Are you a potential beekeeper?
As the days get longer and the temperature begins to rise, beekeepers start to look forward to the start of the next bee keeping season. Right now, our Queen bees are increasing the rate at which they lay eggs and the worker bees that emerged last autumn are rearing the young larvae to be the next generation of bees.
Beekeepers are checking on the hives to make sure the bees have sufficient stores to last until there is plenty of forage for the bees to collect, and noticing when the bees venture outside on the warmer days. There are catkins out already and these are an excellent source of pollen, essential for raising the new bees and a good place to observe them. It’s also a time when anyone who has considered looking into beekeeping as a hobby can sign up for the training offered by Leicestershire and Rutland Beekeeping Association (LRBKA).
LRBKA offer a five-week (one evening per week) theory course, running by Zoom on Tuesday evenings and starting on 14 March. The theory course concludes with a ‘Meet the Bees’ opportunity one weekend, when we lend you a bee suit and give you the chance to watch a hive being opened and the bees being inspected. The theory course includes presentations on the lifecycle of the bees, how to site an apiary, equipment needed for bee keeping, introduction to honey, the beekeeping year, swarming, and introduction to bee diseases.
We have practical courses running from the beginning of May till mid-July at different apiaries, including one at Walton, not too far from our Kibworth area. Here the beginners will learn practical beekeeping skills to enable them to become beekeepers themselves, should they choose to do so.
The courses are only open to members of LRBKA, and more information is available from the LRBKA website at https//lrbka.org/.
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