Beekeeping Class - Spring Hive Opening & Autopsy

This class is designed for those who have kept bees for at least a season and have successfully (or unsuccessfully) overwintered their colonies.

Whether this is the first time you're overwintering bees or you've done it many times before, there are always new things to learn when we inspect our overwintered colonies. Sometimes, we learn about what worked really well. Other times, we discover that we have lost colonies and we try to evaluate what went wrong.

We'll chat about what to do to help your overwintered colonies make the most of their remaining resources and steps you can take to help them thrive in spring.

We'll also talk about the hard part of beekeeping, winter loss. We will autopsy a dead hive from our apiary to see what information we can gather from what remains in the boxes. We can use clues to help us diagnose the issues the colony might have faced and hopefully avoid the situation in the future. 

WEATHER PERMITTING, we will meet out in our apiary and look into some of our overwintered colonies. You will need to bring your own safety gear to participate.

If it is cold, rainy, or snowing (please, no), we will meet indoors in our classroom area. Please be prepared either way!