2024 Intermediate Bee School
This course is designed for individuals with some beekeeping experience. Students should have completed a season-long beekeeping course or have kept bees successfully through at least one winter and have a basic understanding of bee biology and management techniques. We will address management strategies for beekeepers who want to expand their apiaries and have more overwintering success or for those who feel like they are stuck as a beginner beekeeper year after year. We'll take a more in-depth look at swarm prevention, splits, overwintering hives, pests & disease treatment and prevention, and tricks of the trade. The classes are scheduled to be slightly ahead of when you would perform the tasks on your own hive, so you are prepared to manage your own hive through the season. The goal of this course is for participants to be able to identify their colony’s needs and to have the skills to keep a more sustainable apiary.
Face-to-face events (e.g., lectures, equipment build day, hands-on bee yard experiences) are currently scheduled and will be subject to the current CDC guidelines. Indoor events will be held in the large indoor meeting spaces provided by Matthaei Botanical Gardens. When weather permits, lectures may be held outdoors in the bee yard at the instructor’s discretion. Participants are expected to bring their own veils/protective clothing, and dress appropriately for working outdoors with bees. Some sort of veil/face protection is required for working in the apiary. We will use the club's teaching hives at Matthaei Botanical Gardens for hands-on skill training.
Text: Bee school instructor Dave Pearce recommends an optional textbook: The Beekeeper's Handbook, 4th Edition, by Diana Sammataro. The cost is approximately $20 and is the student's responsibility above and beyond the course enrollment fee.
Note: Registering two (or more) people for Bee School? Please check out one at a time so we can capture each learner's information individually.
