Essential items

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johnnie1uk

New Bee
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
77
Reaction score
0
Location
Steeple Langford
Hive Type
Langstroth
Number of Hives
4
Hi Everyone
What in your opinion are the essential items I should have before I get my bees? I am going to start with 1 Langstroth basic hive.
 
Would that be a complete suit or would a jacket with hat and vial be ok

I'd go for a full suit .. and wellies ... gives you a bit of bomb proof confidence .. a bee up your trouser leg or in that gap between trousers and t-shirt can be an interesting experience ! Buy the best you can afford ... the really cheap ones don't last ... there's plenty of threads on here about which suits are good.

My advice ... get a good bee book before you get the bees and read it ... then read it again and again and again ... even then you won't know enough. The Haynes Manual of Beekeeping is an easy read, or Bees at the Bottom of the Garden ... you'll grow out of them and then later on Hooper is every beekeeper's essential bookshelf tome.
 
Would that be a complete suit or would a jacket with hat and vial be ok
Beekeeping in the uk as a beginner I would say a complete suit for confidence but in warmer climates you are hindered by such enclosed suits, a round hat type would be a lot cooler than the hoodie style.
 
Definitely a warmer climate here, so if I just had a half suit I would need to wear wellies with jeans well tucked in!
 
What about other essential things, should I have a spare super, extra frames handy, a nucleus hive or can I hang on a bit for those things?
 
A yellow car and yellow sheets so SWMBO can't see the bee poo
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Hive tool if not mentioned.
Membership of a local association!
 
At least 2 hives & 6 supers.

To explain - for a single colony you need a hive and a spare hive (for swarm prevention purposes).
Your bees may well be so prolific (most are, but Spain - I don't know) as to need more than a single basic Langstroth 'medium' box as a brood volume. Two medium boxes or a single jumbo is more likely.
You can do swarm prevention (sometimes! - but probably not from a double-brood colony) with just a nuc box, but you are going to need another brood box to recombine them - the nuc won't stack with the rest of the hive, hence the second hive using an identical brood box rather than a nuc as the 'first spare'..

With one colony, you are vulnerable to beginners' mistakes terminating your colony (unless you go begging to a friendly and reliable local beekeeper running similar hives (thus frames). Two colonies is the sustainable minimum; you should aim to get there as soon as possible.

Supers. A hive can quite feasibly need 4 (more if you are very lucky) supers at the same time. If they get full, you are going to need to extract some (early) and return them for a refill. But while they are off the hive, you need to still give the bees some space, hence extra supers are worthwhile.

As the number of your colonies increase, the amount of spare equipment 'cover' becomes proportionally less. But it is essentially 100% spare with one hive.

Spare brood boxes and supers aren't any real use without frames to fill them. If you wanted to keep one super empty for now so that you could use it as a feeder eke etc, that's fine - until it is the only spare super you have!
Your principal hive could do with a queen excluder (for your sanity), a syrup feeder of some sort, and likely some winter protection - whether from mice, woodpeckers (and other birds) or bears!

You need a suit, wellies, washing-up gloves, smoker (and some sort of fuel), a hive tool (or two), washing soda (be careful with the spanish translation of that), a couple of buckets with lids and from then on its personal preference additions (like a water mister) or things you don't need yet (like honey containers, and queen-marking cages) or things you hope you can borrow/hire rather than buy for yourself (notably a centrifugal honey extractor).
There's quite a lot of kit going to needed, if not on day 1, then before the end of year 1.

And you need to read some good tutorial books by different authors - and get in among some bees, (and ideally stung) - before you buy anything financially significant.
 
Last edited:
smoker
hive tool
beesuit
spare hive complete(for swarm prevention/control)
2-5 supers
a ability to borrow an extractor
a mentor if you can get one.
gloves (if wanted)
a help phone number(ie got cells what do i do?etc)
queen excluder for the hive

idealy 2 hives to fix problems in either

nice to haves are
nuc box or two
out apiary 3 miles away
proper stands(saves back)
queen marking clipping kit
as much knowdlege as you can get.
your own small extractor
jars and honey buckets
a label
the list goes on->>>>
 
Thanks fo4r all the feedback, that's brilliant, am writing down my list and getting into some serious reading.
 
Well, im reading plenty, I ve just started "Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee" by L. L. Langstroth 1853 and it makes fascinating reading.
 
Great lists from everyone.
My favourite buy is the polycarbonate quilt so I can see what's going on before opening up .
Also after using cheap gloves and getting stung through them, I invested in some leather gauntlets and I wouldn't be without these now.

Wellies are essential even on a hot day!

All the best.
 
hola,
did you manage to find any beekeeping kit in your local area ?
 
Would that be a complete suit or would a jacket with hat and vial be ok

I started in 2010 with a jacket and fencing veil only. Still have nothing else.

Boots/trainers and no gloves..

On good days I don't use it. On very good days, shorts and T shirt.

If you need a full suit, you need better bees is my view.

My sting count since starting is c 230. 8 YTD. I am (now) virtually immune to stings.
 
Pendragon, please think again re leather gauntlets..:calmdown:

IMO...So unhygienic. How can you work between hives without wearing clean gloves.
They are clumsy too, so your dexterity is very reduced. This can cause more damage to the bees. If you get slightly thicker rubber gloves than the basics, easy to wash and you will be more sensitive to the bees reactions.

I am not brave enough not to wear any but have lots of
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/21179/Medium-Deluxe-Moisturising-Gloves-

The only problem was a gap sometimes between glove and suit, but cotton gauntlets solved that (P.y..s).Everything in the washing machine. Hygiene so important

Madasafish... shorts? well named
 

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