Beekeeping for Beginners Step By Step

If you’ve never kept bees before, you might be unsure where to begin. However, if you want to keep bees, this article will walk you through the entire process, from ordering the bees to selecting a hive to getting everything set up after they come.

1. Buy the Bees

It may seem unusual to order bees before gathering all of the necessary equipment for beekeeping, but it’s critical because most places don’t have bees for sale by the time spring arrives. Order your bees in January for delivery or pick-up in April or May.

2. Choose your hive system

In beekeeping, there are two main systems. The Langstroth hive, for example, is made up of boxes piled on top of each other, each housing frames on which the bees build their comb and store honey. To access the bees, extract honey, and complete maintenance activities, you pull the boxes out like drawers. If your hive requires more space, you can add boxes vertically.

A top-bar hive is one in which the bees’ frames are positioned horizontally rather than vertically. In this system, the bees build comb without using any foundation. Each comb and honey-filled bar is lifted out of the hive from the top.
You’ll have to decide which system is best for you. A Langstroth hive is used by most beekeepers.

3. Gather Beekeeping Supplies

Keeping bees necessitates an initial investment in materials. You’ll need to buy a hive once you’ve decided on the type, but you’ll also need some bee tools, protective clothes, and feeding supplies. Reading basic beekeeping books might also help you brush up on your beekeeping knowledge.

4. Introduce Bees to the Hive

Now comes the enjoyable part! Your bees have arrived, and it’s time to get them established in the hive. You must introduce the bees to their new home in a secure and comfortable manner. Then sit back and study the comings and goings while they settle in. What a blast!

5. Keep Your Bees Healthy and Happy

Bees require continual maintenance month after month, season after season. However, they do not necessitate a significant time commitment. You’ll have to check on them occasionally, but observation will make up a large part of what you’ll do to keep your bees happy. Simply watching hive activity can be both pleasant and educational. From spring beekeeping to honey harvesting to winter hive preparation, you can plan your beekeeping duties by season.

Bees provide a critical link in the maintenance of ecosystems, pollination. They play a major role in maintaining biodiversity, ensuring the survival of many plants, enhancing forest regeneration, providing sustainability and adaptation to climate change and improving the quality and quantity of agricultural production systems. In fact, close to 75 percent of the world’s crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators for sustained production, yield and quality. Beekeeping, also called apiculture, refers to all activities concerned with the practical management of social bee species.