EAS Master Beekeepers Certification Program
Laboratory Examination

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In the laboratory examination applicants will be shown a variety of items and species associated with beekeeping and asked to identify and/or answers a question(s) about each.

Examples follow:

1. Bee diseases: A Master Beekeeper should be able to identify bee diseases as well as a qualified apiary inspector. It is expected he/she will be able to make a field identification of the following: American foulbrood, European foulbrood, sacbrood, nosema, chalkbrood, and chilled brood; this includes the identification of mixed infections, that is, identification of European and American foulbrood side by side.
2. Bee pests, parasites, and predators: It is expected one can identify damage by wax moths, mice. bears, pollen mites, etc. and to separate problems caused by these pests from those caused by pesticides.
3. Judging honey: An applicant may be presented with three to five one pound jars of honey or comb honey sections and be asked to rank them. It is not expected that all persons would assign the same number of points to faults but it is expected they would agree on ranking. In judging honey it is generally recognized that the greatest emphasis should be on those factors over which beekeeper has control: foam, crystallization, dirt, travel stain, etc. Judging will not include use of a refractometer or Pfund grader, though applicants should be familiar with what these are.
4. Judging beeswax: As in the case of honey, applicants may be presented with several pieces of beeswax and asked to rank them based on their quality.
5. Recognition of beekeeping equipment: A great variety of gadgets, implements and hive furniture have been invented and manufactured. Some of these are valuable implements and many are not. It is not expected that a Master Beekeeper would be familiar with all such equipment but one should know the major items, when they were invented, why they were invented, and any special virtues they might have.
6. Queen rearing: Applicants should be able to indicate the proper age larva for grafting and to recognize the tools used in the trade.
7. Identification of honey plants will not be required; however, applicants should be familiar with the major references on honey plants.

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