Beekeeping Equipment

Like all hobbies, beekeeping requires some basic equipment before someone can establish a successful beehive. This equipment should be purchased before you get a call from the post office asking you to come pick up bees.

The most obvious piece of equipment you will need is the actual bee hive.

Your beehive should be have at least five supers.Supers become very important section of the beehive because they are where the honeybees will be storing their honey. The five supers should be between the bottom of the hive and the corner of the beehive. These supers are very important because they are where the honey bees will be storing their honey and raising their baby bees.

Once you have an active beehive each of these supers will contain nine to ten frames. You can choose if you want a beehive with shallow supers or deep supers. The advantage of deep supers it allows beekeepers to buy only one size bee foundation. The disadvantage, when full, a deep super can weigh eighty pounds. Once you acquire a beehive for your honeybees make sure you place it somewhere that is a flat surface so that the beehive wont tip over in a strong thunderstorm. Also, make sure that you place it somewhere where people and animals aren't likely to disturb it.

A spacer board is a piece of equipment beekeepers use to keep an equal amount of space between the frames while they are in the super.

The next piece of beekeeping equipment you will need is a smoker. The smoker is what allows beekeepers to encourage the honey bees to leave the beehive when you are getting ready to recover the honey. The smoker is surprisingly simple in design. The smoker consists of a funnel, a combustion chamber, and bellows.

Many beekeepers say that old, clean burlap is the best material to use in the smoker because the burlap is easy to ignite and smolders and smokes. Other beekeepers prefer to use dried corn cobs. Once the fire has been lit in the combustion chamber the bellows will keep it going. The funnel directs the smoke into the beehive, encouraging the honey bees to leave.

Another tool you will need is a metal beehive tool. The metal beehive tool is used to pry open the beehive, separate the beehive bodies, and to scrape the frames clean. Think of it as the all purpose tool of beekeeping.

No beekeeper is ready to receive their shipment of honeybees until they have a bee brush. A honey bee brush is used to gently brush honey bees out of the way so that the beekeeper can examine the frames.

When it is time to recover your honey, you will need a fumer board. A fumer board is covered in bee removing chemicals and is then used to encourage the honeybees to leave a super and let you take their honeycombs.

If you don't mind getting used equipment you can find some great prices on beekeeping equipment on Ebay. There are several catalogs and websites that offer beekeeping equipment, and many of those offer beginners packages that allow for a quick and easy setup