Starting Beekeeping
Beekeeping is a fascinating craft and L&DBKA actively encourages new beekeepers. There are several excellent books and publications that can introduce you to beekeeping and what it involves and we will happily point you towards these at any time. However, the ideal time to start practical beekeeping is in the spring, as this gives you time to learn as "your" colony grows through the season at your assigned practical apiary and if you feel confident you may consider acquiring your own nucleus colony of bees in the same year.
We run Taster Sessions for people considering taking up beekeeping but who have never experienced an open hive. This will give you an opportunity to understand the basics of what is involved in beekeeping and the work of the beekeeper. The sessions will be run by one of our friendly experienced members who will be happy to show you around their apiary. Taster Sessions will be run according to demand but generally from June to September. If you would like to register for a Taster Session then please get in touch with the association training team by sending an e-mail to begin@ludlowbeekeepers.org.uk.
Once you have decided to keep bees the first step is some initial training. At L&DBKA we run an annual introduction to beekeeping course starting in March which includes both theory and practical training and we encourage all to book well in advance as this course is proving very popular. See our training pages for more information.
You can also get some good background information from these following publications:
