When I teach this segment at our beginning beekeepers school, the first part I like to talk about is the beekeeper's equipment.
The first thing that every beekeeper needs is a decent veil. You don't have to buy an expensive jacket or suit with a built in or zip on veil. But you need a reliable veil to take with you when you visit someone's yard or work your own bees. No matter what anyone says, do not work your bees without it. As you become more knowledgeable and experienced, you can make your own decisions on whether or not you need it. But to start with, you need it. Ballpark cost $25.00.
Second thing you'll need is a smoker. I prefer the bigger ones, since they seem to light easier and stay lit better. Ballpark cost $40.00
Fuel for your smoker can be just about anything that will burn that doesn't give off toxic fumes, but I like to buy the big bale of cedar pet bedding from the local big box store. It burns nicely, smells good and is coveniently packaged. $4.99 for the big bag. It should last you more than a year.
Third thing you have to have is a hive tool. Bees stick everything in a hive together with propolis. You'll need a hive tool. Buy one from a bee supply company for $7. Buy two if you get a good price.
After that, you really don't need any specialized equipment. Protective clothing can be bought at the local thrift store in the form of used/second-hand dockers and dress shirts, and you don't want to wear anything nice. Long pants, long sleeved shirts, yellow rubber dish gloves from the dollar store if you feel you need them. I suggest people wear work shoes. Garden boots. Something to protect your feet from falling hive bodies. You know, just in case you under estimate the weight of a hive body when you go to lift it...
The thing about protective clothing is this. 99% of us are afraid of bees at the start. If wearing all the gear will make you more at ease, then by all means, go for it. This is going to be your hobby. You need to enjoy it.
If you do decide on a full suit I suggest one size larger than your shirt size,don't make the same mistake i did.And now I can barely bend down to set down or pickup a hive or frames. Man forbid I ever drop my hive tool. I like that technique best one i've heard in a while.The Buy Beer or Beehives Honey.
Boxes are really pretty easy to build, frames not really difficult either. Those are both great things to work on over the winter. Depending on your local lumber yard, you can buy white pine boards ( I only build mediums ) 1x8x8 can run between 5 to 7.50 per board. 1 board will build a whole box. when you consider the cost of buying unassembled or otherwise plus shipping, you can likely save up to 75% off of buying these items.
after building my own boxes and frames, I tend to buy outer lids ( I don't succeed at metal working) queen excluder and screened bottom.
I also recommend a hat/veil, especially if you have longer hair. Bees WILL get caught in your hair and they don't like it. trust me on this.
If you ave the money to buy all your equipment, it must be nice. But, I think you will begin to appreciate the hives more and get a better understanding of your hives if you make as many of these things as you can on your own. Plus, you know exactly whats in your equipment and you might even save some $
Great thread. Validated some of my decisions and explained some of my mistakes. Thanks to everyone who shared and explained their ideas.
I was lucky enough to be given some clean equipment which kept costs down, but I had some of the same concerns expressed - an experienced keeper looked over my stuff and told me what to keep and what to sterilize, and what wasn't worth bothering with;burn it.
Paul
I started my two top bar hives for $242.00. A jacket with veil from Simpsons.
at www.simpsonsbeesupply.com.. The owner is a quadraplegic and his wife fills and ships the orders... timely and very nice people.
I did not buy a smoker and have never used one. No chemicals or antibiotics and the bees are very healthy. I use an old serrated bread knife as a tool and did buy a brush from Simpsons. Two hives and complete equipment for summmer= < $300.00. (www.customwoodkits.com) For those of you that are handy, they are easy to build and you could start much cheaper than that, using recycled wood.
I have been having a blast keeping these bees and anticipate my first honey next week, using the crush and strain method.
Top bar hives are lest costly, and less work, fun and suits my lifestyle. I did do this with no local mentor and no previous beekeeping experience. Joey at Custom Woodkits in Ga has mentored me via phone and internet, and now I am finding more people raising bees locally with the top bar hive. Its so easy its beautiful!!!
My brother inLaw is a tin bender/HVAC. boss so I get my tin cheap as it is scrapp so I get it for scrapp price.built my first outer cover last week. Turned out ok for a first timer I think, of course I built it wouldn't want to say anything bad about myself y'know. Oh got my suit from dadant very nice combo like i said before tight though, should have ordered a size bigger than i wear.Thats ok wouldn't hurt me to loose a few pounds.
For Warré vTBH beekeeping, download and read Abbé Warré's Beekeeping for All (L'Apiculture pour tous - 12ème édition si vous parlez français).
Get kitted up:
--------------
3-4 four-box Warré hives w/ bases, boxes, spare top bars & top cloths, quilt-boxes, roofs
bee suit or veil, rubber boots, bee gloves
smoker, burlap fuel & lighters
2x hive tools
2' Length of piano wire or tempered SS wire, on handles, for severing the odd bridge comb between boxes
10" carving knife for cutting comb attachments
small pen knife for comb cutting
soft closed-cell foam gardener's pad for kneeling
spearmint/peppermint breath mints or chewing gum to mask breath & confuse hive defenders
and optionally/later:
---------------------
duct tape
twine
honey press w/ fruit pressing bags
coarse and fine strainers
5-gallon buckets w/ honey gates
spray bottle filled with 1:1 white sugar syrup
Obtain package bees from local beekeeping club, learn the most common installation techniques.
I've found the ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping book for a wide variety of prices from $5 to $45 depending on the publication date... Is there a big difference between the 1960 or so version vs the 2007 version?
I'd like to add this to my bee 'library' but would hate to get something with outdated information.
After doing a bit of searching, I found the ABC XYZ of Beekeeping book is no longer copyrited... In fact, the Smithsonian scanned and uploaded the entire book here, downloadable for free. The book is 598 pages long and is the 1910 version: http://www.archive.org/details/abcxyzofbeecultu00root
You can get a PDF or text of the book, read it online, or download it to your Kindle.
Larry
----------snip------------------------
The ABC and XYZ of bee culture; a cyclopedia of everything pertaining to the care of the honey-bee; bees, hives, honey, implements, honey-plants, etc. .. (1910)
Author: Root, A. I. (Amos Ives), 1839-1923; Root, E. R. (Ernest Rob), 1862-1953
Subject: Bees
Publisher: Medina, Ohio, The A.I. Root Company
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: 39088002118610
Digitizing sponsor: Smithsonian
Book contributor: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Collection: biodiversity
Scanfactors: 49
Get the newest ABC's... with all the changes in the last 20 years, you owe it to yourself. Also I'd suggest the latest edition of "The Hive and the Honey Bee" as well. Now, what is interesting, is as time and funds allow, get earlier editions, because looking at the pictures as well as reading the articles is fun!
In addition, of course, as you've already discovered, read these forums! :applause:
Regards,
Steven
I've bought used hives and repainting is a must,, is there a particular paint I should not use and should I prime the boxes first.. I asked about painting in the welcome thread but no one gave me any direct information, dont want to use anything that would harm the bees..really really new to this.. please help.
ok thanks when I get all the equipment on my list that didnt come in this package deal I'll get back with ya on the dippin and drippin..initial start up for me gonna be HONEY WHERE"D ALL MY MONEY GO ... lol
Has anyone mentioned that if you are going to feed -- and you WILL want to feed -- you need an extra hive body to put the feeder in. An extra hive body for each hive is best. It doesn't matter if you are using a special feeder insert, a bucket, or a collection of smaller jars, they really work best when inside an extra box.
Some people buy a fancy feeder that comes in its own box, which is fine if you're into recreational shopping. Some people use one of those entrance feeders which is a bad idea (my opinion). Some people try to do exterior feeding which is probably best left to experienced beeks.
I Like to use 3 widemouth quart jars with little tiny holes poked in the lid set on top of 3/4x1/2X about 18" long. I set the wood on top of the inner cover from front to back like railroad ties close enough together for the jars to sit on lids down.spread from fronnt to back running right over the center hole.Then I put on a deep box than the outer cover. Note I do use plywood inner covers not the cheep crap that saggs.
I found it simple enough to use gallon ziplock bags in a empty super on top for feeding. Once you have it placed just poke it with a few slits using a box cutter. The nice thing is that the bag remains air free while its in use so the syrup keeps well.
I am in kinda the same boat where I am just getting in to this and I was looking at the kits and what I found is while they seem like a great deal, and some are, most seem to have bits and pieces that are either not needed or lower quality. It really depends on the company you are looking at. I personally found that I could put together my own "kit" for the same or less and get exactly what I wanted. You just have to shop around.
I just bought my first hives/equipment and ended up going with a kit because in the end it seemed the cheapest (but not by a lot) route. Building my own was not going to be an option. I wanted two hives to start and I found that by selecting a kit intended for one hive and supplementing it a la carte I could create two hives. It was a bit cheaper to go that route than to buy a la carte all the parts I would need for the same two hives. The only thing it included that I did not want was an excluder; I did not buy one for the second hive. But I figured that was probably a good thing to have on hand, even if I didn't plan to use it. Oh, it also had smoker fuel, which I wouldn't have purchased otherwise. But the equipment was minimal: veil, gloves, hive tool, smoker. I didn't buy any additional equipment, though I'm now thinking I maybe should have gotten a brush.
It took me over a year to decide because every time I was sure of what I wanted, I would hear/read something that changed my mind. I finally decided I just had to go for it and accept that in the end I'd simply spend some time thinking 'I should have bought ___ instead.' (In fact, in the end the decision of what kind of hive to start with -- I wanted either Langstroth or TB -- was decided by the fact that I am able to buy a nuc locally, which was much more attractive to me than shipping in.)
Also, I had to get the ball rolling because I contacted my county P&Z to check out any local regulations and I was told they were currently working on language for a code that would limit beekeeping and likely would include getting a special use permit for any number of hives. As it was, they said I could only do one or two without contacting them again and I can not sell any product (not that I planned that, but...). I wanted to be sure I got set up before they get a code in place so I would be grandfathered in.
Sometimes you just have to go for it and hope for the best!
You are so right, papa bear! Attitude is important. Be crazy, but don't be stupid. Popping a lid might seem crazy to most folks, but not wearing a veil to do it is just plain stupid. A little smoke helps.
A veil, this can be mosquito netting from a sporting goods store with a full brimmed hat.
Bee jacket, or a long sleeve jacket. Can also use painter's coveralls.
Gloves of some kind. Latex or Dish washing gloves will work. Gloves can be tapped to sleeves to stop bees from crawling under them.
A Smoker. You can burn most things in it, sticks, dry grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, clean rags.
Hive tool. This is just a flat pry bar/scrapper you can find in a hardware store.
Hive stand of some kind, 2x4s, 4x4s, bricks, cinder blocks.
Bottom board, solid or screened.
Hive bodies, two deeps or 3 mediums.
Feeder. Hive top feeder, or a container with small holes punched in it placed over the inner cover or division board with a empty supper placed over it.
Hive cover. Either a migratory cover ( flat sheet of ply wood) or an Inner cover and Telescoping cover.
"I didn't buy any additional equipment, though I'm now thinking I maybe should have gotten a brush."
A turkey or goose wing feather works well too, except the bird may object; I found mine on the ground while walking around.
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