Backyard Beekeeping Basics
Set up and manage your first backyard beehive with confidence — from choosing your equipment to harvesting your own honey, no prior experience needed.
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Identify and explain the roles of the queen, worker bees, and drones within a functioning colony
- Select the right hive type (Langstroth, Warre, or top-bar) and essential equipment for your specific backyard setup
- Safely install a package of bees or a nucleus colony (nuc) into a new hive
- Perform a thorough hive inspection, read bee behavior, and know exactly what you're looking for each time you open the box
- Recognize the top 5 common hive diseases and pests (including Varroa mite) and apply appropriate treatments
- Manage your hive through seasonal changes — spring buildup, summer peak, winter preparation — to maximize colony survival
- Harvest, filter, and bottle your own honey using accessible, low-cost equipment
- Understand local regulations and good-neighbor practices to keep your beekeeping legal and community-friendly
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 19 lessons
The World Inside the Hive
Build a solid foundation by understanding honey bee biology, colony structure, and the annual lifecycle of a hive — the context that makes every other skill make sense.
- 1.1Meet the Colony: Queens, Workers & DronesIncluded
- 1.2The Bee Year: Seasonal Colony CyclesIncluded
- 1.3How Bees Communicate and Make DecisionsComing soon
Setting Up Your Backyard Apiary
Make smart, informed decisions about hive style, equipment, placement, and local rules before you spend a single dollar.
- 2.1Choosing Your Hive: Langstroth, Warre & Top-Bar ComparedComing soon
- 2.2Essential Gear (and What You Can Skip for Now)Coming soon
- 2.3Siting Your Hive: Placement, Neighbors & Local RulesComing soon
Getting Your Bees
Source a healthy first colony through the right channel, understand what you're receiving, and install your bees correctly on day one.
- 3.1Package Bees vs. Nucleus Colonies: Which to BuyComing soon
- 3.2Installing a Package of BeesComing soon
- 3.3Installing a Nucleus Colony (Nuc)Coming soon
Hive Inspections & Reading Your Bees
Develop the observational skills to know exactly what's happening in your hive every time you open it — the single most important skill in beekeeping.
- 4.1How to Conduct a Safe, Efficient InspectionComing soon
- 4.2What to Look For: Eggs, Brood, Queen & StoresComing soon
- 4.3Understanding Bee Behavior at the Hive EntranceComing soon
Health, Pests & Seasonal Management
Keep your colony alive and thriving by tackling the most common threats and syncing your management with the natural bee year.
- 5.1Varroa Mites: The #1 Threat to Your HiveComing soon
- 5.2Common Diseases & Other PestsComing soon
- 5.3Spring & Summer Management: Supporting a Growing ColonyComing soon
- 5.4Fall & Winter Prep: Getting Your Hive to SpringComing soon
Harvesting & Celebrating Your Honey
Know exactly when honey is ready, extract it cleanly without expensive equipment, and enjoy the full reward of your first season.
- 6.1When and How to Harvest HoneyComing soon
- 6.2Extracting, Filtering & Bottling Without a Fancy ExtractorComing soon
- 6.3Sharing, Gifting & What Comes NextComing soon
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
David Idell
Hi, I'm so glad you're here! I started keeping bees in my suburban backyard with a single Langstroth hive, zero experience, and a healthy mix of excitement and nerves. That was several years and many hives ago. Along the way I made plenty of mistakes — lost a colony to Varroa mites, accidentally rolled my queen during an inspection, and harvested honey way too early once — and I learned far more from those moments than from any book. I created this course because I wanted to build the resource I wish I'd had when I was starting out: practical, honest, and focused on what actually matters in year one. I can't wait to help you set up your first hive and experience the incredible world that lives inside it.
— David Idell
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- 6 modules, 19 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed
17 more lessons coming soon at no extra cost.