A Complete Guide to Starting Your Own Beehive (A Step-by-Step Guide)

Beehiving is an activity that is becoming more popular because of the declining population of bees. Several years ago, the major reason for beehiving was to get honey as it was the main sweetener for drinks and food before cane sugar. Today, there are several benefits to starting your beehive, which include:

Serving as a therapeutic to relieve stress

Giving you a personal supply of honey

Keeping bees from going extinct.

Beekeeping is an activity that almost anyone can learn. If you're thinking about starting your beehive, but the process seems confusing for you, you've come to the right place. This guide will break down the steps to starting your own beehive. You'll also discover the following:

What to learn before attempting to start a beehive

Equipment to buy

How to select a beekeeping site

What bees to get

How to acquire and manage bees

Let's get started!

Step 1: Learn Everything You Can About Beehiving

To take care of bees, you have to educate yourself about everything related to the beekeeping basics. Perhaps the most important points to learn will be about the items you need to take care of bees and how to take care of them. Other crucial details you need to find out include:

Challenges associated with beehiving

State laws and restrictions guiding beehiving in your location

Types of bees

Honeybee social castes

How bees make honey

The most crucial of the points above will be discussed in this guide, but you may need to perform extensive research into all of them to fully arm yourself with information. There are several articles and books that offer more detailed information.

Step 2: Buy a Beehiving Starter Kit.

To start beehiving, you'll need the appropriate equipment and protective gear. You don't need to buy all of the equipment, especially if you're starting. Try to focus on the basic equipment below.

BeeHive

A beehive is where your bees are going to live, and this will determine the system by which you will care for them. As a beginner, you only need one hive, and as your beehive expands and grows, you can always get more if the need arises.

If you're trying to save money, we would suggest getting an unassembled beehive so you can put it together yourself. A fully assembled beehive will usually cost higher to purchase, and the shipping fee for moving it will also be in consideration. For a beginner, there are two main options to choose from when it comes to beehives:

1. Langstroth Hive: Another common name for this is the ten-frame hive. It's perhaps the most common beehive used in modern beekeeping. It has boxes on top of each other, each with frames where bees will build their comb and keep honey.

2. Top-bar Hive: This has bars arranged horizontally, and the bees will form their combs without any system foundation.

Protective Gear/Extracting Equipment

You wear this whenever you want to come in contact with the bees to protect yourself from stings. As you would expect, protective gear is compulsory for every beginner. These include:

Mesh helmet

Coverall with a zipper veil

Boots

Vented leather gloves

Hat

Basic Beekeeping Equipment

You'll use these in the day-to-day operations of taking care of the bees and managing them. Most of these items will be used in the hive inspection, cleaning, and honey extraction:

Bee Brush

Queen catcher

Bee Feeders

Hive tool

Frames and foundation

Queen excluder

Smoker

Step 3: Select a Site

You have to carefully select where to place your hive and care for your bees. Since bees will be flying to and away from the hive, it needs to be as far away from other people as possible. This is to make sure that people in the neighborhood don't get stung by your bees. So keep it far from your neighbors or any recreational spot. If possible, you can also elevate your hive as far up as you can. A rooftop hive is always a good idea.

Bees need nectar and pollen to survive so their availability should also be a criterion in selecting a location for your hive. Check for the flowers around any prospective beekeeping spot. Since bees will need to find water, an area not more than half a mile to a freshwater source is also ideal for a site. After erecting your hive, point it in the southeast or south direction, and the front should have a windbreaker for strong winds coming from the north and northwest.

Step 4: Acquire the Bees

After you have gotten all of the needed beekeeping equipment and resources, you can now get some bees for your hive. You have to select the race of bees you wish to purchase that will suit you as a beginner. You can ask for advice from a local beekeeping club on which race to get and how to get them, but generally, your considerations should include:

Temperament

Swarm rates

Production

Winter resilience

Geography

Disease

Some of the most common races suitable for beginners include:

Italian bees: These are the easiest bees to get access to in North America and other parts of the world. They are an excellent choice for beginners. They are also known to produce large amounts of nectar in short periods. They thrive better in areas with little or no harsh winters and the southern regions of America.

Carniolan bees: These bees are noticeably smaller than other races and are very calm, making them suitable for beginners. If you live in areas with extreme climatic conditions, this would be an excellent option.

The best way to buy your bees would be locally through a beekeeping club close to you. If you don't have any, you can always ship, but this comes with its disadvantages. The travel could kill some bees, and shipping costs associated are high. Irrespective of where you want to get the bees, make sure you place your order on time during the fall.

Step 5: Introduce the Bees to the Hive

After opening the package of bees, make sure you mist them in sugar water when they are still contained in the package. This should make the bees more comfortable as you transfer them into the hive. Take care to wet them gently and do not let them soak in the sugar water.

In moving your bees to the hive, the most important member of the colony to pay attention to is the queen. You should gently put the queen into the hive first and ensure she remains alive and healthy. Then you can add the other bees, and they will naturally start to get settled in the hive.

Step 6: Take Care of the Bees

After you have successfully put your bees in the hive, you have to start your daily care for them. Bees are very sensitive, so they need a lot of care and attention, especially during the first months of beehiving. Ensure they stay healthy and be aware of the varying factors that affect their health. There are three main tasks in keeping the bees healthy: monitoring pests, feeding the bees, and periodic inspection of the hive.

Monitoring the Pests

There are seasons of the year when you have to be extra vigilant for pests that might affect your bees - most notably the summer and spring. You have to keep checking the hive every week during this period for common issues like the varroa mite. Keep an eye out for pests because they could lead to the death of the hive.

Feeding the Bees

Naturally, bees will feed themselves and also work to keep nectar and pollen as they get used to the new hive. You can feed them a sugar-water mix, especially during the early months. Prepare this by mixing equal parts of water and granulated sugar, place it in the feeders of the hive when you have it ready. After a couple of weeks or months, if you notice they no longer drink the mix, you can stop feeding them the mixture.

Inspecting the Hives

You must keep checking the hives all through the year. A lot of the work in beehiving is observing and solving problems when they arise. At the beginning of the hive, you have to check the bees more frequently to get used to your colony. As you get more comfortable with your bees, you can reduce the frequency and check every two weeks. It would be best if you also were careful not to inspect the bees too much as it could stress them and disrupt their recovery process.

The steps in inspecting the hive include:

Checking the outside of the hive for any dirt

Cleaning all the poop in the hive

Removing all the ants in the hive

Checking the frames for eggs or larvae.

Step 7: Collect the Honey

Honey collection is the most rewarding part of beehiving and typically comes around in the fall, but you have access to the honey anytime. Take out the honeycombs from the hive and make cuts to release the honey. You can then use an extractor to separate the honey from the wax to create smooth and raw honey.

Now that you understand the steps to take in starting a beehive, you can also read in-depth and look for more resources based on the details of this guide. A good strategy will be to learn from other beekeepers around that are more experienced in the business. Their experiences will teach you what books cannot.