Beginners Beekeeping Two Day Course

Deposit of £20 balance to be paid at registration

Day One.

9::45 a.m. Registration + Tea or Coffee

Want to keep Bees this is the place to start…

I am passionate about sharing my enthusiasm for beekeeping with new beekeepers.
The beginner’s one day course is designed to provide an introduction to the world of honeybees & beekeeping.
The course will to cover the basics of what is needed for you to start beekeeping and to keep hives
productive and healthy. It is set up with the beginner in mind
but will also provide a good update for people with some experience that may have fallen behind.

DAY 1

The class will be divided into four sections:

Morning Section 1 will cover the biology and life cycle of the honeybee.
Understanding the workings of the colony is key to knowing what is normal when we examine a hive.
We will learn about the different castes of bees, the queen, workers and drones,
their roles in the life of the colony and what to look for when inspecting a hive.

Break For Teas & Coffee

Morning Section 2 will cover two main areas: beekeeping equipment and working with bees.
We will present the various options available in the types of beehives and the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
We will also talk about how to examine colonies. Emphasis will be on determining the status of the
colony and what it needs.
We will talk about what a good brood pattern looks like and how to check whether colonies need to be fed
or need to be given extra supers for storing surplus honey. 

Break for Lunch

Afternoon Section 3 will cover seasonal management. We will go through "a year in the life" of the colony
and will talk about what to expect and what needs to be done during each season of the beekeeping year.
We will also cover management of diseases and pests of honeybees
the new diseases and parasites that affect our bees today.

Afternoon Section 4: Hands on with the bees when we will open an active colony of bees
and examine frames of brood honey and pollen we will also find the Queen.
You will also get to handle the frames of bees
If the weather or time of year is not on our side for opening a hive
you will have the opportunity to come back as a group or individually to have the hands on experience.

There will be ample time to answer any questions and help you decide
what equipment is best for individual situations.
Also if you wish order your first bees from us or have a look at what equipment we can supply.

You are also invited to our end of year course on the last Saturday of August that we hold
Free of charge every year. Getting your bees ready for winter.
 

Day Two

9.30 a.m. Frames

.Frame making hands on practical

.How to and how not to

.Wired & Unwired Foundation

Questions and answers (Tea and Coffee)

11.00 a.m. Honey Harvest

. Clearing the supers

. Extracting

. Bottling & labelling (Hands on)

. Wax filtering & cleaning (Hands on)

12.15 p.m. Preparation for winter (Hands On practical)
.Preparing Sugar syrups and fondants

12.45 p.m. - 1.30 p.m. Lunch

1.30 p.m. Practical in the Apiary

. Ways of opening the hive

. What to look for

 . Smoker and smoker fuels

 . Using a hive tool

. Finding and Marking the queen

. Inspecting for disease

. when to add supers

. Making increase

. Uniting stocks of bees

. Setting up a new nucleus

. Varroa treatment

. Feeding with the syrups we made

3.00 p.m. Classroom (Tea and Coffee)

3.30 p.m. Questions and Answers

4.30 p.m. Time to go Home

You will be given a DVD at the end of the course with all the notes & factsheets + videos covering all the course so no need to take notes

If you need details of local B&Bs or Hotels let me know and I can sen you a list