Collier County Extension is hosting a beekeeping workshop! Workshop presenters include master beekeeper and 4-H agent Trisha Aldridge, food systems agent Jessica Ryals, and commercial horticulture agent Hamutahl Cohen! Together these agents have over 20 years of experience in bees and agriculture.
This is a great workshop for you if you’re interested in the unique behaviors exhibited by honey bees! Honey bees are social insects, and live in colonies of up to 50,000 individuals. Honey bee females, known as worker bees, will give up their right to reproduce and will instead serve a single queen, who can lay up to 2,000 bee eggs within a day and keeps the colony going! Male honey bees are called drones and seem to exist solely for the purpose for breeding — they don’t contribute to hive guarding, nectar collection, honey production, or any other tasks! Those lucky boys! Come and learn more about honey bee ecology at the workshop!
Bees need our help! There has been a global movement to “save the bee” in recent years because bee populations are declining in many parts of the world due to disease pressure, habitat loss, and pesticide exposure. Luckily we can mitigate these declines through responsible beekeeping and management! If you want to join this effort as a new beekeeper, or just refine your existing beekeeping skills, we will share tips and tricks for best management practices with you!
Why we care…Florida has nearly 5,000 registered beekeepers with a total of > 650,000 managed colonies. Because of our climate, hundreds of thousands of migratory beekeepers and their honey bees make a stop in Florida during their travels across the country. This means extension agents have a critical opportunity to support the beekeeping industry. Here at UF IFAS Collier County Extension we provide educational classes on pollinator conservation, training and necessary certifications to apply pesticides safely, information on up-to-date pollinator protection label changes, and pesticide recommendations and education on how these pesticides impact pollinators. We also are excited to train beekeepers on all aspects of keeping a healthy hive!
Join us for this two day course! The dates are Feb 23rd (5:30pm) and March 2nd (4pm) at the Collier County Extension Center at 14700 Immokalee Road. There will be a mix of lecture style and hands-on beekeeping.
Topics to be covered include: tools and equipment, beekeeping regulations, hive structure, bee biology, beginner beekeeping, pests and disease of the hive, and cottage food laws for beekeeping products such as honey
Get your tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beekeeping-workshop-tickets-230406641467
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