SRUC Beekeeping | Beekeeping education

Beekeeping Best Practice PowerPoints

This suite of PowerPoint presentations aims to provide local associations, beekeeping teachers and mentors with advice and information on statutory beekeeping requirements. It includes advice on best practice, and information on how the Scottish Government provides support to Scottish beekeepers. Each PowerPoints comes with two downloadable files: one of the presentation and another of presentation notes for instructors.

These presentations are government property. They cannot be changed without permission.

The presentations cover the following topics:

Responsible beekeeping
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Legislation
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Role of the bee team
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Varroa
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Veterinary medicines
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Notifiable diseases
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Non-notifiable pests and diseases
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Notifiable pests
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Yellow-legged hornet
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Honey regulations
Presentation / Presenter notes for instructors

Many thanks go to the wider Bee Health Improvement Partnership team for checking and reviewing these especially those from the policy team, the lead bee inspector and colleagues from SASA.

Beekeeing podcasts

SRUC have produced several beekeeping podcasts of approximately 20-30 minutes long. You can listen to them by following the links below.

Dive into the fascinating world of the Honey Bee (aired 03/02/2026)
Beekeeping and IPM (aired 06/06/2024)
Beekeeping and monitoring varroa (aired 18/04/2024)
Beekeeping and Varroa (aired 23/02/2024)
Beekeeping in the summer (aired 26/05/2023)
Beekeeping in the Spring (aired 09/03/2023)
Beekeeping in the Winter (aired 19/12/2022)

Please revisit this page as further podcasts will be uploaded here as they become available.

Beekeeping blogs

The SRUC Bee Health Advisor writes regular blogs related to honey bee health and best practice. These blogs give updates and cover relevant issues for the time of year.

Planting for Pollinators (2026)
Introducing your bee health advisor (2025)

If anyone wishes to contribute to future beekeeping blogs, please contact Lorraine.Johnston@sruc.ac.uk

These are other useful blogs appropriate for Scottish beekeepers:

Beekeeping resource library

You can find a wealth of information about bees and beekeeping from the following links:

Beekeeping videos

The links below will take you to videos from the expert beekeeping community:

Beekeeping best practice

: SRUC poster - beginning beekeeping
Advice on how to prepare and start beekeeping in Scotland.

National Bee Unit - starting right with bees
Downloadable booklet to help decide whether keeping honey bees is right for you.

National Bee Unit - best practice guide
Guidance on how to keep your bees healthy

National Bee Unit best practice guidance - purchasing nucleus colonies
Guidance on what to expect wen you buy a nucleus of bees.

National Bee Unit best practice guidance - obtaining bees
Advice on how to responsibly source good bees that are free from diseases, productive, and with other desired traits.
: National Bee Unit best practice guidance - apiary and hive hygiene
Guidance on how to disinfect your hives, clean equipment, and biosecurity.

National Bee Unit factsheet - disinfecting a hive after disease
Guidance on how to disinfect all equipment including wooden and poly hives, clothing, and other equipment.

National Bee Unit best practice guide - handling and examining a colony of bees
Guidance on how to conduct an inspection and what to look for.

National Bee Unit best practice guide - spring checks
Advice on what check to do on your first bee inspection in spring: checking for food, queen, eggs, disease, cleaning, space, and swarming.

National Bee Unit best practice - bee improvement
Advice on how to improve your stock and queen rearing

National Bee Unit factsheet - preparing for winter
Advice on how to prepare your hives to help them get through winter, including feeding for winter, protecting from pests, and checking for disease and strength.

Beecraft article - top tips from a Government Bee Inspector
Article advising on building equipment, swarming, disease, acquiring bees, and varroa

SRUC poster - sign up to BeeBase
Printable poster to remind beekeepers to sign up and keep their records updated.

SRUC poster - how to clean a shared extractor
Downloadable poster giving advice on how to clean a shared extractor.
: National Bee Unit link to website page - dealing with swarms
Advice on what precautions to take and how to deal with swarms.

National Bee Unit factsheet - how to do swarm control without the queen
Advice on how to perform swarm control when you can't find the queen.

National Bee Unit PDF - shook swarm
Article on why and how to carry out a shook swarm.
: National Bee Unit factsheet - wild bees in the UK
Information on wild bees and how people can help them.

Beecraft article - Honeybees and wild bees
The case for pathogen spillover from managed pollinators to wild bees by Dr Rachel Down.

Diseases affecting honey bees

: National Bee Unit best practice guideline - disease recognition
Advice on how to learn to spot diseases.

National Bee Unit booklet - Foulbroods
Downloadable booklet covering notifiable diseases such as American Foulbrood and European Foulbrood.

National Bee Unit factsheet - control of European Foulbrood
Information on how to spot European Foulbrood and how to prevent its spread.

National Bee Unit factsheet - care after a shook swarm
Factsheet on what to do after a shook swarm.

Government letter to beekeepers regarding European Foulbrood
Advice on how to reduce the spread of European Foulbrood in Scotland.

Scottish Government European Foulbrood flyer
Downloadable flyer showing the incidence of European Foulbrood in Scotland.

Scottish Government report on European Foulbrood
Results of a 2024 survey on the prevalence of European Foulbrood in Scotland.

National Bee Unit live data on disease
Up-to-date graphs and reports on disease in the UK.

Beecraft article - European Foulbrood
Article on the diversity and genotyping of European Foulbrood in England and Wales.
: National Bee Unit leaflet on common brood diseases
Downloadable booklet; includes information on foulbroods.

National Bee Unit factsheet on Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus
Information on Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus.

National Bee Unit booklet - common pests, diseases, and disorders of adult bees
Downloadable booklet on non-notifiable pests and diseases.

BBKA news - Nosema article
Article about Nosema by Kirsty Stainon of the National Bee Unit.

BBKA news - Sacbrood article
Article about Sacbrood by Kirsty Stainon of the National Bee Unit.

Beecraft article - Nosema ceranae
Article by Professor Giles Budge on Nosema ceranae.

Pests affecting honey bees

: National Bee Unit factsheet - small hive beetle
Information on how to identify the small hive beetle and the measure being taken to prevent it entering the UK.

National Bee Unit best practice guide - small hive beetle
Information on how to recognise, report, and reduce the risk of small hive beetle.

National Bee Unit advisory booklet - small hive beetle
Advice on the small hive beetle and its threat to UK honeybees.

National Bee Unit advisory booklet - tropilaelaps
Advice on tropilaelaps, how to identify them, and how to monitor for them.
: National Bee Unit factsheet - tracheal mites
Information on tracheal mites and how to detect them.

National Bee Unit factsheet - wasps
Factsheet on how to protect your bees from wasps.

National Bee Unit factsheet - wax moth
Factsheet on wax month and how to prevent it.

National Bee Unit advisory booklet - pests, diseases, and disorders of adult bees
Leaflet on the causes, symptoms and how to treat or manage common pests, diseases, and disorders.
: SRUC - Scottish Varroa Learning Package
Downloadable booklet providing Scottish-specific information on managing varroa.

Scottish Government - varroa map
Map showing where varroa is present in Scotland and advises not to move bees to varroa-free areas. Current as at 2025.

National Bee Unit factsheet - VMD Record
Downloadable example of a veterinary medicine record for varroa treatments.

BeeBase media galery - varroa
Images of varroa, its impact, and how to treat for varroa.

National Bee Unit factsheet - bee medicines
Factsheet about medicines currently licenced for treating varroa in the UK.

National Bee Unit factsheet - estimating varroa populations
Factsheet to guide you through different methods of estimating varroa.

National Bee Unit factsheet - varroa
An overview of varroa and its management.

National Bee Unit - open mesh floors
Factsheet on the benefits of open mesh floors.

National Bee Unit factsheet - queen trapping
Factsheet on how to perform queen trapping to aid varroa control.

National Bee Unit factsheet - artificial swarm
Guidance on how to perform an artificial swarm for varroa control.

National Bee Unit factsheet - drone brood removal
Factsheet on how and when to do drone brood removal for varroa control.

Beecraft article - varroa
Article by Ben Jones on reviewing varroa biology and management.

BBKA news article - monitoring and treatment of varroa
Article by Kirsty Stainton on how to monitor and manage varroa.
: National Bee Unit rolling update 2026 - yellow-legged hornet
Updates on the recent sightings of the yellow-legged hornet

Scottish Government - confuser species poster
Downloadable poster showing other insects which may be mistaken for a yellow-legged hornet.

Scottish Government contingency plan - yellow-legged hornet
Scottish Government's plan of action in the event of a yellow-legged hornet incursion.

UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Form for reporting a suspected sighting of a yellow-legged hornet.

Non-Native Species Secretariat poster - yellow-legged hornet
Downloadable poster on the yellow-legged hornet.

Non-Native Species Secretariat poster - yellow-legged hornet nest
Downloadable poster of yellow-legged hornet nests.

Non-Native Species Secretariat website link to yellow-legged hornet
Information about identifying and how to report a suspected yellow-legged hornet.

BBKA article - update for yellow-legged hornet
Article by Nigel Semmence giving an update on the yellow-legged hornet for 2024-2025.

Need advice?

If you need advice on your bees or beekeeping, feel free to get in touch with Lorraine Johnston, SRUC Bee Advisor for Scotland.

Email: Lorraine.Johnston@sruc.ac.uk
Phone: 077 95 91 92 09

Based at SRUC Barony Campus, Parkgate, Dumfries, DG1 3NE

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Beekeeping education

Beekeeping Best Practice PowerPoints

Beekeeing podcasts

Beekeeping blogs

Beekeeping resource library

Beekeeping videos

Beekeeping best practice

Beginning beekeeping

Responsible beekeeping

Swarming

Other pollinators

Diseases affecting honey bees

Notifiable diseases affecting honey bees

Non-notifiable diseases affecting honey bees

Pests affecting honey bees

Notifiable pests affecting honey bees

Non-notifiable pests affecting honey bees

Varroa

Yellow-legged hornet

Need advice?