Attention New Beekeepers!

Hi, I watched the recorded session afterwards. I found it very helpful, but also overwhelming. I learned a lot, but already having bought a colony, I probably wouldn't have had I watched the presentation first. I know, I should have done more due diligence, but here I am, with a colony and drinking from a firehose. mea culpa.
What I would have found helpful would have been a bit of a calendar or schedule from how to prepare your space for a hive, what to physically do when you actually plunk (gently) the hive down. When to open it up the first time and what to look for and then a general path forward from there. A bit of hand holding that maybe the beekeeping courses offer, but a beginners session could have benefitted from as well. I really liked the pace and tone of the presentation, the deep knowledge base you and Fred have as well as some of the legalities, responsibilities and intricacies of ownership.
Thanks so much for your time in putting the course on.
Ina

Hi Ina, Thanks for your comments. We'll keep them in mind for future meetings. I also saw your other posts and the excellent responses you received. When I started 5 years ago, I was flying by the seat of my pants also. I did not have a mentor but I reached out to others for suggestions and advice to answer specific questions as you are doing. But I mainly used the book, "The Backyard Beekeeper" by Kim Flottum, to get me started in that first year. (There are other good ones out there.) Unfortunately, as one of the other posts mentioned, the VBA does not have enough mentors to go around. The next best thing to having someone visit your hive, however, is to watch someone else inspect theirs. This could be at a meeting of a local bee club (you can find a list under Resources in the menu bar above), or a local beekeeper who might not mind having you watch as he or she goes through some routine procedures. Lastly, Cornell has a useful calendar of what needs to be done in our area throughout the year. You can find it by Googling Beekeeping calendar for the Northeast. And don't forget our annual summer meeting on August 12. It's an excellent place to network!

FYI…

We have the Cornell beekeepers calendar on the VBA website under Resources. Direct link is: https://www.vermontbeekeepers.org/images/epub/beekeepercalendar/index.html

The version we’ve posted allows you to add your own private notes to each page and is mobile-friendly.

Great Summer Meeting in Strafford this past Saturday!! There were several excellent presentations for beekeepers at all levels. For new beekeepers specifically, Andrew Munkres hosted an excellent interactive session on the lawn outside on prepping for winter. He not only showed us some of his practices for colony feeding and hive preparation but also answered all our questions. In addition, the meeting also provided an excellent opportunity to socialize and meet other beekeepers which everyone took advantage of. The snack room was packed during the mid-morning coffee break!

If you're a new beekeeper, you'll want to head over to the South Bee Yard in Hartland this Saturday (August 19) where a VBA workshop on honey harvesting and mite treatments will be held. Details can be found by clicking on the "Calendar" tab at the top of this page.