Mississippi State University Extension's Beekeeping Camp

This residential academic camp will cover all the topics a new beekeeper needs to know to start keeping bees and it is a lot of fun.

Camp starts off slow with an introduction to the equipment, jargon, and personal protective equipment, followed by how to use a smoker (an important piece of equipment that will keep you safe) because next campers are headed into a hive! Hives are just outside the building to reinforce and practice each topic covered.

Topics include: getting started with bees; finding, marking and clipping the queen; seasonal management; stings and colony defense; diseases, pests, and parasites; harvesting honey; honey and pollen in human nutrition (myths and truths); basic bee biology; queen rearing (quality, grafting, and re-queening); specialty honey; protecting combs; bee communication (you will do the waggle dance); swarm management; gustation of honey in bees and humans; processing honey and wax; how to buy bees; income and the slippery slope into business; and a trip to a commercial apiary or bee yard. And, we will continue to assist you after camp!

Any parent, grandparent, etc. and or youth over 10 who are interested in beekeeping can attend.