I'm New to Beekeeping.... Where do I Start?

    I get this question asked to me many times a year. So I thought I would make up a page to help answer this question.

    I have been keeping bees for a long time now and one of the first things I would suggest to a novice beekeeper is to READ....READ....READ! The more you know about bees the better you will do. Now reading won’t answer all of your questions and it won’t make you a beekeeper right out of the box but it will give you a lot of information that will help you when you get started. A great book to start out with is Beekeeping for Dummies! Yea... that’s right they even make a dummies book for beekeepers! Sounds funny but it is one of the best books I've read. It makes the information very easy to understand. Also the internet is loaded with information on beekeeping. Google beekeeping and start reading! 

    The next thing I would suggest would be to join a club. There are clubs all around the state for a beekeeper to join and these clubs have wonderful meetings. The memberships range from novice beekeepers to commercial beekeepers. The meetings are an hour long and cover all sorts of information depending on the time of year. One thing about beekeepers is they love to help one another!

    Several of the clubs and other places have a beginning beekeepers course that starts in February or March. That is a great place for a novice beekeeper to go to get a look at beekeeping. Also look for a beekeeper close to you. Most beekeepers love to show off their bees.... I do! When the weather is right most beekeepers would love to meet with you and talk bees and take you into a hive to show you around. Just beware..... WE LOVE TO TALK BEES! When I get talking bees..... I will talk your ears off!

    Alright, now that we have that part covered. What do you need? Well the bees of course. Where do you get them you might ask? There is several ways to get bees. First... is to find a swarm of bees and catch them. Swarms are getting harder and harder to find but they are out there. Second... a package of bees can be bought from bee suppliers. These are three pounds of bees and a queen in a cage that you pour into your hive. Third... NUCS. This is the method I like the most for novice beekeepers because it’s the easiest to work with. A NUC is 4 frames of drawn comb. Three of the frames have mixed brood from eggs to emerging bees. The other frame is honey to feed the bees. The NUC will also have a young (that year) queen that is already running that colonies. The down side to a NUC is that most will be pick-up only. The bees need to be ordered early due to such high demand for bees, most of the bee suppliers will book up pretty fast!

    Now that you have your reading done and your bees ordered you are gonna need some equipment to work with. Well the first thing you are gonna need is something to put the bees in. That is called the hive. The hive is a wooden box with frames and foundation inside for the bees to pull wax comb out on so the queen can lay her eggs and the bees can store nectar and honey! The hive also has a bottom board and a top. A hive tool to open the top and take out frames..... the bees stick everything down. A veil to protect your face from getting stung..... nothing like getting stung on the tip of your nose unless the get up your britches!! It feels like you just got punched. And you will need a pair of gloves. Some beekeepers were them and some don’t. The next thing you will need will be supers. Most supers are a little smaller then the hive in height. This will be were the bees will store there honey for you to take and enjoy!

    Now that you have read about beekeeping and found your bees and got your equipment..... It’s time to enjoy your bees and do some more reading! This is just a quick talk about where to start and what you need to get started. If you have any questions.... and I’m sure you will just give me a call at 404.372.8295 and I would love to talk bees with you. But if I don’t answer the phone just leave a message and I will return your call most of the time I’m out with my bees!