Description
All participants must be a member of either: Saint Louis Beekeepers, EMBA, or Great Plains Master Beekeepers program
Anyone participating in the hive inspections will need to have their own protective gear and sign a release form before entering the bee yard.
Open Apiary times are an informal, unstructured gathering of members of the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program. There will be brief demonstrations, questions and answers, and time to get hands-on experience with beehives. Open Apiary will count as 2 hours of field training toward your progress through the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program.
All percipients must RSVP before each class with name, phone number, and number of participants. Register by messaging Ken Heitkamp.
Apiary Manager: Ken Heitkamp
Phone number: 314-675-8088
Please contact Ken at kmbcheitkamp@sbcglobal.net to resgistar
March: 24th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection: what to look for in a overwinter hive in bee yard
- In class topics: Getting your equipment ready and in position
- Feeding and why its important for overwinter hives
- Feeding for new colonies when they arrive
- Mite treatments for overwinter hives before honey flow and supering
- How to light a smoker
- How to stack and replace boxes
- Making splits why its important
- Spring rotation for swarm control
- Hive inspection sheet
- Question and answer
April:28th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection: what you need to see for a strong hive in bee yard, install package or nuc
- In class topics: getting ready for the honey flow
- How to look for a queen (without smoking a hive)
- Supering for honey flow
- Checking for a viable queen
- What are your options if you have a failing queen
- Swarming and how to prevent it (MAKING SPLITS)
-
Installing bee package or nucs
- Feeding your package or nuc, why its important
- Question and answer
May:19th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection: Main Honey Flow in bee yard
- In class topics: Supering for honey
- Catching swarms
- What progress should a package or nuc look like
- Demaree method for swarm control
- Plants that are important in our area for honey production
- Question and answer
June: 2nd noon-2pm
- Hive inspection: check honey flow see if we have hives that have fallen behind in bee yard
- In class topics: Hive problems
- Queen failure , queen superseded , mites
- Extraction equipment
- Question and answer
July: 14th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection in bee yard
- In class topics: Extracting your honey
- Mite testing methods
- Mite counts and when to treat
- Mite treatments
- Small hive beetles and treatment's
- Question and answer
August: 18th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection in bee yard
- In class topics: Mite testing after treatment
- Products of the hive
- Honey sales
- Feeding, getting colonies ready for winter
- Question and Answer
September:22nd noon-2pm
- Hive inspection in bee yard
- In class topics: Queen health and brood production
- Hive population
- Any hive problems that need address before winter
- Combining weak hives
- What to do with equipment from dead-outs
- Question and answer
October: 27th noon-2pm
- Hive inspection weather permitting
- In class topics: sugar mush, candy boards
- Mouse guards, entrance reducers
- Wrap up of the year on the bee yard
- Question and answer.