Course Index
The Everyday Bee Keeper's Course Book
87 lessons in 10 chapters, from your first hive to Georgia Certified Beekeeper topics. Use the arrows to go one lesson at a time, or jump to any chapter. ★ = a Georgia Certified exam topic.
Your weekly magazine links to your lesson for that week. Reading ahead or going back here never changes what comes next in your magazine.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Bees
- Lesson 1: What Keeping Bees Involves
- Lesson 2: Stings: What's Normal and What's an Emergency
- Lesson 3: Bees and Neighbors, Including in Town
- Lesson 4: Bee Laws: Registration, Inspection, Moving Bees
- Lesson 5: From Bee Trees to the Modern Hive: A Short History
- Chapter 1 Quiz: Welcome to Bees
Chapter 2: The Colony
- Lesson 6: Queen, Workers and Drones ★
- Lesson 7: Egg to Adult: The Four Stages and How Long Each Takes ★
- Lesson 8: A Worker's Life, Job by Job
- Lesson 9: Inside the Nest: Comb, Cells and the Brood Nest Layout ★
- Lesson 10: What Bees Bring Home: Nectar into Honey, Pollen, Water, Propolis ★
- Lesson 11: How Bees Communicate: Dances and Scent (Pheromones)
- Lesson 12: How Colonies Reproduce: Swarming
- Lesson 13: New Queens: Supersedure and Mating Flights
- Lesson 14: How a Colony Survives Winter
- Lesson 15: Honey Bee Races and Stocks
- Lesson 16: Africanized Honey Bees, and Where They're Found
- Chapter 2 Quiz: The Colony
Chapter 3: Equipment
- Lesson 17: The Standard (Langstroth) Hive, Part by Part ★
- Lesson 18: Bee Space: The Measurement Every Hive Depends On ★
- Lesson 19: Frames and Foundation: Assembly
- Lesson 20: Protective Gear
- Lesson 21: The Smoker and Hive Tool ★
- Lesson 22: Feeders
- Lesson 23: Choosing a Hive Style, and What Each Weighs to Lift
- Chapter 3 Quiz: Equipment
Chapter 4: Getting Started
- Lesson 24: Choosing a Spot for Your Hives
- Lesson 25: Four Ways to Get Bees
- Lesson 26: Package Bees: Ordering and Installing
- Lesson 27: Nucleus Colonies (\"Nucs\")
- Lesson 28: Buying Established Colonies: What to Check
- Lesson 29: Catching and Hiving a Swarm
- Lesson 30: The First Weeks with a New Colony
- Chapter 4 Quiz: Getting Started
Chapter 5: Working Your Bees
- Lesson 31: Before You Open: Weather, Time of Day, Staying Calm
- Lesson 32: Lighting and Using the Smoker ★
- Lesson 33: Opening the Hive and Handling Frames
- Lesson 34: Reading a Frame: Eggs, Larvae, Capped Brood and the Brood Pattern
- Lesson 35: Telling Honey, Nectar, Pollen and the Different Cappings Apart ★
- Lesson 36: Finding the Queen, or the Signs She's There ★
- Lesson 37: Queen Cells: Swarm, Supersedure and Emergency
- Lesson 38: Closing Up Without Crushing Bees
- Lesson 39: Feeding Sugar Syrup: Ratios and Methods
- Lesson 40: Taking a Bee Sample
- Lesson 41: Keeping Hive Records
- Chapter 5 Quiz: Working Your Bees
Chapter 6: Queen Matters
- Lesson 42: What a Good Queen Looks Like: Brood Pattern and Laying
- Lesson 43: The Queenless Colony: Signs and Fixes
- Lesson 44: Laying Workers and Drone-Laying Queens
- Lesson 45: Requeening: Why and How
- Lesson 46: Introducing a New Queen
- Lesson 47: Uniting Two Colonies
- Chapter 6 Quiz: Queen Matters
Chapter 7: Managing Your Colonies
- Lesson 48: Swarm Prevention vs. Swarm Control
- Lesson 49: Adding Honey Supers and Using a Queen Excluder
- Lesson 50: Robbing: Why It Starts and How to Stop It
- Lesson 51: Water for Your Bees
- Lesson 52: Setting a Colony Up for Winter
- Chapter 7 Quiz: Managing Your Colonies
Chapter 8: Keeping Bees Healthy
- Lesson 53: Prevention First: Pest Management Basics, a Clean Bee Yard, Replacing Old Comb ★
- Lesson 54: Varroa Mites: What They Are and Why They Matter
- Lesson 55: Counting Mites: Alcohol Wash, Sugar Shake, Sticky Board
- Lesson 56: Treatment Thresholds and Choices
- Lesson 57: Using Mite Treatments Legally and Safely
- Lesson 58: American Foulbrood, and Calling the State Inspector ★
- Lesson 59: European Foulbrood ★
- Lesson 60: Chalkbrood and Sacbrood ★
- Lesson 61: Nosema
- Lesson 62: Viruses
- Lesson 63: Tracheal Mites
- Lesson 64: Small Hive Beetle
- Lesson 65: Wax Moths and Storing Comb
- Lesson 66: Other Pests and Predators: Ants, Mice, Skunks, Bears and More
- Lesson 67: Not a Disease: Chilled Brood, Starvation, Overheating, Spotty Brood ★
- Lesson 68: Pesticides and Your Bees
- Lesson 69: Look-alikes: Honey Bees vs. Wasps, Hornets, Carpenter Bees, Flower Flies, Cicada Killers; the Yellow-Legged Hornet ★
- Chapter 8 Quiz: Keeping Bees Healthy
Chapter 9: Honey and Hive Products
- Lesson 70: When Honey Is Ready: Capping and Moisture
- Lesson 71: Getting the Bees Off the Honey Supers
- Lesson 72: Extracting Honey
- Lesson 73: Bottling, Storing and Keeping It Clean
- Lesson 74: Comb Honey and Cut-Comb
- Lesson 75: Beeswax
- Lesson 76: Pollen and Propolis
- Lesson 77: Selling Honey: Labels and Rules
- Chapter 9 Quiz: Honey and Hive Products
Chapter 10: Growing Further
- Lesson 78: Making Splits
- Lesson 79: Raising Your Own Queens
- Lesson 80: Renting Bees for Pollination
- Lesson 81: Bees in Walls and Buildings
- Lesson 82: Helping All Pollinators ★
- Lesson 83: Breeding for Mite Resistance
- Lesson 84: Honey Bee Genetics Basics
- Lesson 85: Instrumental Insemination: An Overview
- Lesson 86: Organic and Low-Chemical Management
- Lesson 87: The Road to Master Beekeeper (State Programs)
- Chapter 10 Quiz: Growing Further