Club list
Central Florida bee clubs
A hive in Orange, Seminole, or Osceola County is easier to keep when the keeper has a room of other keepers. The University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory publishes a statewide list of beekeeper associations. These pages name the clubs on that list for the Orlando metro and points at the live extension pages that still open.
Club sites go dark. Hours move. This page does not reprint a meeting night or a street address. Open the cited UF/IFAS page, then the live club page that page names, before you put a night on a family calendar. A club night is a teaching room. Swarm calls and wall colonies follow the FDACS honey bee removal or eradication path and the keepers those lists name.
In addition to joining the Florida State Beekeepers Association, many counties have local beekeeping clubs.
Why a club night
A local association is the room where a new keeper finds a mentor, sees a smoker used, and hears what this year is doing to brood in this county. UF/IFAS Extension Orange County points backyard keepers to Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association. UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County points people who want to learn to Kissimmee Valley Beekeepers Association. The lab list names those clubs and the Seminole and Lake clubs beside them. That is the citation trail these pages follow: lab list, county extension, then whatever live club page those sources still open.
Clubs by county
| County | Club | Where these pages point |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association | Named on the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab association list. UF/IFAS Extension Orange County points backyard keepers to this club. Read that extension page for anything current. |
| Seminole | Seminole County Beekeepers Association | Named on the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab association list. Confirm a live club or county extension page before you go. |
| Osceola | Kissimmee Valley Beekeepers Association | Named on the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab association list. UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County hosts the public beekeeping page for this club. |
| Lake | Lake County Beekeepers Association | Named on the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab association list. Confirm a live club or extension page before you go. |
| State | Florida State Beekeepers Association | Statewide association. Dues, events, and contacts live on their site. |
UF list: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/extension/beekeeper-associations/
County offices: Find your local UF/IFAS office.
Orange County in detail
If you keep bees in Orlando, or mean to, Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association is the room the UF lab names for Orange County. UF/IFAS Extension Orange County's backyard beekeeping page names the same club and is the live door for anything current about that group. This journal does not reprint a night, a room, or a price from a club host that does not open.
Full club notes: Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association.
How to show up
- Open the UF/IFAS association list and find the club for your county.
- Open the county extension beekeeping page, or the club page that extension page still names, and read the current meeting line the week you plan to go.
- For Orange County, start at UF/IFAS Extension Orange County Backyard Beekeeping.
- For Osceola County, start at UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County Beekeeping.
- Sit in the back. Ask who mentors new keepers. Register the hive with FDACS when you have one. Take Bee College when the lab hosts a weekend.
Questions
Do you have to be a member to attend?
Clubs set their own rules. Read the live club or county extension page the week you go. This page does not reprint dues.
Is a club meeting a swarm dispatch?
No. A meeting is a meeting. For a cluster on a branch, ask the club through the path a live page publishes. For bees in a wall, use the FDACS removal or eradication page and a person who does structures. See the swarm notes.
Where is the long course after a mentor?
UF/IFAS Bee College and the online Master Beekeeper Program. Dates live on the lab pages.
Sources
- Beekeeper Associations, UF Honey Bee Lab. Statewide list these pages use for club names.
- Backyard Beekeeping, UF/IFAS Extension Orange County. Names Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association for backyard keepers.
- Beekeeping, UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County. Public extension page for Kissimmee Valley Beekeepers Association.
- Find your local UF/IFAS office. County offices when a club host is dark.
- Florida State Beekeepers Association