Beekeeping Courses for Beginners
Our Association runs two beekeeping beginners’ courses throughout the year.
The 6-week Winter Course which has now finished for the year, and will be next run in February 2026.
Various beekeeping topics are covered by several speakers and include
- honeybees and inside the hive,
- equipment and getting started,
- hives/frames/foundation and bee space,
- honeybee pests and diseases,
- honey and products of the hive and the beekeeping year.
But don’t worry if you missed the winter course, our 17 week practical summer course starts on Sunday 11th May 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00 and runs weekly to September.
The course follows the syllabus of the Basic Beekeeping Exam, which can be done through the BBKA. The table below gives an idea of content, although the weeks are subject to slight change.
| Week | Main subject | Key Elements |
| 1 | Introduction & Welcome | 1. Welcome and introductions 2. Association & Membership 3. Health & Safety – Site rules 4. Being stung – First Aid, reactions & how to reduce the chance of being stung 5. Apiary walk around – different hives 6. Apiary cleanliness and hygiene 7. What makes a good apiary location – not becoming a nuisance to neighbours |
| 2 | Setting up for an inspection | 1. Protective gear – cleanliness, fit for purpose 2. Strong smells – reaction to after shaves/perfumes/etc 3. Explanation of essential equipment – hive tool, smoker, nuc, etc 4. Making notes – importance 5. Frames – different types, wax foundation, making one up 6. Lighting a smoker 7. Reactions of bees to smoke 8. The reasons for opening a colony 9. Handling frames during manipulation and care required |
| 3 | Opening a hive – presence of a fertile queen | 1. Parts of a hive, and best ways to open a hive 2. Reasons for opening a colony – recap 3. Understanding the castes of a honeybee 4. Basic bee biology – differences between drone, queen and workers 5. Basic account of the production of queens, workers and drones – and the stages of development 6. Basic account of wax production and comb building |
| 4 | Choosing a hive | 1. Types of hives 2. Understanding the size differences – top bar, WBC, National, 14×12 3. If possible manipulate each one |
| 5 | Opening a hive – check on the health of the colony and the expansion | 1. Tips on finding the queen – discussion around marking and clipping of queen – set up additional empty hive to demonstrate ways of finding the queen. 2. What does a healthy colony look like – brood pattern, food, number of bees, Spring expansion, plenty of room for the queen to lay 3. Proportion of workers/drones 4. Recognising problems in the hive – peppercorn pattern, laying rate, presence of eggs/larva and sealed brood |
| 6 | Opening a hive – undertake any necessary swarm prevention measures | 1. Why does a colony swarm 2. Swarm control 3. Swarm prevention 4. Using empty hives/nucs – show ways of swarm prevention (artificial swarm) 5. Housing a swarm |
| 7 | Opening a hive – check for any sign of disease either in the brood or adult bees | 1. Pests and diseases – identifying them and possible solutions – American Foul Brood – European Foul Brood – Chalkbrood – Sac Brood – Nosema – Acarine – Tropilaelaps – Small Hive Beetle – Varroa – Wax Moth – Other pests – mice, wasps, woodpecker |
| 8 | Opening a hive – check the colony has sufficient stores | 1. Importance of stores – how bees use nectar/pollen/propolis/water – caste determination royal jelly 2. Types of feeder – advantages and disadvantages 3. Different types of food and when to use – 1:1, 2:1, spring stimulation, Bailey comb change, June gap, times of dearth, pollen cake 4. Making up sugar solution |
| 9 | Opening a hive – check the colony has sufficient space for bees, for the queen to lay and for the bees to store honey | 1. Creating space – adding supers, space for queen. 2. Recap of swarm prevention 3. Forage available, understanding pollen and nectar coming in. OSR other local forage 4. Bee behaviour – waggle and round dance 5. Weather and its influence – both on forage and bees |
| 10 | Identifying other issues in a hive | 1. Understanding the signs and causation of a queenless colony, and what can be done to resolve it. 2. The signs of laying workers and what causes them. 3. Signs and causes of a drone laying queen 4. Robbing – causes, prevention and symptoms |
| 11 | Pests and diseases | 1. Recap of key pests and diseases 2. Integrated pest management 3. Different treatments – advantages and disadvantages eg varroa treatment 4. Importance of keeping records of treatments given. |
| 12 | Beekeeping year | 1. Jobs of the beekeeper – each month 2. Equipment needed 3. Recap on swarm techniques and additional equipment needed 4. Times of year for treatment/cleaning 5. Forage |
| 13 | Uniting a colony | 1. Reasons for uniting a colony 2. How to reunite a colony 3. Precautions to be taken when uniting 4. Introducing a queen |
| 14 | Honey production | 1. Clearing supers of bees – porter bee escapes – brush method (risk of robbing) 2. Ripe honey – testing it, capped, 18% 3. Leaving some on for the bees 4. Extracting the honey harvest – basic equipment – types of extractor – essential kit 4. Uncapping frames 5. Filtering honey 6. Jarring honey – labelling |
| 15 | Preparing for winter | 1. Essential jobs 2. Feed and checking weight of hive 3. Strong colonies going into winter 4. Unite? 5. Cleaning equipment & treatments 6. Correct storage of dry frames and supers 7. Plan for the next year |
| 16 | Bee Alchemy & End of Course | 1. Uses for honey, beeswax and propolis 2. Including collection 3. Recap – any areas to be covered or questions |
Our training apiary in Sutton Park is the venue for participants to learn all the practical skills needed to look after a colony throughout the year. Our apiary has dedicated hives for beginners to handle throughout the season and these will be inspected weekly (weather permitting). Disease checks, swarm control, feeding, treatments, honey production and harvest are just a few of the subjects covered. We strongly recommend prospective beekeepers attend this course to gain practical experience in handling bees throughout season before obtaining bees.
The Association can provide beekeeping suits, hive tools and gloves to use during the practical course, although please bring along your own if you have one.
These courses will give the new beekeeper a good knowledge of both the theory and practical aspects of beekeeping both have a limited number of places and are usually oversubscribed.
For more information on beginners training please contact James at:
We also offer training to existing beekeepers to improve both their knowledge and skills and prepare candidates for BBKA accredited exams. From the practical ‘Bee Basic’ accreditation to module study groups. From queen rearing at our training apiary to beekeeping husbandry, we can provide a wealth of opportunities for our members.
For more information for existing beekeepers please contact Jitesh at: