How to Start Beekeeping

Many beginning beekeepers will quit after only one or two seasons for varied reasons, but commonly, as with many new pursuits, there are high expectations combined with not enough information.

While beekeeping can be a rewarding pursuit as a hobby or a business, it does come with challenges, like investment of time and money, worries about pests, hive collapse and mortality along with many others.

The best way to start beekeeping is to arm yourself with information, and this post (and this blog 🙂 ) can be a great source for educating yourself to get the best start as a beekeeper.

In this article you will find the list of steps in order that you’ll need to follow if you want to know how to start beekeeping.

Step 1-Educate Yourself

An education in beekeeping doesn’t mean you have to know everything there is to know about beekeeping before you can start, but you should learn the basics.

I think a lot of times, we hesitate to try something new because we are afraid that we don’t know enough. But much of learning comes with doing, so don’t let fear of not knowing enough keep you from starting.

Luckily, you’re already in the right place for learning all about how to keep bees!

Another important part of educating yourself is finding a local source of information. You can find a list of local beekeeping suppliers here. Local suppliers can often be mentors and a resource for the equipment and the bees that work best in your local area. Most states have one or more beekeeping associations which are either free or inexpensive to join.

Local beekeeping mentors, whatever the type, will help you to know about the different pests and environments in your area.

You’ll find there are a number of fantastic books on beekeeping. Here are a few of them:

Beekeeping for Beginners

The Beekeepers Bible

The Backyard Beekeeper (spiral bound-yay!)

There is also an endless supply of beekeeping information online with YouTube, blogs, and online forums.

Step 2-Make a List of Equipment

You’ve done your research and learned all kinds of things about how to start beekeeping. Now you will decide which tools and equipment are must haves (including bees!) and make a list of these things.

Then, you will also list items you would like to have, but that aren’t absolute necessities and you might be able to get them later on if they are out of your budget to start out.

Beekeeper's smoker billowing smoke

Step 3-Create Your Budget

Beekeeping is not the least expensive hobby to get started with, and the costs can vary depending on where you are located. Online estimates range from $600-$1000 to purchase the basic equipment you will need.

After you figure out how much things are going to cost, you need to calculate how much you have available to spend. Steps 2 and 3 can be interchangeable, one doesn’t go without the other.

With your list of needed tools and supplies, you can formulate an estimate of the total cost of everything and decide whether or not you are ready to start beekeeping or whether you need to save up before making the investment. Keep in mind that even if you can’t afford everything right now, you can keep learning about the ins and outs of beekeeping while you are saving up.

The great thing about gathering information in steps 1 and 2 is that it doesn’t cost anything and it will help you to figure out how much you will need to put away each month or week so that you can begin your beekeeping journey ready for success with no deficits in education or money that can lead to some of the problems we went over in the beginning of this article.

Step 4-Decide Where to Keep Your Beehive

The first thing you will need to do before you draw out your map or plant certain plants or find that super cute antique bed frame to park your new beehives on is to find the appropriate place to keep your beehive.

Multiple colorful beehives in a field

The first priority in finding the right place is to check on local regulations and make sure it is legal to keep bees in the area you want to use. Your local beekeeping association is a great place to start, as well as the Apiary Inspectors of America website link here https://apiaryinspectors.org/state-laws/, where you can find a list of each state and links to their respective laws and regulations.

Just because you are literally allowed to put a hive somewhere doesn’t mean it’s the best placement. Be aware of pedestrian traffic in the area and heavy use areas of your friends, family, neighbors and animals. You won’t want to place the entrance of the hive pointing toward any of these areas.

Now that you think you might have the right location for the hive, that won’t disturb anyone, (including yourself due to your smart planning and avoiding problems with neighbors), you can think about placement. You’ll want to consider the following:

Step 5-Order Your Hive

The Langstroth hive is the classic and most used beehive today. The Flow Hive is a newer style hive that costs a lot more than the Langstroth, but has its benefits in making honey removal easier. There are pros and cons to both products. There are also other types of hives. You’ll need to decide for yourself what will suit your needs, and your budget.

Note, sometimes you can find beautiful, cute, architecturally sophisticated hives at a garden store or online that will say they are appropriate for bees. And the product might even claim that you don’t have to worry about tending the bees at all. Please avoid these types of hives if you want to keep honey bees that will stick around and produce honey. 

There are lots of different types of pollinators, including native bees, which do live in different types of homes or hives, and that don’t require traditional beekeeping. Those aren’t the types of bees we are talking about in this article. 

Please don’t lose your money on bees that will fly away or die because of the inappropriate hive you purchased that is basically a pretty yard ornament. Of course, you won’t have this problem, because you have armed yourself with knowledge–you are here after all. 🙂

Set Up Your Hive

You want to get your hive, put it together and set it up before you receive or pick up your bees. You do not want to pick up your hive (especially if you are a beginner beekeeper) and bees at the same time. You don’t know how long it will take you to get the hive set up, making sure it’s level and in just the right spot. Your bees can suffer if you can’t get them installed in a timely manner.

Step 6-Order Your Bees

There are so many types of honey bees, and not all of them will be suitable for certain climates.
When you buy bees from local suppliers, you are getting the bees best suited for your local environment.

If you don’t have access to local bees, you can purchase them online. Back in the research phase of your plan, you will have discovered the different types of bees you can buy. Italian bees are probably the most common in North America, but there are so many others that have been bred for certain characteristics like heat tolerance, cold tolerance, ability to withstand humidity and Varroa mite resistance, just to name a few.

Step 7-Purchase Tools, Equipment, and Protective Clothing

Before I show you the list, I want to address the elephant sized bee in the room. Every beekeeper I’ve heard or seen has said, “You will get stung.” Now, in other articles, you can read more about that, but I just mention it here to emphasize the importance of wearing protective gear along with using the right tools, and paying attention to what the bees are telling you with their behavior.

Having said all that, here is a suggested list of beekeeping equipment for a beginner beekeeper:

Additional Equipment

This is a list of the basics. You could also go with a starter kit. Here is a popular one:

I would also like to suggest you set up your record keeping before you start beekeeping. Here is a link to our Beehive Inspection Sheet.

Many beekeepers order their honey bees and queen bees in December and January. Receiving delivery of the bees is best as early as is safe in the season. You’ll want to get a jump on the foraging season, but you certainly want to wait until it’s safest and healthiest for the bees.

Step 8-Install Your Bees

Nuc versus Package bees
There are two main ways to buy bees. There are nuc-short for nucleus and pronounced like nuke, and there are package bees.

Nucleus Colony
A nucleus colony is a mini beehive equipped with a small number of frames with bees and a queen who has already been accepted and is laying eggs.

Package Bees
Package bees mimic a natural or wild bee colony where there is a young queen in her own cage, surrounded by about three pounds of worker bees. There will typically be a can of sugar syrup so that the bees can feed on it during transportation.

You can also buy individual mated queens throughout the summer if they are in stock.

Step 9-Take Care of Your Bees

Hive inspections are an extremely important part of beehive management. Get yourself a great hive inspection checklist like this one and perform hive inspections as often as needed–this will vary with the seasons. For help on what to look for during a hive inspection and how to do a hive inspection, check out this post.

Once you perform your inspections, you will have a list of things that need to be done and you will gain experience in getting to know your honey bee colony. Each hive is different and will perform depending on the environment, your work as a beekeeper and the variety or race of bee in the hive.

Of course, most of your work will be done during the spring and summer seasons, but there is much work to be done in the fall and winter, although the tasks may vary.

Step 10-Revisit Your Plans

Use what you’ve learned to make a plan. Now that you’ve been tending bees, you’ve gained on the job beekeeping experience and training. But, just because it’s winter time and the bees are in their winter cluster, your work hasn’t finished!

Winter is a great time to make plans for the next busy beekeeping season and to decide what you still need to learn. Use our beekeeping calendar and monthly guide to help you plan your entire year and find topics that you’d like to learn more about.

Conclusion

If you follow the steps in this guide, not only will you learn how to start beekeeping, you’ll also have a much easier time and higher chance of success of getting your bees through the first year. Remember to keep learning all the time, and you and your bees will bee happy and reap the benefits of a great honey harvest next season and in seasons to come.

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