The 12^th East Kentucky Winter Beekeeping School was held virtual again in January 2022 due to a winter Covid surge.

        A virtual School, like this one, is challenging but the committee, made up of local Beekeepers, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture state Apiarist and Extension Agents from Perry, Harlan, Floyd and Letcher Counties, worked extremely hard to pull off another successful virtual event.

     Even with the virtual event, this was the highest attended school to date. More than 200 people registered for the 2022 school with well over 100 people online at any given time. Based on registration, there were people that attended from over half of the Kentucky Counties. There were also people attending from four states other than Kentucky.

     Attendees had the opportunity to provide feedback from the school through an online evaluation. One surprise from the evaluations were respondents didn’t care if the school was virtual or in-person, just as long as we had one. This was the same response we received from last years’ virtual school. Considering the resources and time involved in putting on an in-person school, this response will most likely lead to continuing the school as virtual. The cost savings will exceed well over $5000.00 per school and countless hours of preparation. The evaluations showed the majority of attendees have never been involved in beekeeping or have just been involved for 1 to 5 years. That’s very positive to have that level of interest in beekeeping from beginners. The evaluations showed an overwhelming positive response for the school with the majority of respondents rating the school as excellent. Attendees had the opportunity to provide feedback for what they had learned at the school on the evaluation form, they filled out more than four pages of knowledge gained.

     Classes this year included, Timely Topics, upcoming Events and Programs; Viruses in the Hive; Producing Honey; Honey Labels; Beginning Beekeeping; Queen Bees; Swarms and Chasing Feral Bees.

With the top rating of a 5, these classes had an overall rating of 4.57.

      The Cooperative Extension Service continues to be seen as playing a vital role in resources for bee production and for beekeepers. This school continues to provide valuable education to beekeepers and is a platform to increase public awareness of the potential in Beekeeping in Eastern Kentucky and the entire state.