# Planning on getting bee set up- what would you do?



## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

We are planning on getting bees this next spring- for now reading Beekeeping for Dummies and another bee book by the bee guy at the University of Georgia. In starting, would you order the beginners pkgs offered- or get it piece by piece? Would the savings be worth it? Also, there is a business that sells equiptment 3 hours away, where I'm thinking we will have to go to get the queen- would it be better to just go locally for support , or just order over the internet? Looking at the beginners kit from Glorybee- about $250 for it. 
What would you do if you were just starting out?


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## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

First, continue reading everything you can get your hands on. Check your library for books & videos on beekeeping. There are several good online sites; two that I highly recommend are:
Michael Bush's site for info covering everything: 
http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
David Burns has nearly 80 beekeeping lessons online:
http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/2007/09/lesson-one-in-beekeeping-introduction.html

Second, if you can, get involved with a beekeeping club. Clubs are great for finding mentors and getting connected with nearby beekeepers. Much of beekeeping is "location specific", so knowing local beeks will be of great help in learning how best to keep bees in your area. Plus, clubs often offer beginning beekeeping classes. 
http://www.wasba.org/local.htm
http://www.inlandbeemail.com/

Third, regarding beginner's kits - the biggest issue I have with them is they tend toward "one size fits all", which often doesn't fit well. A few basics: the boxes in a bee hive come in different sizes - deep, medium and shallow. Traditional boxes have 10 frames, but smaller 8 frame boxes are becoming increasingly popular. It's all about weight. A full deep can weigh 80-90 lbs, which is more than many folks care to lift, so many beekeepers are opting for 8-frame equipment, or all medium boxes, or even all shallow boxes. On the link above for Michael Bush, read the section on "Lighter Beekeeping" for more info. Another consideration is what works best in your area. No matter what, you're going to need more than the single box in the GloryBee kit.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Not a fan of starter kits my self. Just to much stuff I feel are not needed or going to be used. Also a whole bunch of stuff that is needed and not included in most starter kits.

Here is what one year of bee keeping in the north here is needed.









The Growing Apiary Kit:

â¢ 2 9 5/8â (24.45 cm) Assembled 10 Frame Hive Bodies 
â¢ 2 6 5/8â (16.83 cm) Assembled 10 Frame Supers, *possiably not needed the first year *â¢20 9 1/8â (23.18 cm) Assembled #1 Frames 
â¢20 8 1/2â (21.59 cm) Waxed Rite-CellÂ® Foundation 
â¢20 6 1/4â (15.88 cm) Assembled #1 Frames 
â¢20 5 5/8â (14.29 cm) Waxed Rite-CellÂ® Foundation 
â¢1 Assembled Telescoping Cover 
â¢1 Assembled Inner Cover 
â¢1 Assembled Bottom Board 
â¢1 Entrance Reducer 
â¢1 Unassembled Cedar Hive Stand 

The Clothing Starter Kit:
Not a fan of bee suits my self, many bee keepers I know do not wear one either, just to hot in the summer.

*â¢1 Cotton/Poly Coverall With Attached Zipper Veil
(you will be asked to state your size when ordering)* 
â¢1 Mesh Helmet 
â¢1 Pair Vented Leather Gloves
(you will be asked to state your size when ordering) 
Plus These Additional Items: 

â¢1 Pro-FeederÂ® w/Float 
*â¢1 Metal Queen Excluder, Many do not use these either. *
â¢1 4â x 7â Stainless Steel Smoker w/Guard 
*â¢1 Package Smoker Fuel, lots of things to use in the smoker just laying about the yard. *â¢1
10â Hive Tool 
â¢1 Bee Brush 
â¢1 Beekeeperâs Handbook 

Join a club, plan on orderingh your bees in Jan or Feb to make sure you can get a couple of packages or nucs.

 Al


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Thank you so much! Talking with a local bee keeper today about the location specific info- and Al, appreciate that northern list. The lighter plan by Bush seems like a good way to go... thanks Indypartridge for those excellent links!


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

If I had to do it all over again, I'd get everything in the same size. Wish I hadn't gotten the deep hive bodies as I can't lift them when they're full. I like the Illinois supers and I'd probably go with 8-frames for ease in lifting. This way everything is interchangeable!
Catherine


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I just bought beehives the first time around and started working in them. One afternoon told me the equipment I was missing so I sat back down with the catalog and by the second week I had the other components.

I think it's better to just begin, but I'd certainly check with other local beekeeps in your area. They know quite a bit and are a great resource. Plus you'll find that you can't find enough people as it is to talk about your bees with.


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## bbbuddy (Jul 29, 2002)

I made 2 top bar hives from a leftover sheet of plywood and some 1x12 plank.

Two 3lb packages @ $65 each and shipping, 1 bee jacket, 1 smoker. Use a bread knife since the hive tool did not get shipped, works fine. Have a bee brush, but have not used it.

Total investment ~ $260.00


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

OK people ya got to use your noddle, :boring: for some thing besides a hat rest, a place to keep your eyes, something to spread your ears apart :smiley-laughing013:.

I keep hearing this weight thing. 
(1.* You don't lift full deep hive bodies except on VERY VERY rare occations*.
You heft them in the fall and through out the winter to judge how much honey they have stored. Key word is heft.
The weight savings between a 8 frame deep and a 10 frame deep is only about 10 pounds and you have hive bodies that will be nearly impossiable to trade with another local bee keeper. I belong to 3 clubs and can not name one of the members with 8 frame equipment.

I tried the 3 mediums as brood boxes. What a pain in the Kester. Every time you do an inspection you have 30 frames to look thru if you want to actully see the queen. She is for ever on frame number 30.

(2. Honey supers are what you lift. Go with shallows if you are worried about the weight but even then they are not all that light. Better to just lift a half box at a time if you worry about the weight.

:grin: Al


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## littlebitfarm (Mar 21, 2005)

Check out the free shipping months that some of the bee supply places have. I got 500 pounds of stuff shipped free last December.

Kathie


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## Cascade Failure (Jan 30, 2007)

If you are handy, building some of the pieces will save some cash.


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## farmerjohn (Jun 11, 2010)

Looks like the upcoming issue of Grit Magazine will have an article on beekeeping. I just did an online survey on the ideal cover for that issue and it shows a row of hives that look to be all home made hives. Looks pretty smart out there in that green field. Hope it includes info on making those hives. 

Go to the local chapter meetings if you can and many have additional equipment or are getting out of beekeeping and you can get some hives that way. Around here I can buy a full hive for less than a beginners kit. Hive is established and is at "home" already to go. They run around 200.00. All you really need is gloves and a nice hat with veil or the veil for the one who wears a ball cap all of the time. A smoker and a few other items and is allot less than kits. A beginners kit with all of the bells and whistles runs 390.00 in one supplier's catalog plus freight. Put a "shout out" on Craig's List in your area and someone may have just what you are looking for and they might have been trying to decide what to do with it all. Another good resource is the local 4-H office and local property auctioneers. I have heard and seen where hives were part of a property and because no one knew what to do with the hives just let them go and die out and the hives to rot away. Also post a "wanted Ad" at the local coffe shop for farmers and etc. Good Luck.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

Lifting a 90 pound box that is glued down to the box below it even after you pry it loose, means sometimes you are lifting 180 pounds... you don't have to do it very often. Once will mess you up for a week if you are lucky. Forever if you are not. I found I was lifting them much more often than "on very rare occasion" and always regretted it. I have met many a person who was frustrated because they couldn't pick up the box and the bees would frighten them when moving one frame at a time to another box. As for finding queens, after a day of looking for queens on deeps in a friends beeyard I couldn't figure out why my wrist was so sore until I was looking for them in my hives the next day and remember how heavy the deep frames were. I'd rather look for a queen on mediums any day, and I do look for queens all the time on mediums, when rearing queens, I do it every day many times a day.

"...no man's back is unbreakable and even beekeepers grow older. When full, a mere shallow super is heavy, weighing forty pounds or more. Deep supers, when filled, are ponderous beyond practical limit."--Richard Taylor, The Joys of Beekeeping


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

:umno: If you feel that lifting a deep frame is to much when you only need to do 20 frames to go thru all the frames in a hive to find a queen, just think of having to do 30 frames that weigh at best a pound less each than a deep frame. 

If a little work lifting a deep frame is so much work may be one should stick to some thing that weighs less like ears of sweet corn or tomatos and leave the bees to those who don't find it so much work.


 Al


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

alleyyooper said:


> :umno: If you feel that lifting a deep frame is to much when you only need to do 20 frames to go thru all the frames in a hive to find a queen, just think of having to do 30 frames that weigh at best a pound less each than a deep frame.
> 
> If a little work lifting a deep frame is so much work may be one should stick to some thing that weighs less like ears of sweet corn or tomatos and leave the bees to those who don't find it so much work.
> 
> ...


For us the reasoning behind not using deeps is that any frame that is not currently in use can be put into any box and used in a super. We work with all medium boxes. makes it easier when replacing to have only one size to get.


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