Interactive map displaying places around IL to find honey from local hives; raw honey with local pollen, Manuka honey, honey in combs or other types of honey.

Beekeeping 101

The Illinois Bees and Apiaries Program is designed to assist beekeepers throughout Illinois with the management and protection of honeybee colonies.

The Illinois State Beekeepers Association (ISBA), your source for information on Honey Bees, Honey, Stinging Insects, Products of the Hive, Swarms, and Beekeeping in Illinois. You will find information for the beginner as well as the veteran Beekeeper.

The Illinois State Beekeepers Association (ISBA) was organized in 1891. Over the past 127 years the ISBA has developed a strong working relationship with local beekeeping associations throughout the state and with the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDoA). The purpose of the ISBA is to promote interest in Honey Bees and Beekeeping by encouraging good beekeeping practices in Illinois, the utilization of Honey Bees for the pollination of agricultural crops and the dissemination of information about Honey Bees and beekeeping.

Education and Outreach on Illinois Honey Bees

Bee and insect resources for Illinois and the surrounding region.

60.10 Definitions
60.20 Registration; Colony Identification
60.30 Inspection
60.40 Equipment
60.50 Diseased or Parasitized Colonies; Exotic Strains
60.60 Permits
60.70 Quarantine
60.80 Administrative Rules (Repealed)

St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Department of Conservation: 2016 Missouri Bee Identification Guide

Welcome to the Bee Hive. We are involved in honey bee research and education.

St. Louis Zoo Center for Native Pollinator Conservation

"EMBA is a volunteer-based organization that trains beginning and advanced beekeepers, promotes beekeeping within the region; and provides networking opportunities for beekeepers, old and new.

EMBA’s purpose is to help its members and beekeepers at all levels become more successful and reach their goals with respect to these exciting insects and their products.

Our Mission: To promote beekeeping generally; to broaden the knowledge of beekeeping among its members; and to foster the best practices and techniques in apiary management."

"The Coalition's mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that will help achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting healthy populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agriculture and thriving ecosystems."

Serving Missouri Beekeepers, Farmers, Gardeners, and Consumers For Over A Century.

This is a $159 online beekeeping class for beginning beekeepers.

"We are a fast-growing beekeeping club located in St. Peters, Missouri. Three Rivers Beekeepers’ mission is to provide fresh, creative and inspiring educational programs with a refreshing atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie. We inform our local communities about honey bee and beekeeping-related issues while providing a source of information about our industry and hobby.

We serve beekeepers from the eastern Missouri counties of St. Charles, St. Louis, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin, Warren, Montgomery, and Pike, in addition to many western Illinois counties around the St. Louis region."

ABOUT THE HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION
The Honey Bee Health Coalition was formed in 2014 as a cross-sector effort to promote collaborative solutions to honey bee health challenges. The diverse Coalition brings together beekeepers, growers, researchers, government agencies, agribusinesses, conservation groups, manufacturers and brands, and other key partners dedicated to improve the health of honey bees and other pollinators. The Coalition’s mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that will help to achieve a healthy population of honey
bees while also supporting healthy populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems.

A major tenet and founding principle of the Coalition is the recognition that the current decline in overall honey bee health is a multi-factorial problem, and all stakeholders have a role to play in managing bee health issues. The Coalition is focusing on accelerating improvement of honey bee health in four key areas: forage and nutrition, hive management, crop pest management, and outreach, education and communications. As part of the hive management focus area, the Coalition has developed this “Tools for Varroa Management” Guide that beekeepers can use to help focus on more effectively controlling the Varroa mite in managed hives.
For more information please visit at: http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/

The UNL Bee Lab pursues research questions and extension programs focused on better understanding various stressors impacting pollinator health.

"Get a bee's eye view of your landscape

Managed honey bees and wild bees travel long distances from their nests to find food and water. What are your bees experiencing during their journey? This tool will help you understand how the landscape surrounding your apiary, garden, or farm stacks up in terms of floral resources bees can find, the insecticides they encounter, and for wild bees, the nesting sites that are available.

Beescape is a partnership of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State University, Dickinson College, Purdue University, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, and University of California, Davis. It is made possible by funding from USDA-NIFA-AFRI (#2018-67013-27538), the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (#549032) and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (NSF DBI 16391 45)."

"Slovenian Beekeeping and Beekeeping Tours was started in 2014, offering unique beekeeping tours to Slovenia two times a year. In addition, we are one of the only sellers based in the United States to sell genuine Slovenian beehives made in Slovenia and also sell a wide range of Slovenian beekeeping products and accessories. We teach instructional classes and host beekeeping consultations and seminars. Our Harrisville, NH-based retail store showcases our own honey as well as Slovenian specialty and novelty products."

"In 1873 the Carniolan Association for Prudent Beekeeping was established in Ljubljana, which represents the beginning of the organisation of the Slovenian beekeepers. Since 1898, we have been publishing the technical magazine Slovenian Beekeeper (Slovenski čebelar).

Today the beekeeping organisation is known as the Slovenian Beekeeper’s Association. It includes 207 beekeeping societies and 14 regional beekeeping associations, with a total of about 7,500 beekeepers. Its main tasks include the education and training of beekeepers in the framework of lifelong learning, publishing the Slovenian Beekeeper monthly and various technical books, the preparation of exhibitions, discussions and symposiums, the organisation of school clubs, beekeeping camps and workshops, raising the public awareness about the importance of bees in the preservation of the environment, the promotion of bee products in healthy nutrition and the list goes on and on."

News article from "The Guardian" September 2018, outlining beekeping efforts and the efforts of rapid bee response unit in Ljubljana.

"Bees are indicative of a clean environment – a good affirmation of Ljubljana as one of the cleanest cities in the world."