Beekeeping Academy

Early Bird Special $180/Month

Sign-up by December 1, 2025 with a $100 deposit. Deposit applied to first month’s payment.

December 2, 2025 regular price $240/month. Deposit of $100 required to sign-up.

Classes begin in January, 2026 and run through October 2026.

1-2 Zoom classes per month, all lesson recorded.

1 weekend a month hands on in the apiary.

4 private inspections in your bees! Join us at a Sister Creek Hives apiary for your private sessions if you don’t already have bees!

Option to purchase bees at the end of the season!

Beekeeping Academy is a 10 month immersive experience beekeeping in the Texas Hill Country. That’s a full beekeeping season hands on in the hives! Teaching apiaries are dotted across the Hill Country with bees hived in traditional Langstroth, Long-Lang and Top Bar hive styles.

Running January through October, Beekeeping Academy, provides an opportunity to watch the bees wake up from winter, and follow them through a full season of beekeeping to the final stages of fall/winter preparation.

Learn beekeeping from a philosophy of slow beekeeping practices, how to keep bees alive without chemical interventions, when and how to harvest honey, natural methods of pest and disease control and so much more!

A small intimate group of participants allows us to observe honey bee behaviors, as we learn directly from the bees, while building a respectful relationship with the bees.

Zoom Syllabus

Jan.

Week 1:

Welcome: Meet & Greet!
Personal Story
Course Review
Post Winter Solecistic: What are the bees doing now?
How to Check Your Bees During Winter Months
Apiary Setup
Week 2:
Beekeeping Equipment- Get Your Gear Ready!
Humanity’s Relationship with Honey Bees: From Predators to Protectors
Hive Resources - Wax, Honey, Propolis etc.

Feb.

Week 1:

Life Cycle of Honey Bees and the Colony
Honey Bees as a Super Organism
Weather Update and Gear Check
Week 2:
Honey Bee Nutrition
Robbing Behavior vs. Orientation Flights
Buying Bees

March

Honey Bee Biology
Queen and Colony Pheromones
Early Signs of Swarming
Space Management: Brood Nest Expansion
Preparing for Splits: Leveraging Swarm Cells
- Recommended Reading for April: Song of Increase

April

Hive Inspection 101 & Record Keeping
Identifying a Nectar Flow
Making Splits: Walk Away
Drones in a Colony
- Recommended Reading for May: Honey Pest and Diseases

May

Disease Identification in Brood Nest, Queen & Adult Bees
Managing for Varroa Mites: Harbo and Sugar Wash
How to Re-queen a Hive
Preparing for Summer Dearth - Bees and Beekeepers! - tips to stay cool and hydrated

June