Beginner’s Beekeeping Course

 This course is aimed at complete and                  absolute beginners.

It will also include a number of practical sessions located at our Association Apiary in Tara Mines, Navan, which is about a half mile outside Navan town. The first visit will be on Saturday, April 18th. Beginners will go through a colony of bees with an experienced tutor, who will be able to identify the various constituents of the hive, including the Queen, the Workers, and the Drones. We will give you all a start time nearer to the date. 

By the end of the course, beginners will understand the clear difference between the three types and the various functions carried out by the Queen, the Workers and the Drones. They will also experience the Queen laying eggs and then see how the eggs develop into larvae, then pupae and finally after 21 days hatch out as a worker bee, a Drone after 24 days and a Queen after 16 days. They will be taught how best to address swarm control and how best to maximise honey production. During the apiary visits, we will be going through not just the importance of how to keep bees, but also the different techniques. There are many. We will be showing you how to build frames with wax foundation, hygiene, building hive boxes, etc. As we all know, learning things hands-on is sometimes easier than in a classroom.

During our apiary visits in 2026, we want to involve everyone in our queen breeding. This will involve all aspects, from preparing the colony, learning to graft and hopefully seeing the fruits of the work. 

It should be noted that honey bees are extraordinary creatures and not only are they excellent pollinators, but they are extremely efficient in the production of not only honey, but also beeswax, pollen and propolis. Imagine a simple fruit as an Apple. It's really extraordinary to realise the Honey Bee will have to visit the apple tree flower at least 20 times to pollinate that flower that will produce a REALLY GOOD APPLE. Also, when it comes to honey. The honey bee has a number of filters within its little body so that when the nectar is deposited to the nurse bees from the flying bees for processing, the nurse bees filter out all of the impurities in the nectar, including bacteria. This is why pure raw natural honey does not contain bacteria and is so good healing product as well as having an excellent taste. 
They are amazing pollinators and extremely important when you consider all the food products that require pollination: Apple, Blueberry, Strawberries, Almond, Cherry, Blackberry, Tomatoes, Plum, Peaches, to name but a few. With regards to trees, consider Horse Chestnut, Sycamore,  Laurel etc etc. 

This is just some of the subjects that we intend to cover during our beginners' course. The cost of the course is €145 for a single person and €80 for an additional family member (over 18 years old ) doing the beginners course. For those under 18 years old is €70. The course includes membership of the Royal County Beekeepers association for a period of 12 months and an automatic membership to FIBKA for 12 months, and your insurance is included. People will also get the opportunity to purchase a colony of bees from the Association, and it should be further noted that the Association is dedicated to the promotion of the Native Irish Honey Bee. If you would like to do the course, please contact the Royal County Beekeepers at info@RCBKA.ie

You will find the application for the course in our members' section.

Any other queries or questions you may have, send me a message via the contact form on the home page, or message me via our Facebook page. Royal County Beekeepers Association.