter and daytime highs are below 50°F. What kind of feeder should you use?

Lesson 23: Choosing a Hive Style, and What Each Weighs to Lift

  1. Why do you have to lift heavy boxes in a stacked hive, even when you only want to look at brood?
  2. Roughly how much does a full 10-frame medium super weigh? An 8-frame medium?
  3. Why are Warré hives not allowed in some states?

Answers

Show answers

Printed in the next issue, or check them now if you've finished.

  1. Lets workers pass but keeps the queen out of the honey supers, so she doesn't lay there.
  2. It leaves a gap below the frame that the bees fill with burr comb.
  3. Any one of: debris falls through; more air and light, which small hive beetles and wax moths dislike; can hold beetle traps or a mite-counting board.
  4. Burr comb.
  5. Seal it with propolis.
  6. There was a big empty space under the inner cover, for example frames left out of the top box, and the bees filled it with burr comb.
  7. Old equipment can carry the spores of contagious diseases like American foulbrood without any visible sign.
  8. It's strong and reusable: damaged comb can be scraped off and the foundation re-waxed.
  9. Wider gaps between foundation sheets lead to crooked comb or comb built across the frames.
  10. A sting to the eye can cause blindness, and near the mouth or throat can cause swelling that makes breathing hard.
  11. Bees tend to sting where there's sharp color contrast and dark, leathery things.
  12. Leather bee gloves → rubber dish gloves → thin nitrile or latex → none.
  13. It masks the alarm pheromone, and it makes bees gorge on honey (and they move away from the smoke).
  14. Something non-toxic that smolders and makes cool, dense smoke, such as pine straw, burlap or untreated wood pellets.
  15. Bees glue the lid, boxes and frames together with propolis.
  16. It invites robbing, and it doesn't work well in cold weather.
  17. Floats, ladders or folded wire mesh, so bees can drink without drowning.
  18. A feeder inside the hive (division board, jar over the inner cover, hive-top), or dry sugar/candy for emergencies.
  19. The brood is at the bottom, so the supers above must be lifted off to reach it.
  20. About 50–60 lb; about 40–48 lb.
  21. State rules require movable frames so colonies can be inspected for disease, and Warré combs can't easily be inspected.

★ = a topic on the Georgia Certified Beekeeper exam list.

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