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Beekeeping Basics Equipment Links Pests and Disease Swarms & Bee Catching

Learn to Keep Bees 2023

Two of EDBA’s senior beekeepers are once again looking to help train new beekeepers in 2023.

The course offered by Malcolm and Craig is not part of EDBA but with their mentorship program and years of experience, there is no better course in all of Alberta. We can’t recommend it enough! They will be running beginner beekeeper courses for the 8th year in NE and NW Edmonton.

The complete course costs $140 and will be given on 5 different occasions in 2023. You only need to attend one day. The dates are:

  • January 21, Saturday,  8:30am to 3:00pm
  • February 18, Saturday,  8:30am to 3:00pm
  • March 25, Saturday,  8:30am to 3:00pm
  • April 22, Saurday, 8:30am to 3:00pm
  • May 13, Saturday, 8:30am to 3:00pm

Graduates of the course can take part in the optional free mentoring sessions on most weeks from late May to early August. You can register for the course at www.naturalelementshoney.ca

Topics covered include:

  1. Urban beekeeping regulations
  2. Location choices and Equipment
  3. Installing bees and queens
  4. What to check inside of a hive
  5. Swarm prevention/creating extra queens
  6. Basic Bee Biology
  7. Mentoring opportunities
  8. Wintering and Treatments
  9. 12 pages of information is provided to go along with slides (powerpoint) presented in class.

 You can register for the course at www.naturalelementshoney.ca

Along with an EDBA membership, you are sure to learn enough to be a very responsible beekeeper and attending the mentoring sessions will give you the confidence needed.

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Links News Pests and Disease

Honey Birds

Ever heard of a honey bird?  Nasty pieces of work if you ask me because they are all brood parasites that lay one egg in a nest of another species.  Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their host’s chicks from the nest and they have hooks on their beaks with which they puncture the hosts’ eggs or kill the nestlings.

Honeyguides are named for a remarkable habit seen in one or two species: they guide humans to bee colonies. Once the hive is open and the honey is taken, the bird feeds on the remaining wax and larvae.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeyguide

They are among the few birds that feed regularly on wax—beeswax in most species.

HoneyBird

 

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Links News

Design competition gives Winnipeg bees homes

The University of Manitoba is hosting an international design competition called BEE/HOUSE/LAB, challenging people to create imaginative and functional houses for solitary bees.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bee-home-competition-1.3475764

BeesCompetition

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Links

Links to Links of Links

Canadian Honey Council  

Alberta Beekeepers Commission

Scientific Beekeeping

Apimondia

Alberta Agriculture – Beginner Beekeeping pdf

Honeybees.ca

Clovermead Apiaries

BC Honey Producers Association

New / Old Beekeeping Discoveries

National Bee Health Diagnostic Centre

Beaverlodge Research Station

Randy Oliver’s Nosema Sampling Method

Exhaustive list of sites  related to all aspects of beekeeping

 http://badbeekeepingblog.com/1000-bee-web-links/