John Mahaffie

The Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, and Girl Guides all had merit badges for beekeeping (originally “bee farming” in the Boy Scout handbook.) The badges turn up on eBay and collectors have them bid up sometimes to several hundred dollars.

**Bee farming merit badge information fell in the Boy Scout handbook between Aviation and Blacksmithing**¹⁾Boy Scouts of America. The Official Handbook for Boys. 4th ed. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & company, 1911.

There was a 53-page merit badge guide for this skill:

**The Boy Scouts beekeeping merit badge guide from 1925**. Versions of this were published into the 1980s²⁾Bee Keeping …. United States, Boy scouts of America, 1925.

The Boy Scouts merit badge for beekeeping was discontinued in 1995 due to lack of interest. The blacksmithing badge was discontinued in 1952. In 2014, an Oklahoma scout lobbied the Boy Scouts of America to reinstate beekeeping for badge-earning. That did not happen, but the organization incorporated beekeeping into areas including insects,, nature studies, forestry, gardening, plant science, and other environmental science studies.³⁾Bryan Wendell, “Gone but not forgotten: Beekeeping and 9 other discontinued merit badges,” Scouting Magazine Blog, April 28, 2014. The Girls Scouts have taken a similar approach, with no free-standing merit badge for beekeeping.

References[+]

References
↑1	Boy Scouts of America. The Official Handbook for Boys. 4th ed. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & company, 1911.
↑2	Bee Keeping …. United States, Boy scouts of America, 1925.
↑3	Bryan Wendell, “Gone but not forgotten: Beekeeping and 9 other discontinued merit badges,” Scouting Magazine Blog, April 28, 2014.