Like many other hobbies and pastimes, the start-up costs to get kitted out in beekeeping are a bit steep. But once you have the gear, much of it will last a lifetime, and only certain parts need occasional replacement and repair. The real danger is beekeeping's addictive nature. It starts with one hive, and then a few more. Before you know it you have a couple dozen hives in three locations and a very sticky pickup truck. If that happens to you, know that you are in good company. But for anyone looking to start with just one hive, here are the basic pieces of equipment.
Note: As always, there are many different opinions on the correct way to set up a hive, what to wear, what is essential, what is superfluous, etc. These are my own opinions based on my own experiences in northern New England using traditional equipment. I encourage anyone with an interest to read a few books and, most importantly, talk to a local beekeeper about what works in your area.
• Hive Bodies and Covers: These are the boxes that the bees live in and where they store honey. There are three different sizes: deep, medium and shallow. I like to use two deeps for the living quarters (where the bees lay their eggs and store the pollen and nectar that will get them through the winter), and shallows for the honey supers. I used mediums as honey supers once and they were ridiculously heavy when full, so I switched to shallows. There are two covers needed, a wooden inner cover and a weatherproof outer cover.
• Frames: These are the structures where the bees create the honeycomb, which they then fill with eggs, nectar, or pollen. There are many different types. I use a few plastic frames I inherited but mostly more traditional wooden ones. These have a delicate beeswax wafer in the center, called foundation, which the bees draw out into full honeycomb. There are nine or ten frames per hive, depending on your methods.
• Bottom Boards: A bottom board is basically what it sounds like, a board that goes below all of the other hive components. There are screened bottom boards, solid ones, and some with built-in entrance reducers.
• Protective Clothing: Everyone has an opinion on how much protective gear you should wear when tending your bees. Almost everyone wears a veil, which is the netted headgear that protects your face. After that it comes down to comfort level. You can buy a full set of coveralls, just a jacket, long leather gloves, and even white rubber boots. I go with jeans, sneakers and a jacket with attached veil. And while I did not always wear gloves, after a few stings on my hand that made my fingers swell up like sausages, I am now a glove man.
• Smoker: Your best friend and worst enemy. You will love it because nothing calms down an agitated hive of bees like a few puffs of cool white smoke. You will hate it because it will never stay lit in your early beekeeping days and inevitably go out when you are elbow deep in the second hive body. Practice lighting and maintaining your smoker, often. Trust me on this one, it is time well spent. Of course, whether your smoker stays lit depends largely on your smoker fuel, which is another hotly contested topic. I have found that nothing beats pine shavings, which are readily available as hamster bedding in pet stores.
• Hive Tool: This is sort of a sharp pry-bar, useful for many tasks but mainly used for separating and removing frames from a hive body.
• Feeder: Supplemental feeding of bees in spring and fall is a common practice. The usual food is a sugar syrup you make yourself, using different ratios of sugar to water depending on the season.
• Uncapping Knife: This implement removes the wax covering that the bees deposit over the honey to keep it from absorbing water. This is done right before the honey is extracted. This can be as simple as a long flat knife dipped in hot water to a heated one you plug in.
• Extractor and Containers: Extractors are expensive pieces of equipment that no novice with one hive should purchase for their own use. It is much more economical for a number of beekeepers to share one extractor. The extractor itself is sort of a centrifuge, which spins uncapped frames of honey at a high speed until all of the honey clings to the sides of the extractor and is dripped to the bottom, which has a spout for easy removal of the honey into a bucket or jars. Jars and containers come in as many shapes and sizes as you can imagine; you'll need some for your harvest.
• Electric Fence: If you live in bear country, you need a fence. Otherwise you will end up buying a lot of equipment a second time.
• Bees (of course!): Bees are shipped in what is called a 'package', which usually consists of three pounds of bees and a mated queen. Three pounds equals about 10,000 bees, and they come in a shoebox sized wooden box with screened sides. These used to be shipped directly to individuals by mail, but now it is much more common to have them delivered to a central location for pick-up, usually a beekeeping supply store.
That covers the basics. There are a bunch of other things, from beekeeping books to honey jar labels, that you will no doubt find useful and end up spending some money on. Remember, beekeepers love to share, be it information or equipment, so ask around before you dive in. But be wary of purchasing used hive bodies and frames — deadly mites can live on old gear, so be sure to know who you are buying from.
(Image 1 by Flickr member tracywoolery licensed for use under Creative Commons. Image 2: Williams-Sonoma. Image 3: Richard Popovic)
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Although I applaud your effort to encourage bee-keeping, I can't but wonder why this is posted on this blog. I doubt many apartment dwellers have the opportunity to raise bees and, if they can, wouldn't they look up Mother Earth News rather than your blog? Just sayin'.
Because it is interesting and awesome.
Luckily, I have a friend that is a bee keeper. She helped me this morning to try to convince a swarm to leave the hole in the tree in my front yard. I am still waiting for the bees to vacate... if anyone around the metrowest Boston area needs a couple thousand bees, email me!
If my yard were a bit bigger, I would happily let the bees stay. Since they are trying to nest just 6 feet up from the ground & about 6 feet from my front door, they need to live elsewhere :)
@Classof65, Apartment dwellers can keep bees just like anyone else. Lots of people keep bees on the roofs of their buildings.
As someone who is deadly allergic to bees, I might have a problem with my neighbor keeping a hive of bees. I understand you like beekeeping and all, but even with my epi-pen if I don't get to the hospital in 15 minutes my throat swells shit and I die. It's not like I'm unusual either, Millions of people are allergic, and most don't even know it!
People shouldn't keep bee's unless they have the land to where no one else is going to be affected. Also some possible causes for colony collapse disorder include bee keeping practices and lack of biodiversity in the bee population. Sounds to me this is best left to nature and professionals, not someone with an apartment roof and too much free time.
shut, not shit
PaigeP, I hear your concerns about allergic neighbors and did address this issue in the second installment in this series, recommending people check in with those nearby concerning allergies and not trying to make beekeeping happen if it is a bad fit for their location. But there are amateur beekeepers all over the world who keep bees in small areas, including rooftops and apartment gardens. And in fact it is the amateurs and hobbyists who are actually increasing biodiversity and the general health of the bee population, spearheading more natural chemical-free beekeeping methods and helping to diversify the gene pool. The 'professionals' are the ones who suffer most from CCD because they tend to stress their bees with constant moving from location to location and often have their bees feed on pesticide-laden crops, while also medicating their bees and feeding them high-fructose corn syrup.
Considering the fact that roughly one-third of the food we eat is dependent on bee pollination, an increase in beekeeping should be encouraged and applauded by anyone who likes to eat.
Keep the bee posts coming!
In college I took a commercial beekeeping class! Fruit Science 123. It was great fun and a really cool benefit to going to a university with a big Ag college.
The one thing missing from this list is a water source. If you don't put out a source of hydration for your bees they will find it elsewhere, like your neighbor's pool, birdbath, dog water dish, etc. Then you will have a problem with your neighbors. We used a horse trough filled with water and some dry manzanita branches stuck in the water as a landing spot.
As far as protective clothing goes we just wore veils and "bee shirts" which was an old men's woven shirt from the flea market. Bee's hate knit fabrics and if you are wearing a sweatshirt or t-shirt they will try to sting you through the fabric. Probably because their delicate leg hairs get stuck in the knit. Just pop the collar of your bee shirt and arrange the veil over it and you are good to go.
Leather gloves with long sleeves that have elastic that tightens over the elbow are great for learning, but when you get more experienced and comfortable you will probably ditch them.
The entire quarter I was stung three times, once on my foot because I was wearing sandals (not ideal footwear), once on my hand, and once on my thigh because I was leaning forward on a hive right over the entrance and the bees didn't like it. It isn't that bad if you aren't allergic.
As far as neighbors being allergic, it shouldn't be a problem if you water your bees and split your hives and re-queen when the time comes to prevent swarming. I've lived in an area where beekeepers come to winter their bees and have never been stung outside my class despite being around bees all the time. I think the average person's fear of being stung is a bit overblown.
I agree about the bee allergy issue. Its quite sad to me that people's desire for a hobby trumps another person life. Also, maybe if we stopped taking the bee's honey from them and supplementing it with nutritionally inferior sugar water, we would have fewer issues with colony collapse. The bees work very hard to make the honey, which is the perfect food for them only to have it taken away and replaced with sugar water. So wrong.
Sisterfunkhaus - You might want to do more research on the topic before writing about things you obviously don't understand.
Finding the right hive seems to be the hardest part when purchasing your beekeeping equipment . There are many models available each having its advantages and disadvantages.
Wow, I couldn't disagree more strongly with some of the comments that people have made here. As Violet Veil wrote, it seems like most people are writing from a position of ignorance.
Paigep, I'm sorry that you are so allergic and hope that you never have to use your epi-pen, but any place that people keep bees already has bees. Where I live, there's an average of 9 colonies per square mile and they range over miles to forage. Honey bees are usually only aggressive when protecting their hive. You're much more likely to get stung by a hornet, yellow jacket, or wasp. And statistically, you're more likely to get struck by lightning than to die of a bee sting. More people are killed by dogs every year than bees, but no one is suggesting that people give up the hobby of keeping dogs.
Also, suggesting that beekeeping should be left to the professionals is hard to hear. It's the commercial apiaries that are struggling right now, not small scale beekeepers.
Sisterfunkhaus, it sounds like you have more of a problem with commercial beekeepers, not backyard beekeepers. I don't know anyone who would take honey that their bees need to survive. And if you have a problem with commercial beekeepers then you also have a problem with all of the food that is grown that requires pollination by honeybees. It's probably more than you realize. Say goodbye to fruit and vegetables.
Very well stated, MiklakMiklak!