Unless you’re allergic to bee stings, People who don’t have a lot of money or acres of land can still be involved in gardening by keeping bees. The average cost to get a hive up and running is about $300 per bee. (You only need one to begin with.) Once you’ve bought a hive, you can put it in a quiet part of your backyard. It’s not unusual to see a hive in the backyard of a suburban house.
The first thing you should do if you want to start a beehive is call your local Cooperative Extension office. They can tell you if you live in a place that doesn’t let you keep bees. They will also be able to tell you how to get in touch with the beekeeping group in your state, where you can get registered as a beekeeper.
The next thing you need to do is decide where your honey bee hive will go.
Once you have decided where to put your beehive, you will need to get the tools you will need to keep it in good shape. You can buy some of the used tools you will need on eBay. If you can’t find the tools you need on eBay, you can buy them from a number of other online stores. Call your local Cooperative Extension office or the Federation of American Beekeepers if you need more help finding and buying a beehive and other beekeeping tools.
Before you buy bees for your hive, you need to make sure you’re safe. This means you need to buy beekeepers’ gear.
Once your hive is set up and you’re sure everything is working well, it’s time to order honey bees. The best way to get honey bees is to order them from a well-known apiary. Plan to order your bees early in the winter. Most beekeepers place their orders in January and February. Most of the time, the order is sent out between March and April. Most beekeepers send their bees through the U.S. mail. When the bees get to the post office, your mail carrier will call you and ask you to pick up the bees. Few mail workers are comfortable driving all over the county with a car full of angry young bees, and most bees are healthier if they don’t have to spend hours in a hot car.
When you get your bees, they should be in a special carrying case made just for bees. This package will look like a “house” made of wood with a screen on the outside. This packaging lets the bees get air and keeps workers, like people who work at the post office, from getting stung.
Don’t be surprised if there are a few dead bees in the package when you get your bees. Bees have a hard time travelling, so they can’t all be expected to make it. The rest of the bees should be clinging to the container’s sides.
You will see that one of the bees in the container is not with the rest of the group. Here is your queen bee. The rest of your beehive’s order will be made up of the bees in the container. Some apiaries send the queen bee with a couple of nurse bees. Pieces of sugar candy will cover the top of the queen’s container.
You should also see a bottle with a sugar solution in it. The bees eat this sugar mix while they are on the move. When you get your bees back to their home, give them something to drink. To do this, you take a spray bottle and fill it with water, spreading it out in a very thin layer.