Honeybees are valuable animals. They pollinate about $10 billion worth of U.S. crops and produce about $150 million worth of honey each year. Unfortunately, they face serious new problems. Two kinds of mites that are parasites of honeybees were brought into the United States and have spread rapidly. Tracheal mites live in air tubes inside bees, making it hard for them to breathe. Varroa mites live in bee colonies and feed on developing bee larvae (brood). Both tiny pests attack wild and managed bees and have caused many colonies to die. On top of that, the fierce reputation of Africanized honeybees has attracted negative attention. Many people are working to solve these significant problems.

Bessin, R., Townsend, L.H.. 1996. “Beginning Beekeeping for Kentuckians. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension. Retrieved 11/04/2024. ENT-41: Beginning Beekeeping for Kentuckians

        The beginning beekeeper school was a vision and developed to address some of the problems that face the declining population of the honeybee and provide the educational resources through experts within this field. A full day of learning was presented, topics included:

14. So, you want to be a beekeeper
15. What to expect your first year
16. Hive components 
17. Mistakes I made in my first year
18. Raising queens 
19. Getting your hives ready for winter
20. Mite treatments
21. Honey harvesting 

        The main partners for this training were the Floyd County Beekeepers Association. Not only did they provide their expertise, but they also assisted with registration, meal preparation and serving.  ANR agents from Knott and Perry County also assisted throughout the day.  

             The event drew a total of 65 attendees, including 20 females, 45 males, and 6 children under 5. A pre- and post-evaluation survey yielded insights from 50 participants. Key findings include:

• 40 attendees currently manage hives (average of 8.85 hives each).
• All 10 non-beekeepers expressed intent to start keeping hives.
• 34 participants (68%) plan to start raising their own queens.
• Every respondent (100%) felt they learned valuable information to improve their hives and increase honey production.