Beekeeping using both standard hives and the more natural topbar hives can be combined with other skills to make your holiday interesting as well as relaxing.  So why not come to France and let us take care of you whilst you learn new skills.  The following activities can be combined:-

Sausage & Bacon Making,  Ham Curing, Smoking, Home Dairying, Preserves, Brewing, Bread Making, Workshop, Grow Your Own, Keeping Chickens, Soap Making, Whole Pig Processing, Mushrooming and Cockling.

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Written by: The Good Life in France
View the original article for contact information and more images: Gain an Introduction to Beekeeping as part of a weeklong fully inclusive holiday in France.
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

“An Introduction to Beekeeping” One Day Course

A one day course aimed at introducing you to the craft of Beekeeping, what Honey is, and Basic Bee husbandry.

The course is aimed at those who have no experience of bees or beekeeping and are interested in learning more. It will also cover Honey and other Hive products and their uses.

The aim is to have a short session during the day with a hive of bees sited locally, however this is weather dependent and cannot be guaranteed.

Bee suits will be available to borrow, but you will need to wear your own strong boots or wellies.

Dates are:

Saturday 5^th May 2012,

Saturday 16^th June 2012

Saturday 7^th July 2012

Saturday 18^th August 2012

Thursday 30th August 2012

Sunday 16^th September 2012

The course will be held near Cranfield, Bedfordshire and costs £65 per person.

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Written by: thebeesness
View the original article for contact information and more images: An Introduction to Beekeeping
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Date: 22 April 2012
Time: 9.30am to 5.00pm
Cost: £65 (£52 for Friends of the Natural Beekeeping Trust)

This new course is timed to coincide with the period of the year when honeybee colonies start swarming. It will advise on all aspects of this most exhilarating event of the colony’s annual lifecycle.

Topics covered will include: reasons for swarming, preparations for division within the hive, reading the signs, setting up bait boxes, useful equipment, introducing swarms to hives, and caring for new colonies.

Advice will also be given on how to handle bees which have already clustered and are hanging from a branch or on a garden fence, as well as methods of removing swarms from difficult locations.

Please bring some lunch to share.  Organic refreshments will be provided.

Please note that places are limited and booking is essential.

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Written by: Natural Beekeeping Trust
View the original article for contact information and more images: Fly, my pretties, fly! The Great Wonder of a Swarm of Bees
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Date: 26-27 May 2012
Time: 9.30am to 5.00pm each day
Cost: £130 (£104 for Friends of the Natural Beekeeping Trust) to include organic vegetarian lunch and refreshments

This two-day course is aimed at giving the beginner sufficient confidence to start with a bee colony of their own.  A basic knowledge of colony life is required; prior attendance of the course “Introduction to Honeybees and their Care: the Wonder of Colony Life” is recommended.

Sessions include: history of beekeeping, hive choices, promoting good health and managing ill health, planting for bees, working with the swarming impulse, catching swarms, observation techniques, siting beehives, preparing colonies for winter, critical times of the year, and resources for natural beekeeping.

The couse will also include and introduction to dowsing with Guilia Holland.

If the weather is kind, there will be the opportunity for participants to approach colonies in an apiary, observe bee activity and learn to assess the colony mood (please note that opening a hive for observation is not part of the programme, and will only be done when there is no risk of chilling brood).

Please note that spaces are limited and booking is essential.

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Written by: Natural Beekeeping Trust
View the original article for contact information and more images: The Theory and Practice of Natural Beekeeping encompassing the Biodynamic Perspective
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Date: 15 April 2012
Time: 9.30am to 5.00pm
Cost: £65 (£52 for Friends of the Natural Beekeeping Trust)

This one-day course provides a basic introduction to the nature and life expressions of bee colonies and makes the case for sustainable beekeeping practice. The day includes hive visits.

Topics covered: the colony as a whole, the three castes of bees and their evolvement, expressions of colony life through the seasons of the year, essential needs of the colony for maintenance of health and vigour, the colony’s ideal environment, and fundamentals of bee-guardianship/bee-centric husbandry.

The basic principles of biodynamic/natural beekeeping are explored with reference to the Guidelines developed by the Natural Beekeeping Trust.

Please bring some lunch to share. Organic refreshments will be provided.

Please note that places are limited and booking is essential.

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Written by: Natural Beekeeping Trust
View the original article for contact information and more images: Introduction to Honeybees and their Care: the Wonder of Colony Life
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Date: 24-25 March 2012
Time: 9.30am to 5.00pm each day
Cost: £130 (£104 for Friends of the Natural Beekeeping Trust) to include organic vegetarian lunch and refreshments

This two-day course is aimed at giving the beginner sufficient confidence to start with a bee colony of their own.  A basic knowledge of colony life is required; prior attendance of the course “Introduction to Honeybees and their Care: the Wonder of Colony Life is recommended.

Sessions include: history of beekeeping, hive choices, promoting good health and managing ill health, planting for bees, working with the swarming impulse, catching swarms, observation techniques, siting beehives, preparing colonies for winter, critical times of the year, and resources for natural beekeeping.

If the weather is kind, there will also be the opportunity for participants to approach colonies in an apiary, observe bee activity and learn to assess the colony mood (please note that opening a hive for observation is not part of the programme, and will only be done when there is no risk of chilling brood).

Please note that places are limited and booking is essential.

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Written by: Natural Beekeeping Trust
View the original article for contact information and more images: The Theory and Practice of Natural Beekeeping encompassing the Biodynamic Perspective
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Programme:

Part One – The Fundamentals of Beekeeping: Recognising bees in the UK; the different types of honeybee within a colony; the alternative types of hive, their construction and materials; clothing and equipment.
Part Two – A Tour of the Apiary: Opening up a number of hives to show you when to look and what to look for; how to be safe and how it all works inside a hive.
Part Three – The Beekeeping Calendar: How to look after your bees during the year.
Part Four – Getting Started: Where to find equipment, books and fellow beekeepers.

www.mumbleysfarmhouse.co.uk

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Written by: Mumbleys Farmhouse Produce
View the original article for contact information and more images: Bees for Beginners Day Courses
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Sat 31st - Sun 1st April 2012 or Sat 14th - Sun 15th  April 2012.

This 16 hour course is designed to equip people to keep their own bees at home and includes plenty of practical experience! It is run along lines of BBKA courses though with an accent on minimal use of chemicals where possible.

Over these weekends it is hoped you will learn enough to become a self reliant beekeeper. Weather and bees permitting there will be time for you to explore the hives and handle the frames in order to become familiar with the various larval cells, grubs, (queen, worker and drone), look for the queen and understand the inner workings of the hive.

For those who have a tendency towards a more biodynamic natural approach you might wish to consider attending the day with David Heaf on Bee Friendly BeeKeeping on Good Friday - either instead of or in addition to the above weekend.

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Written by: Greystoke Cycle Cafe
View the original article for contact information and more images: Bee-keeping for Beginners – 2 day course.
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Fri 6th April 2012

Natural Beekeeping Course with Dr David Heaf, author of Bee Friendly Bee Keeping. David will be travelling from his Snowdonian home to take this course and share with us his expertise and passion for Natural Beekeeping and all it entails.

This long intensive one day course (9am to 6pm) is suitable for those considering taking up beekeeping as well as for existing beekeepers who are interested in making a transition to a more natural form of beekeeping.

We will begin with some basic bee biology and behaviour and look what happens in the life cycle of a feral/wild colony. An examination of the compromises beekeepers make in putting colonies in hiveswill allow us to compare'hives for bees' & 'hives for beekeepers'.

The course will examine its construction, populating it with bees and managing it throughout the year.

Beekeeper intervention will cover feeding, harvesting honey, wintering, swarming, Varroa, and the options for raising additional colonies and queens.

Beekeeping has social, economic and environmental implications: we shall keep these sustainability themes in mind throughout the course.

Bees and weather permitting the day will include examination of hives in the locality or on site.

Lunch and refreshments included

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Written by: Greystoke Cycle Cafe
View the original article for contact information and more images: Bee-friendly Beekeeping – A Beginners Course in Natural Beekeeping with Dr David Heaf
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.

Friday 6th April (Good Friday) with Dr David Heaf- author of Bee Friendly Beekeeping - national expert and Guest Speaker at the Inaugural Natural Beekeeping Conference in 2011

A single day course for £105 (or as extension day to our Weekend Beekeeping Course the cost is reduced to £80) for those interested in learning more about this alternative approach. Having had the informed grounding of a BBKA type course some might welcome the opportunity to learn about a Bee Friendly approach to Beekeeping that is becoming more and more popular.

Bee friendly beekeeping places the accent on keeping bees for just that reason and less on the need for Honey extraction from the hive. Honey is considered bonus rathe than a pre-requisite. Top Bar Hives that emulate the spaces that wild bee colonies often select are favoured in this approach.

Beekeeping using the traditional picture book hives has been popular since the mid 20th century. It can be expensive to get started, may require space to store associated paraphernaliaand each unit hive has a weight often in excess of 50lbs -this means moving hives is a job, often requiring 2 people!

The Warré top bar Hive the is one of the oldest and simplest types of beehive box, they provide a simple, effective and maneagable way of keeping bees for an individual, apparently even by someone in a wheelchair.

This course is suitable for those considering taking up beekeeping and also existing beekeepers interested in making a transition to a more natural form of beekeeping.

The course will cover some basic bee biology and behaviour and look what happens in the life cycle of a feral /wild colony.

An examination of the compromises beekeepers make in putting colonies in hives will allow us to compare 'hives for bees' & 'hives for beekeepers'.

The People's Hive of Abbé Émile Warré, selected from amongst the more 'bee-appropriate' hives, will be the focus of the practical aspect of the course.

The course will examine its construction, populating it with bees and managing it throughout the year. Beekeeper intervention will cover feeding, harvesting honey, wintering, swarming, Varroa, and the options for raising additional colonies and queens. Beekeeping has social, economic and environmental implications: we shall keep these sustainability themes in mind throughout the course.

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Written by: Greystoke Cycle Cafe
View the original article for contact information and more images: Natural Bee Friendly Bee Keeping Day Course
Original article posted on the Smallholding Courses website.