Training

Events

Education and Training

Following the refurbishment of the facilities at Horestone Apiary, future training events will be held at the apiary. The next Beginers course will start in February 2008. See below for details. Any existing member can join the course for single meetings if the matter being covered is of interest to them. A small attendance fee will be charged per meeting. For further details contact the education officer.

The course of meetings will follow an informal format, based around the expertise of our established members on alternate weeks commencing 12th February.

Date Subject

Tues 12th Feb 2008 General talk and discussion about bees and wasps and their life cycles

Tues 26th Feb 2008 Homes for bees. A look at hive types, construction and useability.

Tues 11th Mar 2008 Bee keeping equipment. A look at the necessities and the extras.

Tues 25th Mar 2008 Practical. Cleaning, and maintaining hives, assembling of frames etc. and tools needed

Tues 8th April 2008 Where to keep your bees! Is your garden big enough? What about neighbours? Stands etc

Tues 22nd Apr 2008 Diseases and disorders. Varoa and other complaints bees suffer from.

Tues 6th May 2008 Increasing colonies. Nucleus boxes and creating a new colony by means of a nucleus

Tues 20th May 2008 Swarms. What is a swarm! Why do bees swarm? Insight into control and or prevention.

Sat 31st May/Sun 1st June 2008 Feeding. Important to understand condition of bees. Do they require additional food? How to feed bees.

Sat 14th June/Sun 15th June 2008 First look inside a hive. Seeing live bees on the comb and understanding what you see.

Sat 29th June/Sun 30th June 2008 Hunt the lady! Looking further into the hive to find and identify the queen.

Sat 12th July/Sun 13th July 2008 A go on your own. Manipulating the bees, handling frames with their bees. Seeing what you can see!

TBA Ad hoc class. Create your own nucleus

The indoor meetings (12th Feb to 20th May) will take place at the North Devon Branch of the Devon Bee Keepers Association apiary on Tuesday evenings from approximately 7 to 8.30pm, time can be flexible to suit the majority of the members attending the meetings. The practical meetings will be in the afternoon at the weekend. Saturday or Sunday again for the convenience of the majority.
The practical meetings (31stMay/1stJune to 12th/13th July) will require suitable weather; these therefore may “float”. The date and time for the ad hoc meeting (it may be fitted in any time from the middle of May onwards) will be determined by the strength and state of the donor colonies. To qualify for a nucleus you must have attended the majority of the meetings. There is always a greater demand than supply for nuclei but course members will be guaranteed one. Anticipated cost of nucleus Ł55
It must be emphasised that the course of meetings is centred wholly on practical bee keeping. Any body wishing to expand their academic knowledge can acquire formal qualifications through the branch and the DBKA. A primary requirement for formal qualification courses is that an applicant must have been a beekeeper for at least 1 year. This course will qualify you to enter the qualification ladder.

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