Shopping list 😁

[Nick Lang]

Hey there....Just putting together my shopping list for my first hive

Have decided to get a National hive....they seem pretty standard for beginners....seems to have 2 supers and 1 brood box...queen excluder...etc...I was going to get a kit with frames and rails

Question is....is there any "must" when buying???

Also....what extra stuff should I get.....what did you wish that you bought before starting????

 

[Apple]

A mentor!
After decades of dealing with cheap bee suits ... now have two top end ones from Sherriff!

A decent sized long J type hive tool.. probably 2 as you will put one down and loose it!
A bucket of washing soda to clean J tool in
Stands for the hives that are a decent height to work from without breaking your back
A smoker that does not go out ( although there is endless debate about what smoker fuel to use!)
A torch for looking for eggs.

Just to start with

Chons da

 

[E&MBees]

Hey there....Just putting together my shopping list for my first hive

Have decided to get a National hive....they seem pretty standard for beginners....seems to have 2 supers and 1 brood box...queen excluder...etc...I was going to get a kit with frames and rails

Question is....is there any "must" when buying???

Also....what extra stuff should I get.....what did you wish that you bought before starting????

I’m a beginner too. It’s really easy to spend lots, look carefully. Some of the beginner packages are actually more expensive. You definitely need a smoker and a bee suit. A hive tool is also useful. I use marigolds and thin latex gloves over the top rather than the heavy leather gloves. They fit better and I have more dexterity that way.
A flat roof allows you to stack hive parts on top whilst inspecting which helps.
Insulation- have a few bit ready of cellotex or similar to fit in the roof or to dummy down a brood box. Cover the cut edges with aluminium tape - the bees don’t eat the tape.
Magnifying glass and a torch for spotting eggs.
A book or two helps as well. Haynes is goodas is Ted Hooper.
Hope that helps.
Emily

 

[StephenT]

It’s worth getting a nuc for swarm control, housing a swarm etc. I got a maisemore polynuc at the of year 1. Another brood box and so you can go double brood if the colony needs it. I wish I had just got polycarbonate crown boards and insulated the roof in the first place. If you think you’ll end up with more than one hive, then double or triple up buying cheaper seconds at one of the sales.

 

[StephenT]

More like when you end up with more than one hive rather than if.

 

[BugsInABox]

More like when you end up with more than one hive rather than if.

Whichever smoker design you go for - don't get the small one.

 

[Mandeville]

As has been said - get a good quality bee suit. I nearly gave up beekeeping when I had an aggressive colony and a leaky jacket - it's no fun.
Also transparent crown boards - being able to check that your bees are still there without disturbing them is very reassuring!

 

[Amari]

- As above: best quality all-in-one bee suit, spare nucleus hive (poly easiest) - for catching/housing a swarm and many other uses, find a mentor.
- Ideally attend a beginners' course (if Covid permits). Not sure if there are any on line.
- Get a textbook and read monthly Beecraft and BBKA News - they always have articles for beginners plus useful adverts announcing equipment sales etc.
- Join local bee association
- Plan to have at least two stocked hives: If one fails you've still got your hobby; it's fun to compare performance; you may need brood from one to help out the other.

,

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hive cloth, and as big a goose or Cockerell feather you can find don't use a bee brush.. Also maybe think about an out apiary if no one has said already.

 

[pargyle]

Antihistamine tablets and insect sting ointment. You WILL get stung and two antihistamine tablets immediately with copious amounts of sting ointment after scraping the remains of the stinger off (not pulling the stinger out) will ease some of the discomfort.

TWO hive tools at least - you WILL lose them - try a selection and see what you find best - cheap as chips on ebay or in the sales.

A roll of aluminum tape from Toolstation. (Dozens of uses from sticking over holes in jeans to sealing up gaps in the hives).

A bottle of Olbas Oil (a few drops rubbed on your gloves before inspections will discourage the bees from getting on your hands).

A water sprayer (often better to control bees than a smoker).

As many crown boards (preferably clear polycarbonate ones) as you can economically make.

Plastic box and a sharp knife to contain and accumulate all those odd bits of beeswax you will collect.

You will need other things like feeders, queen cages, varroa control, bee food, varroa testing kit, tools for frame and kit making up and a myriad of other things I didn't know about when I started.

A tote to keep all your beekeeping kit together.

A bank account separate to your significant other as you are going to spend far more than you ever dreamed possible and the chances of making any money selling your honey in the first year or two is minimal and after that you will be spending more on kit than you get back in honey sales. In the early years you could probably have top quality honey delivered by a flunky in a taxi from Fortnum and Masons for less than it will cost you per jar of your own honey (albeit NOTHING will ever taste as good as that which your own bees produce.)

A shed ... initially to keep all your beekeeping kit in - afterwards somewhere to hide when your SO finds out just how much your new, self financing, hobby has cost you.

 

[Nick Lang]

Thank you so much for all the responses...I shall definitely use the advice given.... especially the joining bee groups as soon as Covid is over.

What's an out apiary?

 

[Nick Lang]

How many brood boxes do people use??....do some hives need two?

 

[pargyle]

More like when you end up with more than one hive rather than if.

More than one colony is inevitable ... once you have TWO it's a disease ... you NEED more bees ... no matter how hard you try not to you will GET more bees ... and more kit ... and more honey ... and more bees... and more kit ... and more gadgets .. and more kit ... and bigger machines .... and a bigger shed and more bees and more kit ... oh ... and did I say .... MORE beess. You will need earplugs ... not for you but for all your friends because you will bore them to death with news, stories, facts and general information about your bees and keeping bees in general and every conversation you will have will be steered towards beess ... and everyone in the area, once they know you keep bees, will find you swarms to collect and you will have MORE Bees .... but no friends left except other beekeepers who will talk incessantly about bees !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What's an out apiary?

It's an apiary remote from your home and other houses - maybe some miles away in a corner of a farmer's filed

 

[seillean mil]

Some advice I saw earlier this year on Facebook has proved to be the simplest and best in my experience so far. It sort of summarises what everyone is saying. The advice was, " You can never have too much equipment. " In particular, I would suggest that you buy several hives at first, even if you will only start with one colony....you will soon have two. Before doing so, do your research on how you want to keep bees; you might want to go differently than the conventional deep and two shallow box starter kit. You might want to have all one size boxes. You might decide to go for polyhives. I have a lot of redundant parts after learning how I wanted to proceed with beekeeping after I had bought the bees and the hive.

 

[pargyle]

Thank you so much for all the responses...I shall definitely use the advice given.... especially the joining bee groups as soon as Covid is over.

What's an out apiary?

How many brood boxes do people use??....do some hives need two?

An out apiary is another site where you hide all the colonies you can't keep at home from your significant other ...

Standard nationals during the season may not be big enough to contain all the bees produced by a prolific queen ... you can't easily control how many bees she produces so you either work with them by putting a second brood box on top of the first brood box (Called Double Brood) or you give them a super to put the extra brood in on top of the brood box and under the honey supers ... called Brood and a Half in some circles or a Right Abortion in others. There is the alternative of bigger brood boxes which you can consider, Langstroth, Commercial, 14 x 12 ... all bigger than standard national.

You can, of course, split a big colony or when they look like swarming do an artifiicial swarm - swarm control, and you have MORE BEES ...

Best start reading now you will have just about enough time between now and te beginning of the season next year to get to grips with the language 'Beekeepingese' and the basics you need to know in order to prevent the worst beekeepers disease ..., Panicandmeltdown.

 

[Nick Lang]

Ah....cool...thanks...I'm really lucky.......I'm on a farm....and there's only other farms around me...so I can go mad

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ah....cool...thanks...I'm really lucky.......I'm on a farm....and there's only other farms around me...so I can go mad

Out of the mouths of babes

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Always take advantage of the sales - Thornes and Maismores have online sales and savings can be made on what are known as 'second quality' items, and remember, don't listen to those who believe that 'second' quality' is the same as shop seconds, It just means they use British Cedar and the quality control isn't as stringent.
And don't fall into the trap that just because there are only eleven frames in a brood box that buying eleven frames is enough (whilst whingeing that suppliers only sell them in tens) you will always need more frames (and sometimes only one or two) so even if you only have one hive, buy a pack of 50 second quality frames which only cost a tenner more than a pack of ten 'first quality' frames.

Avoid 90% of the beekeeping stuff on yootoob

 

[pargyle]

you will always need more frames (and sometimes only one or two) so even if you only have one hive, buy a pack of 50 second quality frames which only cost a tenner more than a pack of ten 'first quality' frames.

Avoid 90% of the beekeeping stuff on yootoob

Best buy the frames when you don't need them as they will be cheaper and when you do need them, if you haven't got them - you can bet they won't be available.

Ignore most of the advice you get in Yootoob out of the 10% you don't manage to avoid watching ... safer to look for answers (or at least second opinions) on here .... You might get more than one answer but generally they will both be right !