Beginners Classes

Interested in beekeeping? You’ve come to the right place!

 

Here you’ll find experienced, friendly beekeepers who can teach and advise, and a programme of lectures and apiary visits where you can learn about the wonderful world of honey bees and beekeeping. It truly is the most enjoyable and fascinating hobby, and one in which you are always learning something new, even if you’ve been a beekeeper for years.

 

Each year Dunfermline and West Fife Beekeeprs Association run Introduction to Bees and Beekeeping courses for those residing mainly within Fife, Kinross-Shire and Clackmannanshire. The courses are run by experienced beekeepers and cover all aspects of beekeeping. This is an excellent way to learn about beekeeping and meet others who share your interest. The course includes lectures and practical sessions from January through to April as well as outdoor apiary demonstrations throughout the Summer. The classes will teach you about:

 

Lifecycle of the Honey Bee and basic biology

Queens, workers and drones and their roles

Flowers, trees and pollination

Basic equipment needed and how to use it

How to choose an apiary site

How and when to open and inspect a hive

Stings and how to deal with them

Some diseases and pests of Honey Bees and their prevention

Swarming

 

No prior beekeeping knowledge is required. Beginners are encouraged not to invest in any equipment until completing the course. Protective suits will be provided at the hands on demonstrations.If you think you’d like to become a beekeeper yourself (a decision only to be made once you’ve completed the beginner course, handled bees yourself at the demonstrations and know you are comfortable with the thousands of bees in a hive) we can provide you with a nucleus of our local bees – a small colony with a new queen which you can help build up so that it is strong enough to survive the winter. Starting out can be expensive, so there is no point in buying any equipment until you’re sure beekeeping is for you.

 

There was a time when a beekeeper simply put a hive at the bottom of his/her garden and left it there, but this was before varroa arrived from Europe. Now a beekeeper needs to inspect weekly from May – July to check for signs the colony is thinking of swarming, and less often but still regularly to check the colony is building up well, has enough space, is disease free and has enough food to survive.

 

Do NOT order bees from the internet – you need local bees adapted perfectly to Fife’s climate, and you certainly do not want to bring in foreign strains of honey bee which will mate with local bees and produce bad-tempered stock, and possibly bring in disease and pests such as the Small Hive Beetle, a major threat and now in southern Italy.

 

The Jan - Mar 2025 Course is now full and no further applications are being accepted.

​

We will be running the course again in early 2026.

​

​

​

​​