Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answers

Dec 31, 2022

Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answers comprises a total of 15 questions. This IELTS reading topic; Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answers comprises question types such as; Complete the flowchart, Label the diagram, and Yes/No/Not Given. To solve these questions in the IELTS reading topic, candidates must go through the passage carefully and identify the major keywords. Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answers are to be solved by the candidates within a timeframe of 20 minutes which remains the same for all the IELTS Reading assessments. To practice more such IELTS reading topics, candidates can refer to the book Cambridge book 1 Reading test 2. Moreover, candidates might consider IELTS Reading practice papers to practice such relevant questions.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answers

Taking Wing

To eke out a full-time living from their honeybees, about half the nation’s 2,000 commercial beekeepers pull up stakes each spring, migrating north to find more flowers for their bees. Besides turning floral nectar into honey, these hardworking insects also pollinate crops for farmers -for a fee. As autumn approaches, the beekeepers pack up their hives and go south, scrambling for pollination contracts in hot spots like California’s fertile Central Valley.

Of the 2,000 commercial beekeepers in the United States about half migrate. This pays off in two ways Moving north in the summer and south in the winter lets bees work a longer blooming season, making more honey — and money — for their keepers. Second, beekeepers can carry their hives to farmers who need bees to pollinate their crops. Every spring a migratory beekeeper in California may move up to 160 million bees to flowering fields in Minnesota and every winter his family may haul the hives back to California, where farmers will rent the bees to pollinate almond and cherry trees.

Migratory beekeeping is nothing new. The ancient Egyptians moved clay hives, probably on rafts, down the Nile to follow the bloom and nectar flow as it moved toward Cairo. In the 1880s North American beekeepers experimented with the same idea, moving bees on barges along the Mississippi and on waterways in Florida, but their lighter, wooden hives kept falling into the water. Other keepers tried the railroad and horse- drawn wagons, but that didn’t prove practical. Not until the 1920s when cars and trucks became affordable and roads improved, did migratory beekeeping begin to catch on.

For the Californian beekeeper, the pollination season begins in February. At this time, the beehives are in particular demand by farmers who have almond groves; they need two hives an acre. For the three-week long bloom, beekeepers can hire out their hives for $32 each. It’s a bonanza for the bees too. Most people consider almond honey too bitter to eat so the bees get to keep it for themselves.

By early March it is time to move the bees. It can take up to seven nights to pack the 4,000 or so hives that a beekeeper may own. These are not moved in the middle of the day because too many of the bees would end up homeless. But at night, the hives are stacked onto wooden pallets, back-to-back in sets of four, and lifted onto a truck. It is not necessary to wear gloves or a beekeeper’s veil because the hives are not being opened and the bees should remain relatively quiet. Just in case some are still lively, bees can be pacified with a few puffs of smoke blown into each hive’s narrow entrance.

In their new location, the beekeeper will pay the farmer to allow his bees to feed in such places as orange groves. The honey produced here is fragrant and sweet and can be sold by the beekeepers. To encourage the bees to produce as much honey as possible during this period, the beekeepers open the hives and stack extra boxes called supers on top. These temporary hive extensions contain frames of empty comb for the bees to fill with honey. In the brood chamber below, the bees will stash honey to eat later. To prevent the queen from crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a screen can be inserted between the brood chamber and the supers. Three weeks later the honey can be gathered.

Foul smelling chemicals are often used to irritate the bees and drive them down into the hive’s bottom boxes, leaving the honey- filled supers more or less bee free. These can then be pulled off the hive. They are heavy with honey and may weigh up to 90 pounds each. The supers are taken to a warehouse. In the extracting room, the frames are lilted out and lowered into an “uncapper” where rotating blades shave away the wax that covers each cell. The uncapped frames are put in a carousel that sits on the bottom of a large stainless steel drum. The carousel is filled to capacity with 72 frames. A switch is flipped and the frames begin to whirl at 300 revolutions per minute; centrifugal force throws the honey out of the combs. Finally the honey is poured into barrels for shipment.

After this, approximately a quarter of the hives weakened by disease, mites, or an ageing or dead queen, will have to be replaced. To create new colonies, a healthy double hive, teeming with bees, can be separated into two boxes. One half will hold the queen and a young, already mated queen can be put in the other half, to make two hives from one. By the time the flowers bloom, the new queens will be laying eggs, filling each hive with young worker bees. The beekeeper’s family will then migrate with them to their summer location.

Section 2

Solution with Explanations

Question 1-7
The flow chart below outlines the movements of the migratory beekeeper as described in Reading Passage.
Complete the flowchart. Choose your answers from the box given below and write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Words/Phrases

barrels	charge	chemicals
empty	full	light
pay	pollinate	prepare
queens	screen	set off
split	supers	combs
machines	protection	Smoke

BEEKEEPER MOVEMENTS

Example

In February, Californian farmers hire bees to help Answer: pollinate almond trees.

↓

In March, beekeepers 1 -------------- for migration at night when the hives are 2-------------- and the bees are generally tranquil. A little 3-------------- can ensure that this is the case.

↓

They transport their hives to orange groves where farmers 4 -------------- beekeepers for placing them on their land. Here the bees make honey.

↓

After three weeks, the supers can be taken to a warehouse where 5 -------------- are used to remove the wax and extract the honey from the 6 --------------.

↓

After the honey collection, the old hives are rejected. Good double hives are 7------------- and re-queened and the beekeeper transports them to their summer base.

Question 1

Answer: Prepare

Supporting Sentence: By early March it is time to move the bees. It can take up to seven nights to pack the 4,000 or so hives that a beekeeper may own.

Keywords: March, migration, move, nights

Keyword Location: Para 5, Line 1-2

Explanation: It's time to relocate the bees by early March. Packing the 4,000 or more hives that a beekeeper may own can take up to seven nights.

Question 2

Answer: full

Supporting Sentence: By the time the flowers bloom, the new queens will be laying eggs, filling each hive with young worker bees.

Keywords: hive, young worker bees

Keyword Location: Para 8, line 5-6

Explanation: The new queens will start laying eggs by the time the flowers bloom, populating each hive with young worker bees.

Question 3

Answer: smoke

Supporting Sentence: Just in case some are still lively, bees can be pacified with a few puffs of smoke blown into each hive’s narrow entrance.

Keywords: bees, pacified, tranquil, smoke, hive

Keyword Location: para 5, line 6-7

Explanation: ‘You may calm bees by blowing a few puffs of smoke into each hive's tiny entrance, just in case some are still active.

Question 4

Answer: charge

Supporting Sentence: For the three-week-long bloom, beekeepers can hire out their hives for $32 each.

Keywords: orange groves, bloom, beekeepers, hire, charge

Keyword Location: para 4, line 3

Explanation: Beekeepers may contract out their hives for $32 apiece during the three-week bloom. Thus, the answer is charge.

Question 5

Answer: machines

Supporting Sentence: The supers are taken to a warehouse. In the extracting room, the frames are lilted out and lowered into an “uncapper” where rotating blades shave away the wax that covers each cell.

Keywords: supers, warehouse, extracting room, frames, uncapper, rotating blades

Keyword Location: para 7, lines 4-5

Explanation: The supers are brought to a warehouse. The frames are lilted out and dropped into a "uncapper" in the extraction chamber where whirling blades remove the wax from each cell.

Question 6

Answer: combs

Supporting Sentence: A switch is flipped and the frames begin to whirl at 300 revolutions per minute; centrifugal force throws the honey out of the combs.

Keywords: centrifugal force, combs, throw out

Keyword Location: para 7, lines 7-8

Explanation: Centrifugal force forces the honey out of the combs as the frames spin at 300 revolutions per minute when a switch is turned.

Question 7

Answer: split

Supporting Sentence: After this, approximately a quarter of the hives weakened by disease, mites, or an aging or dead queen, will have to be replaced. To create new colonies, a healthy double hive, teeming with bees, can be separated into two boxes.

Keyword: replaced, separated

Keyword Location: para 8, lines 1-3

Explanation: It will be necessary to replace around a quarter of the hives that have been damaged by illness, mites, an old or deceased queen, or all of these. A healthy double hive, brimming with bees, can be divided into two boxes to form new colonies.

Questions 8-11

Label the diagram below.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.

Question 8

Answer: (hexagonal) cells/comb

Supporting Sentence: These temporary hive extensions contain frames of empty comb for the bees to fill with honey.

Keywords: hexagonal combs, cells

Keyword Location: para 6, lines 4-5

Explanation: The bees will replace the vacant frames of comb in these temporary hive expansions with honey.

Question 9

Answer: frames (comb)

Supporting Sentence: These temporary hive extensions contain frames of empty comb for the bees to fill with honey.

Keywords: frames, combs

Keyword Location: para 6, lines 4-5

Explanation: Frames of empty comb are present in these transient hive expansions, waiting to be filled with honey by the bees.

Question 10

Answer: screen

Supporting Sentence: To prevent the queen from crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a screen can be inserted between the brood chamber and the supers.

Keyword: screen

Keyword Location: para 6, line 7

Explanation: A screen may be installed between the brood chamber and the supers to stop the queen from climbing up there and depositing eggs.

Question 11

Answer: brood chamber

Supporting Sentence: To prevent the queen from crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a screen can be inserted between the brood chamber and the supers.

Keyword: brood chamber

Keyword Location: para 6, line 7

Explanation: The brood chamber and the supers can be separated by a screen to stop the queen from climbing up there and depositing eggs.

Questions 12-15

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 12-15 write.

YES if the statement agrees with the information given
NO, if the statement contradicts the information given
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this

12 -------------- The Egyptians keep bees on the banks of the Nile.

13 -------------- First attempts at migratory beekeeping in America were unsuccessful.

14 -------------- Bees keep honey for themselves in the bottom of the hive.

15 -------------- The honey is spun to make it liquid.

Question 12

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: No relevant information was given associated with the question.

Question 13

Answer: YES

Supporting Sentence: North American beekeepers experimented with the same idea, moving bees on barges along the Mississippi and waterways in Florida, but their lighter, wooden hives kept falling into the water.

Keywords: American, beekeepers, barges, Mississippi, Florida, rafts, barges

Keyword Location: para -3, lines 3-5

Explanation: The similar concept was tried out by North American beekeepers, who transported bees on barges along the Mississippi and Florida's canals, but their lighter, wooden hives kept sinking.

Question 14

Answer: YES

Supporting Sentence: In the brood chamber below, the bees will stash honey to eat later.

Keywords: brood chamber, stash, keep, honey

Keyword Location: para 6, line - 6

Explanation: The bees will store honey for later consumption in the lower brood chamber.

Question 15

Answer: NO

Supporting Sentence: A switch is flipped and the frames begin to whirl at 300 revolutions per minute; centrifugal force throws the honey out of the combs. Finally, the honey is poured into barrels for shipment.

Keyword: honey, flipped, frames, centrifugal force, poured

Keyword Location: para 7, lines 7-9

Explanation: Centrifugal force forces the honey out of the combs as the frames spin at 300 revolutions per minute when a switch is turned. The honey is then put into barrels for shipping.

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