Who should attend this course?

The course is open to adults and children (age 10 and over) who are interested in the keeping, or advancement of honey bees.  Those who wish to know how honey bees operate, live, maintain their colonies, reproduce and produce honey and other products, will learn many of the basics, and will gain a strong understanding of how to maintain a bee hive as a beekeeper.  Should you wish to have younger members of your family participate, please keep in mind that sessions are 2 hours long and children may have a hard time sitting through the lecture series.

What dates will the course be held?

Classes will meet weekly on Saturday mornings. Dates are listed below in the Agenda section. Should class need to be cancelled for any reason, we will plan to have a make up session the following Saturday after the scheduled last class. Other contingencies will be addressed as necessary.

After classroom sessions have concluded, we will hold a Field Day to provide demonstrations of concepts and practices learned in class.  The Field Day date will be announced in the last lecture session, but attendees should plan for it to be on a weekend, within 2-3 weeks following lecture completion.

Where will the course be held?

Classes will be held in person for the 2024 season, and will be at the Old Stone School in Hillsboro, VA

37098 Charles Town Pike, Hillsboro, VA 20132

Open House

LBA will hold an informal, Open House the week before class starts, on Saturday, February 10, 2024, 9:00-11:30 AM. During the Open House you will be able to see examples of beekeeping equipment necessary for the practice of beekeeping, meet the course instructors, and talk to experienced beekeepers. Attendance is highly encouraged.  We will provide the information for the Open House via email prior to the event.

How much is the course tuition and what does it cover?

The 2024 course tuition is $95.00 ($80 Early bird registration if you do so by Mid-night November 30, 2023), and it covers:

• Course instruction provided by experienced beekeepers
  
• A one-year membership in Loudoun Beekeepers Association (LBA), which provides the benefits listed here.
• Access to a local mentor for your first year of beekeeping 
• Access to a dedicated 2024 Beginning Beekeeping Course section of LBA's beekeeping discussion forums (Details will be provided the first week of class)

Please note: we are only taking online payments via PayPal at this time.  PayPal does not require you to have an account to use their vendor services and pay with debit/credit cards.  There is a $3.00 convenience fee for online tuition payments.

What is on the course agenda?

We begin each course with the open house. Then we hold the lecture series as listed below. Finally, we wrap the course with the field day.

Lecture Series

LBA has structured the course in seven weekly lectures, followed by a Field Day after the lectures end.  Below is a summary with date of the topics we'll be covering each week:

Can family members participate in the class?

Yes!  We encourage you to involve family members!  They are welcome to join in with you via the virtual classroom login, free of charge.  Please keep in mind that the virtual classroom has limited capacity, so there will be only one virtual login allowed per registration.  If you have additional family members outside of your household who would like to attend, they will need to attend with their own login for classroom access.  Please consider purchasing a second registration or contact us at [email protected] to address multiple device/login use.

Recommended Course Textbooks

LBA recommends having the following books on hand as a reference. These books include:

• The Beekeepers Handbook (5th Ed.) by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Abatabile (Foreword by Dr. Dewey Caron)
• Beekeeping Basics by Maryann Frazier (PennState Extension)
• A Field Guide to Honey Bees and Their Maladies by PennState Extension

You can find additional descriptions and links to these books, and others, in the "Recommended Reading" section of this website.

What is the course cancellation policy?

If you need to cancel your registration, please give us as much advance notice as possible.  We usually have a wait-list for these classes and can back-fill your seat with no problem (and are happy to provide you a refund).  However, last-minute cancellations are more difficult for us to fill.  Please be aware that any cancellations after January 31, 2022 may be subject to forfeiture of part or all of your course tuition, at the Course Registrar’s discretion.  If you have questions about our cancellation policy, please contact us at [email protected].

What happens if I have to miss a class?

We've condensed a lot of the information you'll need to be successful your first year into just seven weeks - so missing one class means you may miss out on important knowledge.  We only have make up sessions if the class is officially cancelled for some reason.  We have past recordings of each week's lectures, and will make them available each week after the scheduled lecture.  Additionally, the recommended readings are an excellent source of additional information, and the forums provided on our LBA website are full of excellent advice, which will be made open to you as new students.

What happens in the event of bad weather (snow, ice, etc.)?t

If there is a condition that prevents the session form happening at its prescribed time, we will move the schedule back by one week, and make up the session the following scheduled class.

Questions?

Please reach out to us via email at [email protected].