Beginner Beekeeper Course
Designed to give you insights and the confidence to be a beekeeper, our course runs over 2 consecutive days with theory in the morning and practical sessions in the afternoon (weather dependant).
You will learn:
- Bee history, biology, life cycle and threats
- Rules for registering hives
- AFB regulations
- Basic equipment requirements and costs
- Seasonal hive management
- Queen rearing, queen breeders and requeening
- Diseases, pest management and inspections
- Stings
- Siting, moving and uniting hives
- Swarming and prevention
- Pollen and nectar sources
- Extraction, processing, toxic honey and selling honey
- Bee products
- Supplementary reading
When
9am to 3pm each day
Where
Franklin Beekeepers clubroom at 137 Sim Road, Paerata
Tutors
Club master beekeepers
Who is eligible
Members and non-members
Cost
$150
What to bring
- Lunch (can be purchased nearby)
- Water bottle
- Jacket
- You can bring your own beesuit and boots. Otherwise half-beesuits and gloves are provided, so please wear loose and thick long pants.
- To reduce the risk of spreading disease please DON'T bring any used beekeeping equipment (it will be provided). This protects our club hives + you from taking diseases home to your hives.
Testimonials
Keeping bees is an incredibly rewarding activity. There’s a lot to learn and that is where this 2-day course comes into its own. Not only does it teach you the basics of beekeeping, it links you to a wonderful support network of knowledgeable and enthusiastic beekeepers who are extremely generous with their time. They go out of their way to support new beekeepers. I’d highly recommend this course to anyone interested in keeping their own bees or even to those who just want to learn more about these amazing creatures. The price was reasonable, the tone of teaching was encouraging, supportive and patient, the small class size (max 8) was perfect, the theory instructor had excellent instructional technique and teaching materials (booklets, posters, equipment, books) and the practical instructor was very encouraging. On day 1 it’s a bit intimidating holding frames full of bees and it’s really difficult to see eggs and the differences between workers, drones and queens. But by day 2 everything starts to make sense. In 12-months I’ve gone from feeling ignorant and mildly anxious to having strong and healthy hives that are going from strength to strength. I’ve even discarded my protective leather gloves to work bare handed with my gentle bees.
Darryl Fausett
I picked up a heap of valuable information and practical advice for starting to keep bees. The tutor did a great job in explaining everything in simple terms especially the importance of picking up diseases in the hive.
The most interesting and best parts of the weekend for me was:
- Getting a bee suit on and looking inside the club hives. We watched as one weaker hive without a queen was merged with a stronger one.
- Meeting like-minded people and talking about bees.
The 3 main things I got from the course were:
- The setup of the hive and timing of things.
- Disease prevention and treatment.
- Colony health and swarm prevention.
I'd recommend this course to anyone interested in bees who wants a new hobby. They are amazing creatures and we do need to look after them. After joining the club and doing the course I was confident enough to get bees and now have 2 hives that are doing really well.
Ian Spencer
