Bees and beekeeping

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Whether you’re a commercial honey producer, commercial queen and package producer, researcher, pollination service provider, or simply a hobbyist, we ask you to get a permit and help keep bee colonies healthy and thriving across the state. 

Permit fees depend on the number of colonies and are cheaper for Louisiana residents than non-residents. Permits should be renewed annually. They expire on September 30 each year.

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Inspections of your apiary yards check for diseases or pests and might be required to sell honey bee queens, packages, or used beekeeping equipment. You may also need inspections before interstate movement of honey bee colonies and/or equipment for scientific research purposes.

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Program deadlines

Applications will be open from October 28, 2024 until November 22, 2024.

Program overview

Our apprenticeship project for growing new beekeepers enhances the competitiveness of Louisiana-grown specialty crops and addresses concerns about the long-term growth of the beekeeping industry in the state.

Funding for the Apprenticeship Project for Growing New Beekeepers in Louisiana was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant 24SCBPLA1241-00. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.

LDAF works in partnership with high school agricultural teachers to offer beekeeping apprenticeship projects reaching approximately 160 high school agriculture students. We sponsor four high school agriculture programs/educators with up to $10,000 in beehive/beekeeping resources to establish, with the help of students, an apiary (bee yard) of up to five beehives at their schools.

Program benefits

Awardees receive: 

• Up to 5 hives

• Bees (nucs)

• Cinder blocks for elevating the bee hives

• Water sealant and brushes to water seal the hives

• Beekeeping suit kits (in Med and Large sizes that include suit, hood, beekeeping gloves, and tools)

• Beekeeping smokers

• Beekeeping basics information book

• Honey extractor and supplies

• Label printer

• Honey bottles

Over the course of two years, each of the participant teachers will teach a class of students (average class size of 20) annually through classroom instruction and hands-on experiences in the school bee yard about basic beekeeping, honey productions, and what goes into starting a beekeeping enterprise and maintaining successful hives.  

Each teacher also selects up to five outstanding students with an interest in beekeeping for a year-long, intensive, supervised agricultural experience (apprenticeship) in beekeeping. Each apprentice will be responsible for the success of one hive in the school bee yard for a 12-month period and learn the skills necessary to become honey production entrepreneurs.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

• Get support from their school principal.

• Agree to provide instruction, skill-based training, and other school-based activities to:

  • Create awareness of the industry among young potential farmers

  • Educate and advise students on beginning beekeeping farming and how to be successful

  • Cover basic bee biology (life cycle of bees, anatomy, the behavior of social insects, etc.) and basic beekeeping skills (how to inspect your hive, proper use of a bee smoker, queen selection, hive splitting, etc.)

  • Provide knowledge and skills regarding honey production entrepreneurship.

• Agree to select up to five beekeeping apprentices from the class to receive a supervised agricultural beekeeping experience (SAE) in the school apiary.

• Agree to submit quarterly reports on the project activities at their school. The reports include:

  • Summary of beekeeping education, training, and activities conducted during the quarter.

  • Copies of classroom students’ surveys/assessments of the beekeeping knowledge they have gained following the completion of their educational unit on beekeeping. Early in the project, LDAF works with the educators to create a common end-of-year assessment of beekeeping knowledge gained. Copies of the students’ surveys will be submitted to LDAF in the following quarterly report.

  • Apprentices write quarterly reports to indicate their progress and receive advice on problems that may arise. Copies of these apprentice reports will be included in the quarterly report submitted by the educator to LDAF on January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15 for both 2025 and 2026.

• Require each apprentice to share their lessons learned and knowledge gained with others in a PowerPoint and videotaped presentation in the spring semester. The presentation can be made to a class of students unfamiliar with beekeeping, a club, a civic group, agricultural meetings, or a chapter of local beekeepers. These presentations should be submitted with the educators’ quarterly report due on either April 15, 2025, or July 15, 2025, and either April 15, 2026, or July 15, 2026.

In the application:

• Indicate support from the principal.

• Demonstrate that your high school agricultural program has the capacity and resources to support and sustain the established bee yard over two years. 

• Indicate how your instruction, training, and activities will meet the requirements of the program.

Selection

We will review the first four applicants to submit a completed application by the deadline.

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• Zachary High School

• BPSTIL

• Hathaway High School

• Fontainebleau High School

• Weston High School