Beekeeping is a great thing to pursue. You will need the use of several tools to do beekeeping effectively. With good tools beekeeping can be easily managed.
These are some recommended supplies for beekeeping. They are linked to actual items that you can purchase, and we do get a small percentage through an Amazon affiliate program if you choose to purchase them. It doesn’t affect the price you pay; it just helps us out.
Honeybees
The first thing to consider is the honeybees themselves. Honeybees are not necessarily equipment, but you will need to consider obtaining them. We have an article on what kind of honeybee should I buy right here.
Hive tool
The first thing I would recommend is a good hive tool. The hive tool is something you should always have on hand when beekeeping. The hive tool is how you are able to look into the hive, separate the frames to inspect them, pry open the lid and separate the supers. A hive tool is indispensable for a beekeeper.
You will want to consider getting more than one hive tool. With finding out how handy they are at things beyond beekeeping my hive tool gets borrowed for other projects leaving me with always needing one.
You will also want to keep the spread of disease, mites, and problems from one hive away from another hive. You may want to have one tool soaking in a sterilization solution to kill any contaminants while using a second sterile hive tool to keep your hive inspections going.
This is a hive tool that we recommend.
Hive body
The next thing to consider is the hive body itself. I use the Langstroth design for my hives. I really enjoy the availability of the components and the information I can find about how to use them. Generally you will need a top, 2 deep hive boxes, 2 medium hive box, and a bottom board. Some people use a queen excluder, I don’t personally use one.
You can use a combination of deep and shallow boxes, or whatever will suit your needs. Deep boxes can get up to 80 pounds or more when full of honey, so medium boxes may be a little more manegable.
Here are some Langstroth style hives I would recommend online:
2. Hover Hive
Flowhives are a relatively new option. They have a design that simplifies the harvesting of honey. They are also gentle on the bees themselves. The Flowhive was invented by beekeepers who wanted to leave the bees free from harm and having a beekeeper tearing into it. It was a successful kickstarter campaign and they have developed a great beehive ready to use when shipped. Here is a link to purchase.
A Flowhive may not appear to be on the reasonably priced side. However, with the Flowhive you don’t have to purchase a honey extractor or take all the space and time to harvest each frame. You just use their patented design and have the honey poor out of the hive itself without disturbing it.
A top bar hive is an interesting way to raise bees. I do know of some good books for designs to build you own top bar beehive. Here are some books that I would recommend for getting into top bar beekeeping.
Balanced Beekeeping, Building a top bar hive.
Top Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health.
If you would like to purchase a top bar hive here is where you can get one. It is rather pricey, so I would encourage you to build your own if you have the time, tools, and ability.
One option for a beehive that I have no experience with is a Wingoffly beehive box. It certainly looks interesting to me. It is trying to be more gentile with the bees themselves. I have no experience with this style of hive, but I would encourage you to look at it. It might be just the answer for you and your beekeeping.
Nuc box
Nuc Boxes are used when you want to split your hive and establish a new colony of bees. The idea is to have a smaller space that has a few frames, typically 5 frames. This smaller space will help to establish a new colony from an existing colony. Having a Nuc box isn’t a necessity with beginning beekeeping. They are great when you have some time into beekeeping and want to expand your apiary.
Nucs are relatively simple to build yourself, but many are available for purchase. Here is one that I would recommend. It will last you a long time if you take good care of it.
You can also get a lightweight more portable Nuc here. Sometimes you will only need to house your new beginning bee colony for 24 hours to a week and a simpler reasonably priced box will work. It does not include the frames.
Beekeeping Smoker
A must have for beekeeping is a beehive smoker. These are the things you always see with beekeepers. They are how you can help control the bees during inspections, harvesting honey, splitting a hive, etcetera. You will want a good one that will work well especially when you need it to.
We recommend these smokers:
Beekeeping jacket
I personally use a beekeeping jacket instead of a suit. I have found that a beekeeping jacket serves my needs more easily. I have beehives located in different areas and need to drive between them when inspecting. I have found that a beekeeping jacket is much easier to work with when driving to and from my different hives.
The beekeeping jacket I would recommend is this one. It allows me to wear a baseball cap underneath. This jacket will be foldable and collapsible enough for easy storage.
Here is a jacket I would also recommend for those who don’t like wearing a hat underneath. It looks similar to a fencing helmet. It allows for great visibility and airflow. It doesn’t collapse quite as small as others do, but it works well.
Beekeeping suit
If you would like a beekeeping suit here is one that I would recommend. You may want to consider a beekeeping suit if you are planning on running a larger apiary. You may also want a suit to keep your other clothes cleaner. Some suits are good for protection if you are raising more aggressive bees. Suits can get a bit hot during higher temperature inspections.
Beekeeping veil
I like to use just a beekeeping hat with veil. This allows you to have your face protected during beekeeping chores, but still remain cool and more comfortable. Often during a honey flow or for general maintenance inspections the bees will not be overly aggressive, and a hat and veil works well. I like this one here.
This is one that works great as well.
Gloves
Through much of beekeeping you may not want to use gloves just to maintain a gentler hand with your bees. You will probably want or need to use gloves at some time during your beekeeping adventure. Official beekeeping gloves are long and have elastic at the top. They work well. I would recommend this one,
I have also found that regular work gloves like these will work fine.
Bee brush
A beehive brush is a great tool. I raised bees for several years just fine without one, but they come in handy during hive inspections if you want to brush off the bees gently to inspect frames. They can also help when you pull honey to harvest. They are a simple long soft bristled brush. We recommend this one.
Feeders
Beehive feeders are very helpful for beginning beekeeping as well as professional and backyard beekeepers. Feeders are also great for those who want to focus on honey production. There are Interior and exterior feeders available. I have used both and have liked both for different reasons.
Interior feeders
Interior feeders are where the feeder is inside the hive body itself. They are basically a reservoir of bee food that the bees have access to without needing to leave the hive. I have used interior feeders when establishing a new colony. It allows for quicker production of the hive.
I would recommend this one that replaces a frame.
If you have an extra box, this one is good and can hold a lot more.
Exterior feeders
I use external feeders a lot. External feeders are more easily monitored and refilled. The external feeders I recommend are a glass jar entrance feeder or a bucket style feeder. I prefer the glass jar entrance feeder due to the ease in monitoring intake and it doesn’t’ introduce a lot of moisture into the hive.
Frames
Frames are needed depending on what style of hive you are going to use. A traditional Langstroth hive will use wooden frames with a plastic foundation coated with bees wax. You can get frames with the foundation of the frame in different colors, usually white, light yellow and black. The black foundation makes it a little easier to see eggs and brood during inspections. Make sure you get the correct size of frame. The frames will com in a deep size 9 1/2 inches, or a medium size 6 1/4 inches.
If you are able to do some assembly yourself you can get frames for a more reasonable price. These are a great option for medium frames, or these for deep frames.
You will often get frames included if you purchase a hive kit. If you are building your own hive bodies you will need to get some frames with foundation to begin.
Small cell foundation
There are some beekeepers that use a small cell foundation. The idea behind small cell foundation is that the honeybees will revert back to their original size that was historically smaller. If you do want to use this smaller size, you will need to get bees that are adapted to this smaller size or transition you bees to the smaller size by using a mid-size then eventually a small size.
These foundations are not found on Amazon. You will need to look for them here or here.
Honey extractor
There are a few ways to extract your honey from the honeycomb. You can just chew on it and spit out the wax. That can be fun and interesting to try. Some people even prefer this as a snack.
You will probably eventually want to get some kind of extractor or use an extraction process to separate the honey from the wax.
If you have just a few hives, you may want to simply use a crush method where you crush up the honeycomb and drain it through a filter. I prefer this plastic one that fits into a bucket.
I know many that prefer this stainless steel one with good results.
There are hand crank varieties of honey extracts available that are reasonably priced. Here is one that I have used, and it held up well.
You can often find these hand crank ones for sale in want adds or Craigslist. People either get tired of hand cranking the honey out, or they get out of beekeeping all together. Sometimes the gears will get stripped, but the gears are readily available and easily replaced.
If you have more than 10-15 frames to spin out, I would suggest renting a motorized honey extractor, or purchasing one. I have not seen any that I would recommend on Amazon right now. I would suggest Mann Lake or Dadant for an electric motorized honey extractor.
Heated knife
When extracting honey from a frame you can use a heated knife to cut off the caps of the honey cells in the comb. I would recommend this one. I often don’t use a heated knife. I just use an uncapping fork.
Uncapping fork
Uncapping forks are one of my favorite tools for removing the caps from the honeycomb. It takes a little technique, but you can remove the caps without destroying the rest of the comb. You will also avoid getting melted wax in your honey as you would from using a heated knife.
Uncapping tank
An uncapping tank is very useful during harvesting and processing honey. This tank is used to uncap the honeycomb. You can do this over a tank where it will drain down the honey from the caps and not clog up the honey strainer.
An uncapping tank isn’t a necessity, but it sure makes honey processing easier.
Bucket with gate valve
You can strain the honey through the filter I suggested above. When you use that filter with a good food grade bucket with a honey valve then bottling the honey is a snap. I would recommend this one. It makes your life a lot easier if you want to store your honey in smaller bottles or market smaller bottles.
Filter
Here are the filters I would recommend again. I prefer this one, but this one works well if you prefer stainless steel to plastic.
Refractometer
A refractometer is a relatively inexpensive tool that tests how much water content your harvested honey has. If you have too much water, you can run the chance of having your honey ferment. A refractometer is very helpful if you plan on giving your honey away or selling your honey.
I would recommend this one. I believe you can probably find several used ones on eBay for a good price as well.
Swarm Trap
A swarm trap is not essential, but it is a way for you to possibly get a whole free colony of honeybees for free. I have used a swarm trap like this one, and it works well.
I have been told to try this one for ease of use. I can’t recommend it personally, but some find it to work just fine.
Screened bottom board
A screened bottom board is used to monitor and control pests that can be in a beehive, especially varroa mites and bee beetles. There is some controversy that a screened bottom board adds too much ventilation.
Most studies have resulted in the screened bottom boards not really affecting the colonies a lot. It can create too much ventilation through the wintertime in cold areas.
Here’s a screen bottom board that will work well should you decide to use it.
Beekeeping tool kits.
You can get some kits that have most of the tools that your will need for beginning beekeeping. Sometimes you can get all the tools you need at a more reasonable price if you get a kit.
What tools are absolutely necessary to begin beekeeping?
You will not need all these tools to begin with. The necessary tools and supplies you will need to get started are:
This is just the bear boned basics to get started.
Most of the tools we recommend are available at Amazon and are easily purchased there, just click on the link provided and it should take you right to what you are looking for.
