LAPI001
An apiary in Isère in autumn.
LAPI002
A traditional covered
apiary in the Val
d’Abondance
protects the hives
from bad weather.
LAPI003
A beekeeper
opens the hive
to gather cells
built by the bees
outside the frame.
LAPI004
A queen-breeding apiary in springtime.
LAPI005
To impress crowds, some beekeepers will wear an impressive bee beard. There is a trick. The apiculturist places a cage containing a queen around his neck. Bees will naturally flock to protect her. They are in swarming conditions hence totally harmless…
LAPI006
To impress crowds, some beekeepers will wear an impressive bee beard. There is a trick. The apiculturist places a cage containing a queen around his neck. Bees will naturally flock to protect her. They are in swarming conditions hence totally harmless…
LAPI007
To impress crowds, some beekeepers will wear an impressive bee beard. There is a trick. The apiculturist places a cage containing a queen around his neck. Bees will naturally flock to protect her. They are in swarming conditions hence totally harmless…
LAPI008
Loading the hives for the transhumance takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer rainy days because the bees remain in their hives.
LAPI009
Loading the hives for the transhumance takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer rainy days because the bees remain in their hives.
LAPI010
Charles, apiculturist
and swarm hunter
climbs on a tall oak
as bees form a swarm
around their queen
to protect her.
Loaded will honey
for the trip, they are
not dangerous.
The beekeeper
focuses on the queen.
If he does not catch her,
the bees will escape
the basket to rejoin her
and the operation
will have been useless.
LAPI011
Chestnut trees flower in late June and early July over a two-week period.
LAPI012
Chestnut trees flower in late June and early July over a two-week period.
LAPI013
A beekeeper of the Marais Poitevin area inspects his beehives in a sunflower field spreading to the horizon. This rich sedimentary, clayish water retaining soil is perfect for this crop. On good years, sunflower honey production can yield up to 80 kilograms per beehive.
LAPI014
An apiculturist
shakes a frame to check
the amount of nectar
collected by the bees
during their days
on a sunflower field.
Droplets of nectar falls off
the frame, a sign there
will be a lot of honey.
LAPI015
The sky is filled with a continuous buzz.
The never-ending toing-and-froing of the bees, a veritable air-lift between the sunflower fields and the apiary seems to announce abundant honey production and so do the many supers.
LAPI016
A swarm’s scout bees
locate an empty hive
on a beekeeper’s site
and the bees arrive
by the thousands
to take possession of it.
LAPI017
An apiary in the Pyrenees.
The hives are taken into the mountains in May, and brought down to the lower elevations again in September. Rhododendron and heather are the principal sources for mono-floral honeys.
LAPI018
Loading the hives for the transhumance takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer rainy days because the bees remain in their hives.
LAPI019
Loading the hives for the transhumance takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer rainy days because the bees remain in their hives.
LAPI020
Loading the hives
for the transhumance
takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer
rainy days because
the bees remain
in their hives.
LAPI021
Loading the hives for the transhumance takes place at dusk.
Beekeepers also prefer rainy days because the bees remain in their hives.
LAPI022
A queen-breeding apiary.
LAPI023
A queen-breeding apiary.
LAPI024
A queen-breeding apiary.
LAPI025
Queen cage.
LAPI026
Test to check on the development of royal nymphs.
LAPI027
Test to check on the development of royal nymphs.
LAPI028
Test to check on the development of royal nymphs.
LAPI029
Test to check on the development of royal nymphs.
LAPI030
Queen-rearing frame.
LAPI031
Queen-rearing hives are fed regularly.
LAPI032
Queen-rearing hives
are fed regularly.
LAPI033
A woman beekeeper taps a hive to move the queen away from the frames being tapped, which then allows her to remove the frames.
LAPI034
A queen-breeding apiary.
LAPI035
A queen-breeding apiary.
LAPI036
A beekeeper
shakes a frame
to gather the bees
and form a swarm.
LAPI037
Weighing a swarm.
LAPI038
Weighing a swarm.
LAPI039
Transfer of a hive.
LAPI040
In a queen-breeding laboratory, the beekeeper takes eggs from the brood frames.
LAPI041
In a queen-breeding
laboratory, the beekeeper
takes eggs from
the brood frames.
LAPI042
In a queen-breeding
laboratory, the beekeeper
takes eggs from
the brood frames.
LAPI043
In a queen-breeding
laboratory, the beekeeper
takes eggs from
the brood frames.
LAPI044
In a queen-breeding laboratory, the beekeeper takes eggs from the brood frames.
LAPI045
Caging a queen.
LAPI046
Preparing queen-rearing cells.
LAPI047
Cleaning test.
LAPI048
Cleaning test.
LAPI049
Cleaning test.
LAPI050
A frame of
queen-rearing cells.
LAPI051
Bees on queen-rearing cells.
LAPI052
Bees on queen-rearing cells.
LAPI053
Bees on queen-rearing cells.
LAPI054
Bees on queen-rearing cells.
LAPI055
Some beekeepers
cut one wing off the queen
to avoid swarming.
LAPI056
Marking a queen.
LAPI057
Marking a queen.
LAPI058
A hive seen from above. The opening of a hive is always a magic moment.
LAPI059
An at apiary facing the Mediterranean near Hyeres, France, Jacky Darras tends to his bee hives without protective net or beekeeping gear. This scene has more meaning than it seems. Jacky has had multiple sclerosis for 25 years. He owes his remission to apitherapy.
LAPI060
In Valenton, Val de Marne, France, a garderner-apiculturist in the garden of association Le Jardin du Cheminot opens a beehive, a cliché of traditional beekeeping.
LAPI061
Against a Mont Blanc backdrop. Through daily contact with bees, nature and the weather, the beekeeper is particularly knowledgeable about the environment. High in the mountains the flowering period is short but rhododendron, white clover, epilobium, bramble and raspberry will produce excellent honey.
LAPI062
Against a Mont Blanc backdrop. Through daily contact with bees, nature and the weather, the beekeeper is particularly knowledgeable about the environment. High in the mountains the flowering period is short but rhododendron, white clover, epilobium, bramble and raspberry will produce excellent honey.
LAPI063
A bee egg collected by a beekeeper for rearing queens.
LAPI064
A bee egg collected by a beekeeper for rearing queens.
LAPI065
Standing before a queen-rearing hive, a Gersois beekeeper checks a frame. Rearing queens requires careful planning and constant care.
LAPI066
The smoker
and its use in the art
of smoking bees
is one of the secrets
of beekeeping.
It makes it possible
to control the behavior
of bees.
LAPI067
Scattering bees from a frame after a change of hive.
LAPI068
Harvesting honey.
LAPI069
In Megève, just steps away from the village center, an old Savoyard covered apiary is still in use today.
LAPI070
An old beekeeper
at his hive in Valensole.
He has seen the evolution
and adaptation
of beekeeping
over the last sixty years.
LAPI071
Thannwiller in Alsace.
This splendid covered apiary has forty hives that are still in active use.
LAPI072
Hive transhumance on the Albion plateau.