For the Juniors: How do apiarists farm their bees?

NARRATOR:

This is a bee farm where the farmer keeps his bee communities in special boxes called hives. Bee farmers are called apiarists. The bees make honey inside the hives and the apiarist collects their extra honey. Sometimes the hives are several storeys high. They're painted white to keep the cool inside. The entrance is at the bottom of the hive. Most bee farmers move their bees from place to place, to where the flowers are. This is called following the honey flow. The hives are heavy. A special hoist lifts them onto the truck. The hives are loaded at the end of the day because that's when the bees come home. They'll spend the night creating honey from all of the nectar they've collected. Bees never stop working. The truck won't drive off until it's dark. The beekeeper might have to travel huge distances to find places where there are lots of flowers. He has to be careful not to stop in any brightly lit areas, like service stations, because the bees will think it's morning and start to fly off looking for flowers. The bee farmer doesn't want to lose any of his bees. By the morning, the hives will be in their new spot. When the sun's up, the scouts will fly off to find nectar to produce more honey for their colony. Lots of honey here. Time for the apiarist to collect it.

PARROT:

Oh, hang on. These bees sting. Aren't beekeepers scared they could get stung when they are taking the honey?

NARRATOR:

No, they're not scared. But some try to protect themselves by covering up completely. Others just use the smoker. The smoke makes the bees think there's a bushfire. They fill up with honey so that if they have to leave they will have lots of food until they make a new home. Because they're full of food, they're less likely to sting. If a bee stings, it dies. That's why it only stings if its life or its hive is in danger. Inside each hive, there are lots of separate frames. The bees build wax honeycomb onto these frames and fill them with honey so honeycomb is like hundreds of tiny jars of honey, some with their lids on. These frames are full of honey so out they come. Not all the frames are removed because the bees need some food to eat. Boxes of honey-filled frames go off to the factory. This man's cleaning the wax off the top of the frames so they'll fit into this capping machine. It has a heated knife that cuts the wax caps off the honey cells. Now the honey can come out. This machine is called the extractor. It goes around and around so fast that the liquid honey is thrown out of the honeycombed. Here it comes. The honey still has bits of wax in it. This machine separates the honey from the wax. It's called a centrifuge. The pure honey ends up in big drums that the beekeeper sells to packers. They put the honey into containers. Some honey goes to small factories. Some honey goes to very big factories. Then it's off to the shops for us to buy and eat, however we like it.

PARROT:

Oh, I feel sick! I love honey but I think I ate too much. Oh!