- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño of the University of California, Davis, and her lab have announced a series of short courses for the new year--and folks can register now and/or purchase gift certificates. All will take place at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis campus, beginning Saturday, March 24, with the last course ending June 16.
The schedule and capsule information:
- Planning Ahead for Your First Hives: Saturday, March 24
- Working Your Colonies: Sunday, March 25
- Queen-Rearing Techniques Short Course: Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22 course; Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29 course
- Bee-Breeding Basics: Saturday, June 9
- Varroa Management Strategies: Saturday, June 16
Planning Ahead for Your First Hives: The short course will include lectures and hands-on exercises. This course is perfect for those who have little or no beekeeping experience and would like to obtain more knowledge and practical skills to move on to the next step of owning and caring for their own honey bee colonies.
Click here for more information
Click here to register for the March 24 class
Working Your Colonies: Get up close and personal with bees. This course is for novice beekeepers who already have a colony and/or have taken the previous course, and want to develop their beekeeping skills further. Instructors will discuss products of the hive, present a lecture on inspecting your colony, and solve problems with your colony. The afternoon will be spent entirely in the apiary with hands-on activities and demonstrations.
Click here for more information
Click here to register for the March 25 class
Queen-Rearing Techniques Short Course: This two-day course will include lectures, hands-on exercises and lots of group discussions. This course is perfect for those who have some beekeeping experience and would like to move on to the next step of rearing their own queens or maybe even trying their luck at bee breeding.
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Click here to register for the April 21-22 course
Click here to register for the April 28-April 29 course
Bee-Breeding Basics: This course is an excellent complement to the Queen Rearing Techniques Short Course. During this one-day course, the instructors will talk about the intricacies of honey bee genetics along with honey bee races and breeder lines. An in-depth discussion of various breeding schemes will take place.
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Click here to register for the June 9 class
Varroa Management Strategies: Current beekeeping challenges call for all beekeepers to have a solid understanding of varroa mite biology and management approaches. The instructors will dive deeper into understanding varroa biology and will devote a majority of the time to discussing pros and cons of various means to monitor, mitigate, and manage this crucial honey bee pest.
Click here for more information
Click here to register for the June 16 class
The Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is located at 1 Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. It is named for former UC Davis professor Harry Hyde Laidlaw Jr., the father of honey bee genetics.
UC Davis bee scientists conduct the California Master Beekeeper Courses and just received a $199,949 grant from the UC Agricultural and Natural Resources 2017 Competitive Grants Program. Elina Niño is the principal investigator. UC ANR is funding 10 projects for a total of $1.7 million over a five-year period. View project summary of California Master Beekeeper Grant
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will offer a two-day queen-rearing techniques short course, March 28-29 in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis campus.
Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño will teach the course, assisted by co-instructors, staff research associates Bernardo Niño and Billy Synk.
“This course is perfect for those who have some beekeeping experience and would like to move on to the next step of rearing their own queens or maybe even trying their luck at bee breeding,” Elina Lastro Niño said.
Topics will include honey bee queen biology, basics of selective honey bee breeding programs, various queen-rearing techniques, hygienic behavior testing, and assessment of varroa mite levels.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn about and practice multiple methods for queen rearing. “We will go through a step-by-step process for queen rearing via grafting, including setting up cell buildings and mating nucs,” she said.
At the end of the course, participants will be able to check their grafting success and local participants can take their grafted queen cells from their practice exercises, back to their apiaries. The participants also will learn techniques for assessing varroa loads in colonies and evaluate hygienic behavior.
The course is limited to 14 participants. It will include lectures, hands-on exercises, and a tour of the department's Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee, located next to the facility.
The $200 registration fee covers the cost of course materials (including a set of grafting equipment, grafting frame with bars, plastic queen cups and a grafting tool); breakfast, lunch and refreshments.
Participants will be responsible for obtaining their own lodging. For directions, visit http://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/qrtsc.html. For more information on registering for the short course, contact Bernardo Niño at elninobeelab@gmail.com