A colony produces more than honey. Honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, bee bread and venom each require different techniques and reach different markets.

The products

• Honey: From nectar; the colony's energy store
• Pollen: The colony's protein source; collected with a trap
• Propolis: From plant resins; collected with a screen
• Royal jelly: The secretion of nurse bees; harvested from cups
• Beeswax: Secreted for comb building
• Bee bread: Pollen fermented in the comb
• Venom: The defensive secretion

Shared principles

The colony's needs come first

Every product has a cost to the colony. A pollen trap cuts protein intake; royal jelly production wears the colony down; excessive honey harvesting risks the winter.

Sustainable production means taking what is surplus to the colony's needs.

Residues

No product is collected during acaricide treatment periods. Fat-soluble substances accumulate particularly in wax and re-enter the cycle through foundation.

The cold chain

Royal jelly, bee bread and drone brood homogenate are highly perishable. When the cold chain is broken the product looks the same but loses value — a deterioration the buyer cannot detect, which makes it a matter of the producer's honesty.

Traceability

Separate harvesting and proper records both make an origin claim defensible and allow the source to be found if a problem arises.

The limit of claims

In most countries it is prohibited to claim that a food product treats disease. Describing what the product is and how it was produced is a far sounder basis than making claims.

In this section

The subtopics cover the production technique, equipment, storage conditions and cost to the colony of each product.