How To

How to Start a Beehive

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(22 Ratings)

Here's a general overview for starting a hive. Be sure to follow the specific instructions given by the manufacturer of your hive.

Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • 3 Pounds Of Bees
  • Bee Smokers
  • Beekeeper's Gloves
  • Beekeeping Equipment Including Hive
  • Beekeeping Journals
  • Baggie Bee Feeders
  • Bee Feeders
  • Bee Veils
  • Holly Seeds
  • Honey Locust Seeds
  • Sweet Clover Seeds
  • Bee Medications
  • Pens
  • Pens

    Hive Setup

  1. Step 1

    Set up your hive before early spring to catch the first nectar flow.

  2. Step 2

    Purchase bees and install them in your hive.

  3. Step 3

    Feed bees until honey flow begins - when plants and trees begin to bloom.

  4. Step 4

    Check bees periodically for disease.

  5. Step 5

    Add a super when six frames are full of capped honey.

  6. Location

  7. Step 1

    Check local city ordinances or covenants about keeping bees in your area.

  8. Step 2

    Select a location that provides morning sun and late-afternoon shade.

  9. Step 3

    Avoid a location where bees might fly into a neighbor's yard.

  10. Step 4

    Make sure bees have access to water without having to use a neighbor's pool.

  11. Step 5

    Consider planting flowers and shrubs that attract bees and that provide a good source of pollen.

Tips & Warnings
  • Bees love cotton, soybeans, holly, black gum, white clover, sweet clover, black locust, honey locust, willow, rattan vine, buckwheat vine, sumac, brambles, fruit tree blossoms, and redbud, among others.
  • Do not use pesticides on blooming plants. This is one sure way of wiping out an entire bee population.

Comments  

annvans said

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on 4/18/2009 Great info, if I wasn't allergic to bees, I would be a beekeeper.

name-me said

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on 6/21/2008 This was not helpful. This is instructions on what to do with an already bought hive. Not what I was looking for.

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