This course
is designed to give you the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience required to
confidently start bee keeping. You will learn about the life cycle of the honey
bee, the equipment involved with beekeeping, colony management, pests and
diseases and swarm control, along with practical sessions that will cover how
to safely handle honey bees and inspect hives. There will be four sessions in
the classroom and, weather permitting, one session will be spent in the tutor's
own apiary.
Monday
Life cycle
Equipment
Bee community
Tuesday
Beekeeping year
Hive Records
Plants and Forage
Wednesday
Pests and Diseases
Products of the hive
Thursday
Swarm control
Swarm Collecting
Bee Stings and First Aid
Setting up an apiary and getting
started.
Friday
In the Apiary
Opening hives and learning to handle
bees
Background reading list.
No reading is essential, and a handouts
will be provided. There are many, many books on the market and the tutor will
bring several for students to peruse during the course.
Essential equipment for students to
bring.
While notes are provided, please bring
pen and paper.
On the Apiary day bee jackets will be
provided, but please dress appropriately:
- long trousers, preferably not jeans (bees
don't like them) - but the main requirement is loose - skin tight
leggings are not advisable
- sensible footwear that will cover your
ankles - wellies, or at least 2 pairs of thick socks to tuck your trousers into
- avoid strong scents/perfumes/aftershave -
these can attract or aggravate the bees
Please bring a new pair of
Marigold-type gloves.
Fiona Robinson
Wiltshire Bee Centre
About Fiona
Fiona
Robinson has kept bees for 20 years both here and in Australia, and
professionally for the last 7 years. She has been running the Wiltshire Bee
Centre with her husband, Terry Cooke, for the last 5 years and has taught
beekeeping at many levels for several years.
