I’ve taught hundreds of beekeeping classes, both private and public, and people always fall into 1 of 3 categories:

1. They’re thinking about getting bees and hope that a class will help them decide.

2. They just got bees and want to learn how to take care of them.

3. They like bees and just want to learn more.

Whichever category you fall into, by the end of this article I hope you leave excited to learn more!

Now let’s talk HARDWARE.

Here’s the hardware your bees will need:

1. Some kind of base. It can be as simple as a pallet or a few cinder blocks on the ground, or as pretty and expensive as a commercially made bee stand. I’ve used all of these and a few other set-ups, and they all work just fine. In reality it just has to be something that is heavy duty enough to stand up to a few hundred pounds.

2. A hive. Langstroth hives are the most common and popular type of hive to use.  They are traditionally painted white, have a metal top, usually copper or aluminum; and a base where the bees’ entrance is. The beekeeper stacks Langstroth boxes, which don’t have a top or a bottom to them, on top of each other to make the inside of the hive larger. We do this to keep up with the growing population of bees and their stores.

Another type of hive is called a top-bar hive. It’s a single story, V shaped hive, where the bees build horizonally instead of vertically. There are no boxes to stack on a top-bar hive, so some people find this hive to be easier to manipulate. The down side to this is that once your bees fill this hive there is no room to expand.

A top-bar hive has 24 wooden bars across its top, thus its name, and this is where the bees build their comb from. There is no plastic or wax foundation for the bees to begin from, so those who prefer foundationless beekeeping tend to prefer the top-bar hive.

The Warre hive is similar to the Langstroth hive in that you can add and take away boxes from the hive as needed. However, in a Warre hive you are adding boxes to the bottom of the hive, instead of the top. Don’t worry, a Warre hive box is much smaller than a Langstroth, so it is much lighter and easier to lift.

The Warre hive has a peeked roof, sometimes called a “quilt box” that has a material inside of it that absorbs moisture. This is important during the winter months when condensation can make the inside of a beehive damp, and can create a dangerous situation for your bees.

This is a very glossed-over summary of the 3 most common hives, so please read more about each kind before you make your decision. Better yet, reach out to your local beekeeping club and talk to some beekeepers who use these different hives and see what they say.

No matter what, all 3 of these hives, and many others will be your bees potential home, and you can be successful with whichever you choose.

You, the beekeeper will need some GEAR.

First thing you’ll need is a beesuit. Now, I’m not here to defend the great beesuit debate, but I will say this: If you live in the southern half of the United States, please wear a bee suit. We have africanized strains of bees down here, and you never know how “hot” your bees are going to be on any given day. I will always recommend a bee suit, no matter where you live and no matter how long you’ve been keeping bees. Having a beesuit on not only protects you physically, but I find that I am a more confident beekeeper when I have my suit on. I can go into my hives with a mental confindence in my safety, and that keeps the bees AND me calmer.

There are a lot of suits and price points to choose from, so do some research and find one that fits you and your budget.

To go along with your suit, you’ll also need gloves and closed toe shoes.

I use traditional beekeeping gloves which are made of leather and canvas, but there are a number of gloves you can use. Just make sure your have good “grabbing” ability and that they’re not too big on you.

I use rubber boots, but any shoe that you can stuff your beesuit down into, or any shoe that comes up above your ankle will work fine. Lots of beekeepers use hiking boots or cowboy boots. You need full coverage and traction, so decide what’s best for you.

You’ll also need a smoker. A smoker is your best friend while you’re in the hive. It was believed that pouring smoke into a hive made the bees think there was a forest fire. That would trigger them in to gorging themselves on honey, in preparation for evacuating their home, and thus would make the bees “drunk” on honey and make them less likely to sting you while you’re in their hive. Current studies show that this isn’t actually true. It is now thought that by forcing smoke into the hive what we are actually doing is blocking the alarm pheremone from being passed around from bee to bee. The bees release an alarm pheromone amongst themselves when an intruder comes (you,) and the smoke acts as a barrier to that pheremone spreading around the hive. This makes it so less bees are worried about your presence, and gives you, the beekeeper, a more peaceful experience.

Again, there are lots of types and pricepoints on smokers, so buy one that works best for you.

A hive tool. A hive tool is your 2nd best friend.

There are a few designs in a modern hive tool to choose from, but really you just need a strong, sharp-edged tool to break through all of the propolis seals that the bees will make on every surface of their hive.

Now let’s talk bees!

There are a few ways to go about getting your bees. The first and best way would be to find your local beekeeping association and order through them. They will probably have a discounted price because the organization is placing a bulk order, AND they will likely set you up with a mentor. Most beekeeping asscociations have free mentoring programs made just for newbies, and it’s handsdown the best thing you can do for yourself and your beekeeping education.  But, let’s get back to the bees.

The 2 ways you can commercially order bees is to buy a “package” or a “nuc.”

A PACKAGE of bees is box full of approximately 3 pounds of bees. The bees have been scooped up and put into a box, usually wooden or plastic, and have been given a new queen bee to be their leader. They are not loyal to this queen, so for her protection she is in a little box inside of the big box.

When you get your bees home you will gently shake these bees into your hive and then carefully take the queen’s box out and fasten it to one of the frames inside the new hive. Her cage has a candy “cork” on one end, and as the bees eat the candy, trying to get access to her, her pheromones will eventually take over the hive, and by the time they “uncork” her, they will be loyal to her and she will begin to lay eggs shortly thereafter.

The 2nd way to order bees is to order a “nuc.”

NUC is short for nucleus, and comes to you as a fully functioning hive. It usually comes in a cardboard or plastic travel case that includes 5 frames, 50,000-60,000 worker bees, brood, pollen and nectar stores, and some capped honey.

When you get your nuc home you will just literally transfer these 5 frames into your hive, and your bees will continue on with their life without much disruption.

As you can see, a nuc is much more set up with everything it needs to survive. A package of bees starts with nothing. No wax, no pollen or nectar, no honey stores, no eggs. A package of bees must first produce enough wax for the queen to lay in and for resourses to be stored in before the new hive can be really up and running.

A nuc will be more expensive than a package, and I have used both, but I will always recommend, when possible, to put your money into buying a nuc.

We need bees way more than they need us, but to be a responsible beekeeper there are some things we can do to “help” our bees along.

Knowing what’s going on in your hive, along with what season it is, will help you have an efficient and enjoyable hive inspection.

Here are some super interesting things that are happening inside your hive:

• Worker bees are female and they are responsible for all the chores in the hive. They make and form the wax cells, feed the larvae, clean the hive of dead bees and debris, feed the queen, collect nectar, pollen, water, and tree resins, use their wings to create evaporative cooling to dehydrate the nectar into honey, cap and seal the honey, and guard the entrance to the hive.
• Drones are male and their only job is to mate with neighboring virgin queens. They usually only live 1-2 days, but “less successful” drones can live up to 58 days.
• The queen is the mother of the entire hive population. Her job is to lay eggs. In the early spring she lays up to 1,000 eggs/day.
• The average worker bee lives about 35 days. In reality, she lives about 5,000 miles of flying time.
• An egg takes 3 days to hatch into a larvae.
• The larvae grub sheds its skin 5 times, and consumes 1,300 meals a day during this process.
• 5 days after hatching, the larvae is now 1,500x larger than its egg.
• At around 5 days the larvae is capped with a papery beeswax and it forms a coccoon around itself.
• While inside its coccoon the bee forms its wings, eyes, legs, and hairy body.
• The worker bee emerges as an adult bee at 21 days.
• A new queen takes only 16 days to emerge.
• A drone takes 24 days.

Pests: Beehives are warm, dark, and sweet; which makes it a very desirable place for pests to come and stay.

Hive beetles, wax moths, mites, ants, spiders, wasps, and more will all like living in your hive.

There are lots of ways to take care of these pests, but we won’t go into that here in this Beekeeping 101 lesson.

Food: Your hive may need some supplimental nutrition in the early spring or sometime during the winter. There are commercial foods available for purchase, but you can also prepare a sugar/water syrup for your bees.

A general rule of thumb is to feed them 1 part sugar/1 part water to encourage the bees to build out comb. (This is a wonderful idea to do if you have just purchased a “package” of bees.

You can also feed them 1 part sugar/2 parts water and this will encourage egg laying.

If your bees are starving and it’s winter time, you can feed them 2 parts sugar/1 part water syrup to help them get through until the spring.

Some random tips I’ve learned:

• Always check your weather. If it’s going to rain tomorrow, your bees may be a little cranky today. Bees are very responsive to barrometric pressure changes.
• Don’t eat a bannana the morning of your inspection. A worker bees’ alarm pheromone smells a bit like banana, and you’ll find your bees may be more aggessive if you eat one.
• Lemon grass oil will attract honey bees to whatever it is on.
• If you have long hair, put it up.
• Make sure your phone isn’t inside your pocket, inside your beesuit. You may need your phone, so keep it in your beesuit’s pocket.
• The best time to inspect your hives is when the majority of your hive’s population is out working. Unfortuantly for you, this means the heat of the day. But trust me, if 20,000 bees are out of the hive, your job just got easier.

If you love bees, but don’t want to “keep” them yourself, there are lots of ways to stay involved. You can become a bee photographer, use your decorative painting talent to paint hives, make bath and beauty products with ingredients from the hive, make beeswax candles, become a bee advocate, and many, many more.

There is a life time of learning when it comes to beekeeping, but don’t let that overwhelm you! Check out your local beekeeping club, watch some Youtube videos, check out some beekeeping books from your library, and find a beekeeper friend. All of these, and some interest on your part, and I promise that YOU can be a successful beekeeper!