Natural beekeeping: principles and practices for the backyard beekeeper

Name: Natural beekeeping: principles and practices for the backyard beekeeper
Start: 2026-02-28T13:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-28T16:00:00-06:00
Location: Mobile Botanical Gardens

Schedule

Sat Feb 28 2026 at 01:00 pm to 04:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Mobile Botanical Gardens | Mobile, AL

Natural Beekeeping Principals and Practices for the Backyard Apiary

The technological advances of the Industrial Revolution have brought beekeeping science into the future. There are all sorts of devices, methods and treatments that, while seemingly beneficial to the commercial side of the trade, can often leave the hobby apiarist wishing for a simpler and more natural experience for themselves and their bees. Many of the current standard beekeeping practices conflict with the bees' natural rhythms and inclinations in order to forcibly support the production of more and more hives and honey, but at what cost? The bees have managed themselves quite well out in the wild for the past 150 million years or so, finely tuned evolutionary beings that they are, what could we possibly do to top that?

Don't get it twisted though, natural beekeeping is NOT negligent beekeeping! You can't just put bees in a box and expect everything to work perfectly every time. By placing the bees into the box you've turned them into livestock and as a responsible shepherd you still must observe and serve your flock. But you don't have to stack boxes to the sky or pour pesticides into the hives to do it, you just have to learn the bees and support their nature.

This class will uncover the vast differences in industrial and hobby beekeeping and show how the standards for one don't really apply to the other, and how they may actually disadvantage the bees. We will discuss the whys and hows of honeybee behaviors, what the bees want, and how to use their natural tendencies to support their health and production. Other topics covered to include apiary site selection and set up for healthy and productive colonies, hiving options, sourcing livestock, inspecting your bees and record keeping, supporting rather than preventing swarming, natural disease and pest management, expanding your apiary organically, and how we learn from our failures.

Weather permitting, we will be viewing live bees during this 2+ hour course.

So, If you're an aspiring, new or even seasoned beekeeper who'd like to learn about the more natural, low impact and regenerative side of beekeeping and how to apply it to your own beekeeping journey, then this is the class for you. Attendees will be expected to already have a basic understanding of honeybees and beekeeping to build on.

Presented by Mobile Botanical Garden's beekeeper, Veronica Culberson, and her entomologist professor father, Dr. Don Culberson. Veronica and Don have been keeping bees without the use of chemical additives and unnatural feedings for 10+ years. What started as an experiment in backyard gardening has developed into a love affair with pollinators and community outreach. As their knowledge and their apiaries have grown and flourished through the seasons, so has the desire to educate.
The cost for this class is $40 + admission to the gardens.
Please contact the Mobile Botanical Gardens to register.
Class size is limited to 15. I will consider adding a second session if this one fills up quickly.