Beekeeper Supplies

November 20th, 2010 |

Prior to taking delivery of bees, you need to start getting things ready and that includes getting the right beekeeper supplies. To prevent diseases from other bee hives from infecting your new hive, it’s highly recommended that you purchase new beekeeper supplies instead of buying used.

Beekeeper Supplies for the Bees

- Hive – There are many different types of beehives, and choosing one will be largely influenced by whether or not you intend to do beekeeping as a business or hobby as well as your decision to purchase at beehive or build your own. If you’re going to build your own beehive you can find a lot of different plans on the internet – just make sure the plans contain step-by-step instructions, diagrams or pictures, and contact information should you need further support. Tip – to make collecting the honey easier, put a wax foundation in.

- Sugar Syrup – While bees usually find their own food, there are times when food is scarce. It is recommended to supplement with sugar syrup. It will help to eliminate starving.

- Feeder – A feeder is used to feed the bees syrup. A top feeder will hold several gallons of syrup. There is a screen to prevent the bees from drowning. Make sure the cover fits tightly. This will prevent bees from other colonies from robbing the syrup.

Supplies for the Beekeeper

- Personal Protective Equipment or PPE – PPE is critical to your safety. It includes a beekeeper hat, a beekeeper veil, a beekeeping suit, and gloves. Some consider the gloves optional, as bees usually sting the face and neck the most. It’s also important that the beekeeper suit is white as bees often associate darker colors with creditors (think bear).

- Smoker – This is not the type that the Surgeon General provides warnings for, it’s a small tool designed to blow smoke at the bees to calm them down. How does this work? Well guard bees produce and release pheromones when the hive is under attack. The smoke masks these pheromones allowing the beekeeper to get into the hive and work. Smokers burn a variety of fuels.

- Honey Extractor – To handle the honey you’ll need a honey extractor and a container to hold the honey. Honey extractor is allow you to remove the honey from the honeycomb without damaging it.

- Hive Tool – This tool opens the hives. It scrapes wax and propolis and pries the frames apart.

How to Purchase Bees

To reduce the likelihood of introducing foreign diseases, a local beekeeper is a great source to purchase your bees. As an added bonus, these bees will be acclimatized to the weather and seasonal conditions in your area.

normally you have two options to buy bees. The first method is to purchase them as a package, which is not recommended, as the bees are usually assembled from several different hives and a queen bee is added. Not only is this stressful, but increases the chance of disease. A better alternative is to purchase a Nuc hive.

A Nuc hive is similar to a regular hive, except that it is a smaller version. Bees are just split off from the same larger hive, which will include five frames of honey, brood, and pollen. This supply will help give them a head start in the spring without forcing them to go out to find their food source immediately. It is also important to claim your bees during the winter months. You can do this by putting a down payment on them. Bees will be hard to get if you wait until spring.

And that’s it! Once you have the basic beekeeping supplies, you’re ready to go buy your very first swarm of bees.

About the Author

Get your free 10-lesson beekeeping mini-course and learn more about beekeeper supplies and other beekeeping resources? Just visit Jeff Morgan’s beekeeping site .