Backyard Beekeeping (Hive Management & Harvesting)

Sustainable Fairfax is offering another bee workshop to help support our local beekeepers.

* Learn how to determine whether or not mites are a problem in your hive

* Hive preparations for the fall to prepare bees for winter 

* Determine how much honey you can harvest & how much to leave in for winter.

* Demonstration on extracting honey - and sampling of local honey.

Late summer can bring a variety of problems including increasing mite counts, yellow jacket problems, and lack of forage. Learn to recognize the signs and symptoms and how you can assist the colony during difficult times. Your bees will have already begun winter hive preparation. You should be thinking ahead, too: how much to reduce the hive, timing for doing so, simple things you can do to help bees during winter, signs you should recognize that your colony is in trouble.

Fall is also the time of year to determine how much excess honey you can extract. We will review this as well as methods of removing frames, extracting honey, bottling honey and cleaning the wet frames.

Cost: $35 per person

Registration: Please register by PayPal via the Sustainable Fairfax website: www.sustainablefairfax.org

Instructor: Bonnie Bollingier Morse