Beekeeper Resources

Resources for beekeepers around Western North Carolina, including lists of local beekeeper associations, educational information, and more.
 
Updated September 2023
 
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Get involved in your beekeeping community in Western North Carolina. To find your local bee club, visit our Local Bee Meetings page!
NC State Bee Inspector:

Lewis Cauble, Apiary Inspector

NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

lewis.cauble@ncagr.gov

828-230-4544

Buncombe County Bee Permit:
https://www.ashevillenc.gov/service/get-an-animal-permit/

 

Interested in Getting Bees from Honey & the Hive?

Check out our "Buy Bees" page to see if we have what you need. Early spring is "Bee Season" and we usually start taking orders for Nucs and Packages in late Winter each year.

 

Bee Informed:

Bee Informed Partnership Inc (BIP) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that strives to improve honey bee health through data-driven research in collaboration with beekeepers. The Bee Informed Partnership’s core idea is that we can learn more by studying honey bee health on a large scale than we can in individual lab experiments. Borrowing traditional methods of cancer research from human medicine, we gather huge amounts of data submitted by beekeepers to understand just two things: How many hives they lost last season and how they kept their bees during that season.
beeinformed.org

Scientific Beekeeping:

An excellent resource from practical experience in beekeeping. http://scientificbeekeeping.com/


Sandhill Bees Tips From Meghan Milbrath:

Awesome writing and how-to's on the toughest and easiest aspects of beekeeping, including resources on "treatment-free."
http://www.sandhillbees.com


Why Are Bees Important? From Purblack:

A wonderful collection of many educational resources on bees, beekeeping, and bee products. Useful if seeking to prepare educational materials for others (presentations, mentoring, etc.) or to learn more about the world of beekeeping.
https://purblack.com/resources/the-importance-of-bees/


Pest Management

Unfortunately, being a beekeeper means being a bee pest manager too. One of the most difficult parts of the hobby is learning how to keep your pest levels at a sustainable rate in order to keep your honeybees healthy.


A Field Guide to Honeybees and Their Maladies:

Downloadable pdf: http://extension.psu.edu/publications/agrs-116/view


Tools for Varroa Management from the Honeybee Health Coalition:

Their mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that will help to achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting healthy populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems.
http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/HBHC%20Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf


Pesticide Samples and Effects on Honeybees:

Note: the lower score of LD50 is more toxic: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0009754


Article: Why Did My Honeybees Die?

https://beeinformed.org/2016/03/08/why-did-my-honey-bees-die/

Local Pollinator & Garden Groups

Having a beautiful, blooming garden can really help your bees on their way to being healthy and successful. Check out these awesome organizations and the work they do to help support our honeybees!

 

Organic Growers School

organicgrowersschool.org/

Organic Growers School is the premiere provider of practical and affordable organic education in the Southern Appalachians, building a vibrant food & farming community by boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in our region. Their hands-on training, workshops, conferences, and partnerships strengthen and celebrate each grower’s move toward self-reliance.

 

RootWise Landscape Solutions

http://rootwiselandscape.com/

RootWise Landscape Solutions, LLC specializes in providing Asheville and surrounding areas a wide variety of high-quality design, installation, and maintenance services for both commercial and residential properties. We’re experienced, punctual, and attentive as we strive to not simply enhance, but also preserve each outdoor space through conscientious and sustainable practices. This is our chief goal, next to building a positive, professional relationship with our clients.