Beginners Course
Are you interested in bees? Do you ever wonder how bees collect nectar and pollen and turn them into honey? How do they know what flowers and plants to go to and where they are? If you would like to become a beekeeper and find the answers to these questions and many more join the Louth Beekeepers Beginners Course.
FIBKA has updated their education system and part of that update includes changes to the beginners course. To support that, the course will be split into two parts: a series of lectures and practical experience.
Stage 1 - Lectures on beekeeping: This is a series of lectures commencing on Monday, 6th March, 7:30pm to 9:30pm in Teagasc, Dundalk. The idea of these lectures is for you to be certain that you want to jump into beekeeping before having to purchase the necessary equipment. These lectures cover all aspects of beekeeping to include basic beekeeping equipment, the beekeeping year, etc., and will be delivered over a period of 8 weeks by experienced beekeepers. You will receive a Certificate of Completion from our Association at the end. The list of topics is below.
We will be holding a Meet the Beekeepers event on Thursday, 19th January at 8pm in Teagasc, Dundalk. This will be an opportunity to chat to the more experienced beekeepers and, if you have not already done so, sign up for the lectures. Soon after that we will organise practical training sessions to give you a chance to assemble hive parts yourself, guided by more experienced beekeepers. The idea is that you should learn how to do the basics correctly, rather than jumping blindly in to putting your own hives together.
The fee for these Lectures is €80.00 and this fee can be paid in the following ways:
Deadline for signing up is the end of February
FIBKA has updated their education system and part of that update includes changes to the beginners course. To support that, the course will be split into two parts: a series of lectures and practical experience.
Stage 1 - Lectures on beekeeping: This is a series of lectures commencing on Monday, 6th March, 7:30pm to 9:30pm in Teagasc, Dundalk. The idea of these lectures is for you to be certain that you want to jump into beekeeping before having to purchase the necessary equipment. These lectures cover all aspects of beekeeping to include basic beekeeping equipment, the beekeeping year, etc., and will be delivered over a period of 8 weeks by experienced beekeepers. You will receive a Certificate of Completion from our Association at the end. The list of topics is below.
We will be holding a Meet the Beekeepers event on Thursday, 19th January at 8pm in Teagasc, Dundalk. This will be an opportunity to chat to the more experienced beekeepers and, if you have not already done so, sign up for the lectures. Soon after that we will organise practical training sessions to give you a chance to assemble hive parts yourself, guided by more experienced beekeepers. The idea is that you should learn how to do the basics correctly, rather than jumping blindly in to putting your own hives together.
The fee for these Lectures is €80.00 and this fee can be paid in the following ways:
- The easiest way to sign up is to purchase the course in our online store - note that there is a €5 surcharge to cover providers' fees online.
- You can pay by direct debit to our bank account (BIC: AIBKIE2D and IBAN: IE47 AIBK 9324 5028 6971 39) but make sure you provide your name since otherwise we cannot know who has paid.
- Alternatively, please email the secretary.
Deadline for signing up is the end of February
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| 6th Mar | Natural History of the Honey Bee (1) | Brendan Murray | 13th Mar | Natural History of the Honey Bee (2) | Jim Agnew |
| 20th Mar | Beehives and other equipment | Jim Carroll |
| 27th Mar | Swarming and Supersedure | Feargal Begley |
| 3rd Apr | The Beekeeping Year | Martin O'Rourke |
| 17th Apr | Clearing, extracting, and storing honey | Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda |
| 24th April | Honey Bee Diseases and Pests | Arjan van Rossum |
| 8th May | Feeding and Winter Preparation | Tom Shaw |
Stage 2 - Practical experience in beekeeping: This part is for those of you who decide that they really do want to keep bees. This part of the course will entail attendance at our Association Apiary which is situated outside Dundalk, for practical sessions. There you will be shown by experienced beekeepers how to look after your bees. These sessions will take place once a week during the Summer months and may be held on a weekend morning or an evening during the week. Because you will be attending our Association apiary it will be necessary for you to become a member of our Association. This is so that you will be covered by insurance for entering our apiary and working with the bees.
The fee for this part of the Course will be €95.00 which includes membership of Louth Beekeepers’ Association, membership of FIBKA,(Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations) liability insurance, copies of An Beachaire magazine (which is a beekeeping magazine produced by FIBKA every month), and the FIBKA Stage 2 log book. This log book is used to track what you learn, where a senior beekeeper signs off when you have mastered each skill.
We have also produced an e-book to help with the Stage 2 content - you can download it below.
The fee for this part of the Course will be €95.00 which includes membership of Louth Beekeepers’ Association, membership of FIBKA,(Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations) liability insurance, copies of An Beachaire magazine (which is a beekeeping magazine produced by FIBKA every month), and the FIBKA Stage 2 log book. This log book is used to track what you learn, where a senior beekeeper signs off when you have mastered each skill.
We have also produced an e-book to help with the Stage 2 content - you can download it below.
E-book for Stage 2
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We have also produced an e-book to help with the Stage 2 content - you can download it here. If you find anything that's insufficiently explained, or have any other comments, please email louthbeekeeping@gmail.com
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