Class Syllabus

Beekeeping for Beginners

The following syllabus is intended to provide general guidelines and is subject to change. Due to the nature of the topics there will be some overlap between the units.

Unit 1  – Beekeeping Basics – Lecture – December  (3 hours)

  • History of beekeeping
  • Honey Bee Biology
  • Who can keep honeybees?
  • Components of a beehive
    • Woodenware
    • Frames and foundation
    • Feeders
  • Protective clothing and equipment
  • Tools
  • Q&A

Unit 2 – Care and Feeding of Honeybees – Lecture – January   (3 hours)

  • Spring and winter feeding – natural cycles of plenty and dearth
  • Parasites, diseases, disorders and dealing with them
  • Buying Bees – By the pound? Or would you prefer a ‘nuc’?
  • Q&A

Unit 3 – ABC’s of Assembling a Beehive - Workshop – February  (3 hours)

  • You may have decided to get some of your hive parts in ‘kit’ form.
  • Hive bodies – glue and nails
  • Frames and foundation
  • Other components
  • Paint
  • How to setup your hive
  • Q&A

Unit 4 – Spring Hive Management – Beeyard -  March   (2 hours)

*Students will need to have a protective veil and gloves*

  • In this outdoor lab we will open a hive and examine the inner workings of a living honey bee colony.
  • Inspecting a hive
    • Brood buildup
    • Identifying:
      • Larvae
      • Capped brood
      • Pollen – ‘bee bread’
      • Nectar
      • Capped Honey
      • Workers, drones and a queen
      • Swarm queen cells
    • Why is swarm management so important?
    • Making beehive ‘splits’

Unit 5 – Installing Bees/Spring Buildup – Beeyard -  April  (2 hours)

*Students will need to have a protective veil and gloves*

  • We will install a package of bees into a new hive.
  • Follow-up inspection of established hives from previous unit
  • This is spring buildup!

Unit 6 – Harvesting Honey – Workshop -  May/June   (2 hours)

  • Take capped honey frames from a ‘super’, remove the cappings and extract the honey.
  • Filter and bottle the product
  • Reliquifying granulated honey

Unit 7 – Getting Ready for Winter – Beeyard – August  (2 hours)

*Students will need to have a protective veil and gloves*

  • We will perform Varroa mite counts and apply a couple of treatments.
  • Other end of season inspections
  • Winter feeding