Horticulture and gardening. Open to everyone.

Why not harvest your own honey? You can have a few hives and let the bees do most of the work for you.

Learn everything you need to know about bees, the equipment needed and how much honey you can expect. Discover how to make products from beeswax such as candles, soap and cosmetic creams.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• identify the various methods of beekeeping
• select suitable bees, flora and beehive position
• note the regulations pertaining to beekeeping
• maintain a beehive successfully
• implement the procedure to harvest honey and render wax
• recognise pests and diseases affecting bees
• distinguish the various products made from honey and wax.

Content

• Introduction to beekeeping
• What is honey?
• History of beekeeping
• Honey flora - the importance of bees
• Legislation - locating the hive
• How to get the bees
• Honey bees – castes, lifecycles, re-queening
• Swarming
• Catching a swarm
• Collecting the pollen and nectar
• Bee hive management
• Splitting a hive
• Relocating a hive
• Harvesting the honey - types of honey
• Honey bee products - honeycomb, beer, etc
• Australian native bees
• Bee stings
• Bee health
• Harvesting the wax
• Beeswax uses - candles, cosmetics, soap
• Flow hive
• Top-bar hive
• Practical demonstration – extracting the honey from the honeycomb

Intended audience

Suitable for anyone interested in learning about the fundamentals of various methods of beekeeping.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop
• Online workshop via the platform Zoom

Various methods of beekeeping are discussed and demonstrated. Beekeeping equipment is displayed and during face-to-face classes, honey is presented for tasting.

Materials

Course notes are distributed electronically