Spring Beekeeping Activities for a Bountiful Honey Harvest | In-person class series
March 12 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Beekeepers anticipate the red maple bloom in February knowing that their beehives will soon be expanding the brood nest and growing the colony's population back to full strength for the spring nectar flow. You can just imagine all the honey your bees will collect! But all of this Spring bounty means the bees will want to swarm. As the bees will likely issue out of the hive in a great mass and land on a nearby branch, your honey harvest ends up hanging in the trees!
In this hands-on class, master beekeeper Bill Elliott will demonstrate several management best practices to mitigate swarming and allow your colonies to expand to a full population for a productive honey harvest. This class is for beekeepers with at least one year of beekeeping experience.
Each class will begin in the classroom with a short presentation to discuss the day's activities. The hands-on portion will take place in the HBG apiary and will include the initial spring inspection, varroa inspections and treatments, equalizing brood chambers across the apiary, the making of splits, supering for the nectar flow, and harvesting of honey. Participants will also create a nucleus colony (nuc) and allow this nuc to make a new queen, which will then be used in the apiary for sustainment needs. Finally, your instructor will demonstrate the contrast between the use of splits and nucs by establishing an additional colony using a package of bees.
There will be six (6) classes in the series beginning on March 12 and continuing every other Saturday until May 21.
You can sign up for one class or get a discount by signing up for them all!
Capacity is limited, so reserve your spot today!
March 12, 2022— Spring Management Objectives, Inspections and Supering
March 26, 2022— Equalizing Brood Nests and Splitting Strong Hives
April 9, 2022— Swarm Mitigation using Snelgrove Boards
April 23, 2022—Varroa Mite Load Assessment and Treatment
May 7, 2022— Hive Inspections and Using Nucleus Colonies
May 21, 2022— Honey Processing: Pulling, Extraction and Bottling
Additional Information: This class will take place in-person at the Huntsville Botanical Garden. All visitors, staff, and volunteers are asked to follow the recommendations of the CDC regarding face masks/coverings and social distancing. These recommendations may vary based on an individual’s circumstances, so individuals should refer to the CDC to determine what recommendations are applicable to them.
Pricing:
Individual Programs:
Members: $35
Non-Members: $60
Full Series:
Members: $180
Non-Members: $300
About the Instructor: Bill Elliott is a Huntsville native, an Alabama Master Beekeeper, and a vice president with the Madison County Beekeepers Association. Bill retired from a career in Research Park and now enjoys his time spent outdoors investigating and researching the amazing honey bee, Apis mellifera. He currently manages over 50 colonies. These colonies produce honey sold in local markets and nucs, which he sells in late spring and early summer. He also enjoys the challenges of queen rearing and creating queens that produce gentle bees that are excellent honey producers and resistant to diseases
Interested in becoming a Garden member? Click here!
Google Calendar 
