Beekeeper Mentoring Program
The mentoring program is a month-by-month followup to our one-day beekeeping course. It consists of a series of monthly half-day training sessions. In these sessions, we share what we are doing in our beehives that month and provide hands-on demonstrations of the procedures in our apiary. Then the student being mentored can apply what he has learned to his home apiary. Students enrolled in the program can contact me (Randy Oakley) by text, phone or email with questions concerning their bee colonies.
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Description
The goal of our beekeeper mentoring program is to help you become a successful beekeeper. Modern-day beekeeping presents us with a plethora of challenges to keeping our bees alive and productive. As beekeepers, over the years, we have pursued a course of letting the bees teach us what they need to be healthy and productive. We have a long way to go in our learning but with over 40 years of beekeeping behind us, we feel that we are on the road to developing sustainable management principles that can help you become a successful beekeeper.
Our beekeeper mentoring programs share with you the management principles we use in our beehives to build resilient, sustainable apiaries.
Below is a schedule of the mentoring workshops we have planned for 2019. Upon completion of our one-day beekeeping management course, you will be eligible to sign up for any or all of our mentoring workshops.
2019 Mentoring Workshop Schedule
| Month | Date and Time | Discussion Topics |
|---|---|---|
January | January 20199am to 12 noon | Transition from winter to spring buildupActivities: start stimulative feeding of sugar syrup and pollen substitute Looking ahead to February: Spring Varroa mite monitoring and treatment |
February | February 2, 20199am to 12 noon | Understanding Spring BuildupActivities: - Stimulative feeding of sugar syrup and pollen substitute - Varroa mite sampling and treatment with FormicPro Looking Ahead to March: Piggyback stack manipulation |
March | March 2, 2019,9am to 12 noon | Building Production Beehive PopulationActivities: - Reverse piggyback entrance and add box to production hive - Stimulative feeding of sugar syrup and pollen substitute - Begin swarm indicators monitoring Looking Ahead to April: Population maximizing and swarm prevention |
April | April 6, 2019,9am to 12 noon | Population Buildup MonthActivities: - Artificial swarming procedure / nucleus hive creation - Maximize forager population of production hive - Requeen production hive - Stimulative feeding for building comb - Monitor swarm preparations Looking Ahead to May: Monitor honey production and storage |
May | April 27, 20199am to 12 noon | Honey Storage MonthActivities: - Note development of distinct honey storage area - Order frames in hive to maximize honey production - Buildup nuc with stimulative feeding - Monitor swarming triggers Looking Ahead to June: Harvest and extract honey |
June | June 1, 20199am to 12 noon | Honey Harvest MonthActivities: - Honey harvest and extracting workshop - Varroa mite sampling Looking ahead to July: Summer mite control |
July | June 29, 20199am to 12 noon | Summer DearthActivities: - Summer Varroa mite treatment options - Brood stimulation during summer dearth Looking ahead to August: Fall piggyback split |
August | August 3, 20199am to 12 noon | Preparation for Fall Piggyback SplitActivities: - Stimulative feeding - Varroa mite sampling - Order queen(s) for split(s) Looking ahead to September: Managing piggyback split |
September | August 31, 20199am to 12 noon | Piggyback SplitActivities: - Make piggyback split - Check for queen - Use sugar syrup and pollen substitute to buildup colonies Looking Ahead to October: Managing fall honey and pollen stores |
October | October 5, 20199am to 12 noon | Fall Honey FlowActivities: - Evaluating honey and pollen stores for winter - Varroa mite sampling - Syrup and Pollen Substitute feeding Looking Ahead to November: FormicPro mite treatment |
November | November 2, 20199am to 12 noon | Winter PreparationActivities: - FormicPro mite treatment - Feeding for winter storage Looking Ahead to December: Value-Added Products from the Beehive |
