Beekeeping 101: Practicing Hands-On Hive with Nicole Huff

This immersive Beekeeping 101 series offers a comprehensive journey into the world of honeybees, blending history, hands-on learning, and practical hive management for beginners.
Throughout the course, you will learn how to:

• Manage and monitor your own beehives
• Support and expand pollinator populations through responsible practices
• Identify hive components and use equipment properly
• Extract honey and work with beeswax
• Understand honeybee products such as pollen, propolis, and royal jelly
• Perform seasonal inspections and problem-solve common hive challenges

Participants may also choose to add on a nuc of bees for $175

Class Dates, from 10AM-NOON

Saturday, April 12 — Installing Your Colony: Hive Setup & First Inspections
Learn how to install a nucleus colony into a full hive, identify hive parts, and use basic tools. Practice spotting the queen, her eggs, and the stages of bee development during this hands-on introduction.

Saturday, May 16 — Early Hive Growth: Queen Health, Expansion & Swarm Prevention
Assess queen performance, learn when to add boxes, and explore feeding, treatments, and swarm-prevention strategies as colonies build strength.

Saturday, June 13 — Mid-Season Management: Queen Cells, Nutrition & Frame ID
Track hive development while learning to identify queen cells, manage swarming, and recognize brood, honey, and pollen frames.

Saturday, July 11 — Harvest Readiness: Assessing Frames & Hive Balance
Discover how to decide which frames can be harvested and which must remain for the bees, along with late-season feeding strategies.

Sunday, September 20 — From Comb to Jar: Honey & Wax Harvesting

Uncap frames, extract honey with a hand-crank extractor, harvest beeswax, and learn how to strain and jar honey for storage.
Instructor: Nicole Huff
Nicole Huff has been keeping bees for seven years and has been an active member of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association for five years. She recently taught an introductory beekeeping course focused on honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly, and currently manages the hives at the Carrie Murray Nature Center, where she also works as a part-time nature preschool teacher. With a strong background in outdoor education and experiential learning, Nicole brings warmth, clarity, and deep practical knowledge to the apiary.
Series Price: $250 + option to add-on a nuc $175
Sign up by April 5th to secure your spot!

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher In Bloom: A BIPOC Healing Circle with Amanda Benjamin