The Roanoke Valley Beekeepers Associate is offering an “Introduction to Beekeeping” class that will cover essential skills and knowledge for participants’ first year of beekeeping. A variety of equipment and tools will be available for hands-on inspection and demonstration.
- Guidance on buying and building your hive equipment (and cost information)
- Safe and effective use of smokers, hive tools, and protective gear
- Good sources for obtaining your bees
- Installing your first bees into a hive
- Caring for the bees as they build up into a healthy and successful colony
- Preparing your bees to survive winter
- Essential knowledge about honey bee and colony life cycle
- Dealing with pests and diseases to maintain healthy colonies
- Plants useful to pollinators for honey and pollen
- Conversations with experienced beekeepers
- Hive inspection demonstration in April (perhaps March) when weather/temperatures permit
- Free 2025 memberships in both the Blue Ridge and Botetourt Beekeepers Associations
Class Dates: Three Saturdays, four hours each class, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.: February 8, March 1, & March 22. Field Day will be March 29 or April 5 or 12 depending on weather. Any postponement due to weather will be posted on WSLS 10 as Roanoke Valley/Botetourt Beekeepers Associations Class. Any inclement weather makeup days will be announced via email. Typically, they will be the following Saturday.
Location: Department of Environmental Quality, 901 Russell Drive, Salem. Follow signs to door.
Field Day: At the Greenfield Honey Bee Sanctuary, Daleville. Directions will be given in class.
Textbooks: Tuition includes printed and digital materials and three texts: (1) Beekeeping Basics, (2) A Field Guide to Honey Bees and Their Maladies, and (3) Diana Sammataro’s Beekeeper’s Handbook.
Preregister: Find registration form on Facebook site for Roanoke Valley Beekeepers Association.
Received by February 1, $125. Second family member sharing books/materials, $75.
Mail check or money order to: Roanoke Valley Beekeepers Association, P. O. Box 3084, Roanoke, Va. 24015. Include the registration form or the same information. Be sure to comply with the COVID protocol.
Register: After February 1, $155 each. Second person sharing books $105. It would help sending an e-mail to rudytaylorbees@gmail.com. Arrive for first class at 12:30 pm with cash or check.
Instructors/ Members of the Roanoke Valley and Botetourt Beekeepers Associations. Questions can be sent to Rudy Taylor. Include BEEKEEPING INTRO in the subject line to differentiate it from spam or post questions on the Facebook page “Botetourt and Blue Ridge Beekeeping Course.”
Sponsors: Sponsored jointly by both the Roanoke Valley Beekeepers Association (Roanoke City/County) and the Botetourt Beekeepers Association (Botetourt County). Attendance is welcome no matter what county participants live in.
Value: The retail value of the textbooks is $51.95 (before taxes, shipping, and handling) and the club memberships are $15 and $15. Therefore, net cost for 16 hours of instruction is $18.05. This excellent value is much less than the cost of one colony of bees that may be lost without good instruction ($125 to $200). Do not learn the hard way by having bees pass away before learning how to care for bees! Sign up today!
Submitted by Ruby Taylor, Coordinator, Roanoke Valley Beekeepers Association
