Beekeeping (sage ability)

Beekeeping, or "apiculture," is an amateur-status sage ability enabling the maintenance of honey bee colonies. Bees are commonly kept in hives, so that keepers may collect their honey and other products, including wax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly. These can be sold, used to pollinate crops or sold to others beekeepers. Often the bees themselves are treated as "livestock," and are exchanged for fees.

Characters with a beekeeping skill will not be dismayed by bees or hornets; however, the experience gives them no special combat ability against these giant insects.

Apiary

The place where hive boxes are kept is called an apiary and sometimes a bee yard. Hives are boxes filled with "files," which are sheets of wax in which bees build their cones. A hive box typically consists of two colonies, or 16,000 bees.

Tending a single hive box requires 30 minutes of work every two weeks. A single beekeeper may manage as many as 300 boxes during a four-month season, but this requires constant work, all day, every day. One drawback is that there is a 1% per hive of making an error that angers the bees and causes them to briefly swarm; this will result in 1-6 meaningful stings (among dozens of others) that will cost as many hit points of damage, as well as the need for a day's rest to recover from the shock. This is why fervent beekeepers are sure to keep proficient apprentices at hand, to ensure constant maintenance in case a malady occurs.

One hive will produce between 3 and 6 lbs. of honey a season, and an equal amount of beeswax.

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