Introductory Beekeeping Course (HBI)

This course has previously been referred to as ‘beekeeping for bee-ginners!’ The course is well suited to individuals considering dipping their toes into the hobby of beekeeping, maybe with a fancy to keep a hive or flow hive in their backyard so that they can watch these curious creatures at work and harvest their own honey or other bee products – sustainable living at its best!

This course provides such a comprehensive coverage of beekeeping that it also serves as a useful, sociable, refresher for anyone that has kept bees for a short while but is unsure about some aspect(s) of beekeeping.  We aim to help beekeepers get the most out of their hard-working bees. 

Some have attended the introductory course simply to learn more about the lifecycle and habits of these complex pollinators that are so important to our food production and well-being.

This short 4-hour course is run in a close, friendly, informal manner with questions and ideas actively encouraged from the start. The course is presented by Brett Heather, who is a natural educator and enjoys passing on his extensive knowledge from over 20 years of beekeeping. 

Beginning inside, with the cool air-conditioning, Brett takes you through a presentation covering the theory of beekeeping and explaining the tricks to the trade.  Each attendee is provided with a handout of the presentation to take home and add notes to, if required.

Areas covered include: –

• Tools/equipment – how to use them (includes flow hives)
• What’s in the hive? Learn to spot the queen, drones, young and adult workers, eggs, larvae, queen cells, worker cells, drone cells, honey, pollen……
• Understanding and managing the brood
• Terminology
• Understanding swarming
• Understanding bees and the seasons
• Things to look out for – Wax moth, Chalk brood, other disease, and biosecurity
• Harvesting honey

The learning experience is strengthened by much fun and discussion, which continues during the break that follows.  Yummy treats (usually made from honey) are munched, with some tea or coffee, lots of chatting and questions, before heading outside for some hands-on experience in the hives. 

Bee suits are put on and time is spent among our placid bees spotting the elusive queens or recently laid eggs that look like miniature grains of rice, differentiating the drones from the workers, observing the change in appearance from nursing workers to foraging workers and the list goes on……  Opportunities are given to practise lifting out, observing, and replacing frames. This part of the course gives a great opportunity to build confidence handling bees.  Many leave us with relief and the confidence to progress their hobby further.  On a few lucky occasions we have even managed to demonstrate the ‘art of catching a swarm’, thanks to some local swarm activity on our property.

Following the course, we are happy to answer further questions (phone or email).  We understand that support is an important factor to helping a novice beekeeper, particularly when unsure of how to tackle an unfamiliar situation in the hive(s).  For this reason, we welcome course attendees to join our Facebook chat group ‘Heathers’ Beekeeping Chat’, which offers a channel to seek advice from Heathers’ Beekeeping and to share ideas and news with other attendees.

Attendees are asked to bring their own bee suits if they have them and suitable covered footwear.  Otherwise, bee suits can be borrowed on request (please let us know in advance to allow time to organise these).  For biosecurity, we provide gloves and hive tools. 

Nora came to one of our early courses and has written a great blog that highlights nicely just how the course runs: –

https://loveperthlife.com/2018/11/23/beekeeping-for-bee-ginners/

You can visit our Facebook page to see what previous attendees particularly liked about this course: –

www.facebook.com/foothillsfresh