At this amateur beekeeping club we love to see people learning with others as well as using the library and online tools to build on the techniques and methods of beekeeping that most relate to your style and beekeeping goals.
We suggest before you buy a hive or any gear to come along to the club field days to shadow other beekeepers to find out if you are comfortable around bees before you invest in equipment or bees.
Some of the topics that you may learn through online learning are listed below, but it’s one on one with an experienced beekeeper that you will learn the sounds and feel of the hive.
Topics for your first 12 months of beekeeping, online and in the field:
- History of European honey bees and beekeeping in Australia
- Races of European of honey bees
- Beekeeper’s responsibilities
- Various beekeeper organisation in Australia and Queensland
- Legal requirements – Qld Biosecurity Act 2014
- AHBIC – Biosecurity Code of Practice
- Regulations keeping bees in the suburbs and in a rural areas
- The biology of the European honey bee colony
- Variables in determining a suitable apiary site
- Protective clothing
- Hive equipment
- Managing a smoker
- Types of Hives
- Standard Hive construction
- Types of frames
- Standard frame construction
- General hive management over the various seasons of the year
- Feeding bees
- Queen bees and breeding
- Swarming
- Removing Honey
- Honey extraction methods
- Pests
- Endemic diseases
- Exotic diseases and pests
- Chemicals and the effects on the European honey bees and the environment
- Flora – local types and timing of flowering
- Pollination services
- Products of the hive: – use of a refractor, grades of honey, honey comb, wax, propolis, mead
- NBKA membership and active participation
(Reference – The bee book, Beekeeping in Australia, Peter Warhurst & Roger Goebel, 3rd Edition)