Apiculture

Apiculture is the science (and some say art) of raising honey bees, also know as beekeeping. Bees live together in groups called colonies and make their homes in beehives. Tending a hive is not as easy as it may sound, although it can be a very rewarding experience. To start on the path of the apiculturist, all one needs is a beehive deed and an area with plenty of flowers and water.

Beehive deeds can be bought at the Busy Bees shop in Vesper. Coordinates: (2957, 705). You may place your beehive in your home or in your township.

To view the status of your beehive, double-click the hive.

In the top-center of the beehive gump, the development stage of the hive is displayed. There are three distinct stages in a beehive's development:

• Colonizing: The hive sends out scouts to survey the area and find sources of flowers and water.
• Brooding: Egg laying begins in full force as the hive gets ready to begin full scale production.
• Producing: After a hive reaches maturity, it begins producing excess amounts of honey and wax.

In the bottom-center of the beehive gump, the over all health of the hive is displayed. The over all health offers an indication of the average bee's well being:

• Thriving: The bees are extremely healthy. A thriving colony produces honey and wax at an increased rate.
• Healthy: The bees are healthy and producing excess honey and wax.
• Sickly: The bees are sickly and no longer producing excess resources.
• Dying: If something isn't done quickly, bee population will begin to drop.

Once your hive has reached the producing stage, the population of your hive may grow and will also be displayed in the beehive gump. Bee population is a rough estimate of the number of bees in a hive. More bees does not always mean better - a large hive is more difficult to maintain. More water and flowers are needed in the area to support a large hive (the range a hive can check for flowers and water is increased as the population increases). If the conditions get bad enough, a colony of bees will abscond, leaving an empty hive behind.

Like any living thing, bees are susceptible to attacks from outside forces. Be it parasites or disease, the apiculturist has a plethora of tools at their disposal. Greater Cure potions can be used to combat diseases such as foulbrood and dysentery. These potions can also be used to neutralize excess poison. Greater Poison potions can be used to combat insects (such as the wax moth) or parasites (such as the bee louse) that infest a hive. Care must be used! Too many poison potions can harm the bees. Greater Strength potions can be used to build up a hive's immunity to infestation and disease. Greater Heal potions can be used to help heal the bees. Greater Agility potions give the bees extra energy allowing them to work harder. This will boost honey and wax output as well as increase the range the bees can search for flowers and water.

Managing and caring for the hive is done using the Apiculture gump. Almost every aspect of the hive can be monitored from here. Down the left side of the gump are the status icons: Production - this button brings up the production gump where the beekeeper can harvest the goods the hive has to offer. Infestation - a red or yellow hyphen here means the hive is infested by parasites or other insects. Use poisons to kill the pests. Disease - a red or yellow hyphen here means the hive is currently diseased. Using cure potions will help the bees fight off the sickness. Water - this icon displays the availability of water in the area. Be warned, water breeds disease carrying bacteria, so too much water can make a hive more susceptible to disease. Flowers - this icon displays the availability of flowers in the area. Bees use flowers and their by-products for almost every function of the hive including building and food. Too many flowers in the area, however, can bring the bees into contact with more parasites and insects. Notes: a single bee hive can support up to 100 thousand bees. A healthy hive can live indefinitely, however, an older hive is more susceptible to infestation and disease.

If there are other beehives close by, the hives must compete for the resources, leading to less available resources for all hives.

A hive's growth check is performed once a day. The upper right hand corner of the Apiculture gump displays the results of the last growth check: <basefont color=#FF0000>! </basefont>Not healthy <basefont color=#FFFF00>! </basefont>Low resources <basefont color=#FF0000>- </basefont>Population decrease <basefont color=#00FF00>+ </basefont>Population growth <basefont color=#0000FF>+ </basefont>Stage increase/Resource production