Interested in keeping honey bees?

Congratulations! If you have decided you are interested in keeping honey bees you are on the path to starting a hobby that is endlessly fascinating. There is something for everyone. It may be you have an interest in the environment and the role of honey bees as pollinators. You may be interested in producing the best honey you have ever tasted, and candles, and beeswax polish, and mead. You may be interested in the evolution of one of the most sophisticated social insects.

Being a beekeeper requires some basic knowledge and skills. These are not difficult to acquire but they do require some commitment. In the first instance you may want to try a “taster session”. These involve an experienced beekeeper giving you a brief introduction to honey bees and, with the appropriate protective clothing, enabling you to see the inner workings of a honey bee colony. If you decide beekeeping is for you we advise you sign up for a course. This will usually be in two parts, a theory course where you will learn about honey bees and a practical course where you will learn how to handle bees.

Contact your local division who will be able to provide taster sessions, theory and practical courses, or direct you to trusted third parties we have worked with in the past.

By joining one of our local divisions, you will be a member of SBKA and automatically a member of BBKA. Membership is very reasonably priced and provides you with insurance for your bees, copies of the two main honey bee publications (BBKA news and BeeCraft) and access to the considerable resources of the BBKA, the SBKA and your local association.