I received a telephone call the other day from a new wannabe beekeeper. He asked what does it take to be a beekeeper. What a loaded question! Then Saturday, I was at a Wildlife Expo sponsored by the Florida Extension Office and the University of Florida. Several people asked basically the same question. Here is the answer as I see it.

First you need to find a bee association in your area. Attend the meetings and ask questions. Beekeepers love to talk about their girls. Yeah–yeah, I know, there are some beekeepers who would rather face a rattlesnake than to take a newbie under their wing, but as a whole, beekeepers are rather friendly and would love to teach a new beekeeper the proper way to keep bees. Side note: there is no proper way to keep bees that are better than other ways with the exception of deliberately killing them! The most proper way to keep bees is the one that you are comfortable with, and you will not know that way until you get some experience. So at this point in your journey, any way that works will do.

Then you need to get some books and read, read, read. You also need to get some catalogs from some of the bee suppliers and compare prices. At the risk of getting too detailed, there are different types of wooden ware Pine, Fur, Cyprus, etc. that will be different in price as well as quality: Premium; no knots, Commercial; some knots, and Budget; lots of knots and maybe some hole thrown in. These are some of the questions you need to ask your beekeeper friends. Another side note: a mentor is a beekeeper who has agreed to help you by explaining, showing, and helping you for a full year. I will be using this term the rest of this post.

The equipment you need to start off will be considered a basic kit. It consists of bottom board, brood box, queen excluder, 2 honey supers, inner cover, and top telescoping cover. Side note: Most of the suppliers will send 2 brood boxes in a kit. I suggest that if that is the way you want to go, then buy 2 extra honey supers. You can either make another bottom board and top board or you can go ahead and buy them too while you are at the supplier’s. You need to get another queen excluder also. You need 10 frames and foundation for each box and super. That is the wooden ware. Next is the equipment you will need.

1 Smoker; at least 1 hive tool (I recommend 2 in case you lose one. If that happens, you get the spare and order another one.); 1 veil and hat, or bee suit with veil; & 1 pair of gloves. There are quit a few other pieces of equipment you can buy, but I would recommend that you wait until later to decide if you really need any of them.

If you have any questions, then please try to get them answered by someone close to you as he or she will be able to show and tell much easier than I. However, that is not to say that I am always available to answer any and all questions that you post to this blog. If I do not know the answer, I will tell you that it will take a little time for me to research for the answer.

Now the last but very definitely the most important thing you need is the bees. There are several ways to obtain your girls. 1: You can purchase a package, 2: You can buy a Nuc (short for nucleus), 3: Catch a swarm, or 4: Buy a beekeeper’s colony that wants to get out of the business. Oops! I am not supposed to say anything negative. However, there are times that a beekeeper must sale, health reasons or he is just too old and needs to retire. I am getting near that last reason myself.

If you buy a package, then you will not, in most cases, be able to collect any honey the first year. Because your bees will be using the nectar and honey to build honeycomb on the foundation you have supplied them with. It takes approximately 10 pounds of honey to produce 1 pound of wax.

If you get a nuc, the standard is you will get three frames of brood and bees to cover with extra bees shook into the box. You will get one frame of honey. In turn, you will exchange 4 of your new frames for the ones your supplier put into your box. In the meantime, the bees are already established and all they have to do is complete the rest of the frames in the brood box (6) and the honey supers. But since they have babies in the making, they will have extra hands to help build the honeycomb and start putting up honey. You have a good chance of getting honey for you table in the latter part of the year around Fall.

A swarm will be the same as a package of bees, so you will have to wait until next year to harvest any honey.

Buying someone out is a hit and miss proposition. You have to hunt and wait until someone decides to retire. That can be a loooooong time. I only bought someone out after I was in the business for 7 years. That is defeating the purpose of becoming and beekeeper.

Until the next time, keep you veil close, your smoker lit, and your hive tool sharp.