Alcorn to host a Beginning Beekeeper’s Workshop
Alcorn State, Miss. (July 17, 2013) – The Alcorn State University Extension Program (ASUEP) will hold a Beginning Beekeeper’s Workshop on Saturday, July 27, 2013, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., Pike County Extension Office, 1140 N. Clark Ave., Magnolia, Mississippi.
Dr. Jeff Harris, a member of the extension-research apicultural team at Mississippi State University will conduct the workshop. Dr. Harris moved to Mississippi last year after working for 15 years as a bee breeder with the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Honey Bee Breeding Lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is best known for his work with developing lines of honey bees that express high levels of Varroa sensitive hygienic (VSH) behavior. He started keeping bees at the age of eight and worked in commercial queen rearing and package production to pay for his undergraduate education. Dr. Harris has kept bees for over 40 years.
The workshop will include topics on the annual cycle of bees and beekeepers, how to start hives, the basic biology of honey bees, as well as hands-on demonstrations.
The workshop is free and open to the public. Participants must pre-register by Wednesday, July 24, by calling Sammie Futch, support staff or Audrey Wilson, agriculture educator, at 601.783.5321.
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Alcorn State University is a premier comprehensive land-grant university that develops diverse students into globally-competitive leaders, and applies scientific research through collaborative partnerships that benefit the surrounding communities, state, nation, and world.
