Hive management genetics of the queen. Queens and drones are selectively bred to increase the production of royal jelly. A good yield per hive is 5 kg per year. Bee venom (apitoxin) is obtained by stimulating the bee with an electric current that incite them to sting, releasing a drop of poison onto a glass slide. The crystallized venom can be collected and processed. In order to get 1 gram of dry venom, it is necessary to collect the apitoxin of 10,000 to 15,000 bees. Bee brood as such is generally not a commercial commodity. However, bee brood is edible, and is
Venom optimization hypothesis and grasshoppers. Its venom glands store only about 10 μl of crude venom. Refilling of the glands takes 2–3 days and the lethal efficacy of the venom is, initially, very low for several days, requiring 8 to 18 days for full effect. It was found that the amount of venom released differed for each specific prey. For example, for bigger and stronger insects like beetles, the spider uses the entire amount of its venom; while for small ones, it uses only a small amount, thus economizing its costly venom. In fact, experiments show that the amount of venom released is