Beekeeping (sage ability)

Beekeeping, also apiculture, is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Flowers & Sprigs, allowing the character to maintain and manage colonies of honeybees. Beekeepers tend their hives to collect honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly, which can be consumed, sold or used for medicinal and industrial purposes. Bees also serve a crucial role in pollination, improving the yield of nearby crops and making them valuable assets in agricultural communities. In some cases, the colonies themselves are treated as livestock, with swarms or established hives exchanged as part of local economies.

An apiary, sometimes called a bee yard, is the location where hives are kept. Woven skeps or wooden hive boxes are used to house colonies. A hive box contains wooden frames, where the bees construct their wax honeycombs. Each hive box generally holds two colonies, amounting to 16,000 bees in total. Maintaining a single hive box requires 30 minutes of work every two weeks. This involves checking for disease, controlling swarming, ensuring adequate space for the queen to lay eggs and harvesting honey.

A skep is a traditional type of beehive made from coiled straw or wicker, often reinforced with mud or dung to provide additional insulation. These domed or bell-shaped hives were widely used in medieval and early modern Europe, including during the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike modern wooden hives with removable frames, skeps lack internal structures that allow for easy honey extraction. Beekeepers would either destroy the colony to harvest the honey — often by suffocating the bees with burning sulfur — or attempt to drive the bees into a new skep before cutting away the honeycomb.

Management

A highly skilled beekeeper may manage up to 300 hives over a four-month season, but this demands near-constant labour. One risk of handling beehives is accidental provocation of the swarm. For every hive managed, there is a 1% chance of making a critical mistake that will anger the colony. If this occurs, the bees swarm aggressively, delivering 1-6 meaningful stings that result in an equal number of lost hit points due to venom, swelling and pain. The afflicted character must rest for one full day to recover from the shock of the attack. Because of this hazard, experienced beekeepers often employ apprentices to share the workload and take over in the event of illness or if a malady occurs.

Each hive yields between 3 and 6 lbs. of honey per season, along with an equal amount of beeswax. While honey serves as a high-energy food source and a valuable trade good, beeswax is in constant demand for candle-making, sealing wax, medicinal ointments and waterproofing treatments. Wealthier apiaries may even experiment with producing royal jelly or propolis, rare and highly sought-after substances believed to have medicinal properties.

Beekeeping remains an essential practice across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, with certain monasteries and noble estates supporting extensive apiaries to provide mead, wax for church candles and medicinal honey for treating wounds and ailments. While the trade is lucrative, it is labour-intensive, requiring both patience and a deep understanding of bee behaviour, seasonal changes and hive management techniques.

See also,
Floriculture (sage ability)
Flowers & Sprigs (sage study)