How to Start Beekeeping

Beesource.com is currently compiling the best practices and wisdom from the Beesource beekeeping community. We will develop this information into a concise, easy-to-read and understand article and post it here in the near future.

The forum where this is being discussed is located here: http://www.beesource.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=275

- Barry Birkey

  • Read the book: FIRST LESSONS IN BEEKEEPING
  • Get Stung! - it’s going to happen, a lot.
  • Join a beekeeping group
  • Visit a beekeeping farm or a beekeeper
  • Read, read, read - study, study, study
  • Ask lots of questions
  • Nurture the desire, intelligence and patience required to care for another living creature
  • Research what your initial startup equipment/bees costs are and what the time commitment will be.
  • How-To-Do-It book of beekeeping by Richard Taylor
  • Then there is the bible…ABC-XYZ’s of bee culture.
  • First book - Beekeeping for Dummies.
  • Assess the amount of work there is in beekeeping. Take the number of days you plan on working per month and times it by 7. That is the work you will need to do. Take that time and add any special stuff to it such as honey recovery, super work, and nucleus building. There’s the time and effort…. sure you want to be a beekeeper?
  • Get a mentor that you can work their hives with them
  • The Hive and the Honeybee… Dadant publications
    First Lessons in Beekeeping… Dadant publications
    Bee Sex Essentials… Lawrence Conner
    Increase Essentials… Lawrence Conner
    A Years Work in an Out Apiary… Doolittle
    Fifty Years Among the Bees… Miller
    Fat Bees Skinny Bees
  • This is the litmus test - get among the bees. You will either be filled with joy, wonder, and amazement (you have the heart of a beekeeper)…. or fear and dread (find another hobby).
  • “Natural Beekeeping” is an excellent book. It covers, in detail, pest and disease issues, especially v mites and all current treatments.
  • The other piece of advice is get Iddee’s phone number. I don’t know how many times I’ve called Iddee in a pinch. He lives in North Carolina, I live in Virginia, 40 miles west of Washington, DC. His phone # is plugged into my cell phone. He is a modern day G.M. Doolittle and does not mind one bit answering questions!
  • Subscribe to the beekeeping magazines: American Bee Journal & Bee Culture
  • Maintain perspective. calm and relaxed. easy does it with everything.