Getting Started
Beginning Beekeeping Equipment List
Assume $400.00 - $500.00 to start.
You can save $$ by capturing a swarm of free bees or joining LCBA & getting bees by participating in a carve-out (see our Swarm Capture & Colony Removals page); you can also buy used equipment, but be careful - find out why the beekeeper is selling gear. Disease spores can linger in equipment for many years. If buying used woodenware, it's wise to flame it with a propane torch or to scrub it in bleach solution.
- 5-Langstroth 10 Frame Medium Boxes-Commercial, Unassembled & 50- Med frames +Wax Foundation-Unassembled.
(Alternative: 2 Langstroth 10 frame Deep Boxes & 20 deep frames, plus 2 Langstroth 10 frame Medium Deep Boxes & 20 medium frames – commercial, unassembled. Some beekeepers prefer the efficiency of using 2 deeps instead of 3 mediums for brood boxes; others prefer lighter weight of medium brood boxes. Unassembled boxes should be primed & painted with non-latex paint.)
- Screened bottom board with slider board
- Entrance reducer
- Inner cover for 10 Frame Hive
- Telescoping cover/sheet metal covered for 10 Frame hive
- Queen Excluder (disputed; many beekeepers do not use these
- Boardman Feeder (or other feeder type)
- Hive tool
- Stainless Steel Frame Holder
- Smoker &/OR sugar/water spray bottle
- Bee brush
- Bee Jacket
- 1-Pair gloves
- Pure Cane Sugar for fall & winter feeding
- Beekeeping for Dummies (Blackiston) or comparable beginner’s book
- And…..Bees [3 lb. package or nuc; if you are lucky, though, you may be able to catch a swarm for free.
Background Reading
BEEKEEPING BASICS: Click here to download a free PDF file of MAAREC's excellent handbook.
Howland Blackiston, Beekeeping for Dummies, 3rd edition. New Jersey: Wiley Publishers, Inc., 2015. Like other "Dummies" books, Blackiston's is clearly written, easy to follow, & has helpful diagrams & illustrations.
Dr. Dewey Caron, Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping. With Larry Connor. Wicwas Press: revised 2013 with color photographs.
Keith S. Delaplane, First Lessons in Beekeeping. Dadant & Sons, 2007. Dr. Delaplane, University of Georgia entomologist, has also produced a series of helpful videos with the same title.
Choose your apiary location carefully
- Bees need nearby forage.
- Bees benefit from early sunlight - so face the hives east or southeast. However--
- Bees need shelter from wind, so don't put them on top of a hill, or face hives into prevailing winds that can blow rain into the hive. It's better to violate the "directional rule" than to risk regularly exposing your colony entrance to rough weather.
- Excessive moisture can promote fungus growing inside hives, so avoid putting bees in a hollow where cold air and water pool up.
- Many beekeepers choose to put roofing over their hives to keep driving rain from directly pelting them & to give bees the chance to do cleansing flights during rainy weather; others put corrugated plastic over hives in winter to help.
