12 Steps To Becoming A Beekeeper

Beekeeping has become extremely popular in recent years. This means there is a lot of information available on the web. I vastly underestimated how valuable forums are when getting started with beekeeping. 

Ask a question on the forum and you will have several answers in 24 hours. It is a huge source of information when you want lots of specific answers and nobody to ask. 

For those new to beekeeping, taking advantage of first lessons from books, blogs, and forums is essential to build a strong foundation and ensure a successful start.

There are also many localized beekeeping groups on Facebook as well. We would advise finding a group for your state or region instead of a national beekeeping page. The local advice is much more helpful than that from beekeepers in different climates.

"Top-bar hive beekeeping,” by Wyatt Mangum

"Practical Beekeeper” by Michael Bush

"Honey Bee Biology by Dewey Caron.

We sell a lot of beginner beekeeping books, and you can find all the beginning beekeeping focused books we recommend here.

You can’t beat actually meeting beekeepers in your area. It’s a huge resource to have because all beekeepers and locations are different. 

Many of these beekeeping courses cover honey bee management and are taught by instructors with extensive beekeeping experience. 

These courses range from a simple introduction to bees to full courses that train you to become a Master Beekeeper.

The classes that are in-person are much better and more rewarding than the online classes, as they provide valuable hands on experience, but sometimes the online classes are all that you can do.

Checkout the classes we offer from Foxhound Bee Company.

These courses are especially beneficial for beginning beekeepers.

You can read 10 beekeeping books or you can visit one local beekeeper’s apiary. 

Visiting local beekeepers' hives provides region-specific insights and practical advice that you can't get from books alone. Even if the bees aren’t flying, there is so much to learn from seeing another beekeeper’s bees. 

Beekeeping is as much an art as a science, and it is amazing to watch an experienced beekeeper handle their bees.

If you are local to us in Irondale, you can attend one of our hive tours to get a chance to open a hive up for yourself.

If you get the opportunity, this is by far the best thing you can do before getting your own colony of bees.

Your neighbor holds the trump card. Even if it is legal on your property, it is important to be a good neighbor. Want to be on the fast lane to being disappointed? Then keep bees right next to your neighbor’s fence.

Talk with your neighbors about what they think and educate them as much as you educate yourself. It is more important in suburban/urban settings than in rural areas. A little promised  honey will probably grease the wheels.

Neighbors will usually have a lot of questions, so it’s best to be able to answer some of the basic ones about bees before you start the conversation.

Here is a great page that answers a lot of those questions your neighbor might have.

Location for the bees will dictate whether you have a good experience or a bad experience with your bees. The suitability of a location depends on the specific conditions of your local area, such as climate and available flora. 

If they are difficult to get to or are in a location that is hard to work around, that is not good. Bees also struggle more in shaded areas than in sunny areas
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When we teach classes, we always express the importance in finding a place that is good for you and your neighbors, as well as for the bees. This is usually on the side of the property where the neighbors do not go and in a sunny spot so the bees can maintain their hive easier.

A colony of bees will do better in full sun year around than they will in a space that gets partial sun during the day. It’s very hard to move a colony of bees, so it’s important to the get the location right the first time.

Whether you want bees for pollination, to provide pollination services, or to support crop pollination in your region, or for honey, will dictate the equipment you buy. Top bars are typically easier to handle and access if you want pollination, a little honey, or to focus on crop pollination. If you want lots of honey and don’t mind lifting, Langstroth hives are a better option.

One of the tough things we didn’t realize when we got started was that your beekeeping goals will help you figure out what you want to do. 

There are a lot of great goals to set in beekeeping, but you want to make sure you focus on what is important. Supporting other pollinators can also be a valuable goal for those interested in broader ecological impact.

Your first year, the goal for your hives should be for them to survive the winter. 2nd year would be to be able to harvest a little honey and also survive the winter. As your experience grows, so does your goals.

If you start keeping bees, you are guaranteed to have questions. Reach out to a local beekeeper for mentorship and practical guidance. Learning from a local beekeeper with more beekeeping experience can help you avoid common mistakes. A quick text and a picture will save you a headache later.

You can find somebody in a local beekeeping club or through a facebook group. Both are good places to meet other beekeepers and start building relationships that are mutually beneficial.

Beekeeping is also more fun with somebody else because one person can hold a frame while the other takes pictures. As you get more hives, it can become a lot of work so an extra person is very helpful.

There are many ways to obtain bees, but beginners only have a few reasonable ones. 

Packages and nucs are the traditional way to acquire live bees for establishing your new colony. Don’t know the difference between a Package and a Nucleus Hive, read more here.

Nucleus hives are more user friendly and packages are easier and cheaper to obtain. Bees sell out quickly, so order your live bees before the end of January to have any shot at getting some the easy way.

When you order package bees, they come with a caged queen. The caged queen is introduced to the new colony to ensure the bees accept her as their queen, which is a crucial step in starting a healthy hive.

Equipment can be hard to get as well, so order yours just after you get your bees. Most equipment requires assembly, so build it before they come or you are going to be a big stinging heap of trouble. You may also want to purchase additional equipment such as a queen excluder or extra hive bodies to provide more space for your bees as your colony grows.

Our business Foxhound Bee Company has been selling beekeeping supplies since 2014 and this is something we take very seriously. We offer very high quality equipment that is made well and will last a long time. We don’t cut corners and do as good a job as we can to help our customers. Just read our reviews on google.

If you do decide to keep bees, we would love it if you checked out our equipment page. We have all t ypes of hive sizes, jackets, suits, smokers, hive tools. Essential components include the hive body, inner cover, and queen excluder. We don’t sell everything you might need, but we sell everything you would need your first year.

When you get your supplies and equipment in, it’s good to familiarize yourself with what you have. There are a lot of supplies to make sense of and not all of it is immediately necessary. The important pieces are the actual beehives, wood boxes, frames/foundation, the smoker, the hive tool, the feeder and the protective gear. 

These are the supplies you need on day one. Setting up your beehives properly ensures your bees have more room to grow, store honey, and expand the colony.

Before the bees arrive, it’s smart to have everything setup and ready to go. Know how to use a smoker, setup your hives on their stand in the full sun. Feel good about the location before the bees actually come.

When installing your honey bee colony, it is essential to monitor colony health from the start. Pay close attention to the brood nest and sealed brood, as these are key indicators of colony health and effective varroa management.

Also, be aware of the role of royal jelly in developing queens and supporting overall colony productivity. Take care when handling bees, as bee venom can cause allergic reactions in some individuals.

The good health of your bee population is critical for survival, especially through the winter. Queens and queen cells play a vital role in colony survival and productivity, so monitor their presence and condition regularly. Check varroa levels and consider treatment in late June to keep mite populations under control. Climate change can also impact colony health and survival by introducing new stressors and changing environmental conditions, so stay informed and adapt your management practices as needed.

Much of how they do during the winter depends greatly on what the beekeeper does during the summer and fall.