Beginner Beekeeping Course, Calais

bee on a sunflower

Classroom: Thursdays, March 14-April 18, 2019 (snow date- April 25)
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Washington County Community College, 1 College Drive, Calais

Field Days:  Saturdays, May 4, 18 and June 1, 2019
Home of Sue Rowley, Pembroke

$75.00

Online Registration is now closed.

Learn all the basics, from hive construction to honey bee behavior and honey production, with our expert instructor.

Resource (included in course fee):  Storey’s Guide To Keeping Honey Bees, 2nd Edition, by Malcolm T. Stanford & Richard E. Bonney

The course is limited to 25 participants.

Questions about the course may be addressed to Andrew Dewey at email andrew@beeberrywoods.com or call 207.266.7294

Tentative Schedule

Class 1 – Overview or summary of the entire course

Class 2 – Chapters 1-4, Beginning Beekeeping, Origin and History of Beekeeping, A Bee’s Life & Choosing Hive Location

Apiary Session # 1- Lighting Smokers, Demeanor around the Apiary

Class 3 – Quiz # 1

Chapters 5 & 6, Getting Equipped, Enter the Bees

Class 4 – Chapter 7, Managing Honey Bee Colonies

Apiary Session # 2 Opening & inspecting colonies, identifying open & capped brood, identifying stored honey & pollen, identifying workers & drones, semi serious look for the queen

Class 5 – Quiz # 2

Chapters 8 & 9, Taking the Crop, Pollination also prep for State Apiarist Presentation – Varroa life cycle

Class 6 – Chapter 10, Diseases & Pests of the Honey Bee taught by the State Apiarist

Apiary Session #3, Different Hive types, determining when boxes get added, mite sampling, winter prep