Our Queen Bee Rearing programme is designed to give you the tools you need to rear queen bees either for a commercial operation or grow your own queen-rearing business, this programme will teach you to not only work independently with queens but also how to supervise others.
Bees are of vital importance for the wider New Zealand community due to their pollination activities which benefits parks, gardens, and food crops. Providing a supply of healthy and high quality queen bees further supports the industry by creating genetic diversity replenishing existing stocks, and providing new stock for hives.
Course Code | Course Name |
---|---|
NZQB4.001 | Biology and Behaviour of Bees |
NZQB4.002 | Bee Genetics and Breeding |
NZQB4.003 | Breeder Selection |
NZQB4.004 | Queen Rearing Management Plan |
NZQB4.005 | Queen Bee Rearing Equipment |
NZQB4.006 | Graft Systems |
NZQB4.007 | Fundamentals of Bee Breeding |
NZQB4.008 | Bee Nutrition and Feeding |
NZQB4.009 | Disease and Pest Control |
NZQB4.010 | Improvement Processes |
Outcome Statement
Graduates of this programme will be able to:
- Prepare a seasonal queen bee rearing management plan.
- Implement a seasonal queen bee rearing management plan.
- Manage compliance and pest and disease risk throughout the queen bee rearing process.
- Maintain records of queen bee breeding, queen bee production, and distribution to clients.
- Analyse seasonal queen bee rearing and pest and disease management plans and recommend improvements.
Education Pathways
On completion of the Queen Bee Rearing programme, students can build on the New Zealand Certificate in Apiculture (Level 4) or other small business management qualifications.
Employment Pathways
Graduates of this qualification will be able to work in the apiculture industry as specialists in rearing queen bees, or as commercial beekeepers supplying their own hives or other beekeeper’s hives with queen bees.
Duration of Study
40 weeks part time
Entry Criteria
Academic Achievement
Applicants should demonstrate an ability to succeed in tertiary study, shown by the completion of any of the following qualifications or courses of study:
- Attained NCEA L1 or equivalent
Hives: LBT has hives across the county – students will have access to these hives while attending the programme.
English Second Language Students
Applicants whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools or other teaching institutions is not English, require an ELTS (International English Language Testing System) score of 5.5 or above (or equivalent) for enrolment.
Life Skills/Work Experience
Applicants who do not meet the academic entry criteria above may be admitted to the programme/course of study if they are able to demonstrate:
- Minimum of 1 year within the apiculture industry
Selection Criteria
All applicants are to complete and apply Form before the required date. Where there are more applicants than places available, entry to the programme will be in order of receipt of application.
Queen Bee Rearing (Level 4) FAQs
Please contact us to enquire about the cost of participating in this programme.
This is a 60 credit NZQA course teaching you how to be an assistant queen rearer or to raise queens for your own use.
You will achieve New Zealand Certificate in Queen Bee Rearing (Level 4). Upon graduation of this course, you will be a confident, capable assistant queen rearer for commercial operations or as an independent queen rearer with a small number of beehives.
10 modules – from grafting through to breeder selection and to disease and pest control, and concluding with mating, caging and caring for queens.
The course runs for 40 weeks and will be a combination of weekend workshops, evening workshops and online workshops. It will run the beekeeping calendar (approximately August to end of May).
There are three different types of workshop – Weekend, evening, and online.
- Weekend – TWO full day workshops run on Saturday and Sunday once per month.
- Evening – ONE two hour workshop on a Tuesday evening 10 days after the weekend workshop
- Online – ONE online session during the evening each week
You cannot miss any more than three workshops without prior consultation with your tutor over the duration of the course. If you miss more than this you will fall behind and miss out on vital information.
By the end of this course you will have completed the New Zealand Certificate in Queen Bee Rearing (Level 4) which is an NZQA recognized qualification. This builds on your foundation knowledge of beekeeping to move into Queen Rearing and is sought after in the Apiculture Commercial Sector. If you have this certification, you have a much higher chance of being employed by Apiculture Companies.
The course has a mixture of written assessments on the theory of queen rearing together with a significant amount of practical work. Both theory and practical work will be done during workshops and in your own time at home.
You must have access to an internet connection and be comfortable working online and with Microsoft Word and Excel.
You need to have either completed or be booked in to complete this prior to the start of the course.
AFB Disease Recognition Course
- $100
- 1 day workshop
- Book through AFB training
Learn more by enquiring today…
I got my level 3 Dairy Farming through Land Based Training. It was so cool. I met nice people and the tutor is awesome. I class them all as the naki whanau
Yeah the best course around to be honest. Learnt so much!
I’m a level 2 Horticulture student and the tutors are so awesome and supportive. The other students are cool, we are a fun bunch. I have learnt so much in a short amount of time.
Awesome course, learning heaps & loving it! Free knowledge, a priceless gift I will always be grateful for.