HOW TO GET STARTED

Keeping Bees
for the
Absolute Beginner

BEEKEEPINGMADESIMPLE.COM • LEARN HOW TO KEEP HAPPY, HEALTHY BEES 1

 “The be eke eper must first of all be
a be e lover or he will never succe ed.”
~ T. Edwards

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Introduction
There’s nothing like beekeeping – seeing honey bees coming and going from their hive,
watching a baby bee hatch and eating honey you harvested from your own back yard. But
getting started isn’t easy. There’s equipment to buy, a ton to learn, and pests to deal with. The
good news is that once you’re started, the actual beekeeping part is pretty easy. Yes, problems
come up, as with everything in life, but most are solved fairly easily. You’ll find yourself looking
forward to your day out with the bees and getting lost looking inside a busy hive.

I created this guide as a starting point for people thinking about keeping bees so that the
process of getting started seemed easy and attainable, because it is! Each part of the process
is broken down into easy action steps. Our goal at Beekeeping Made Simple is to make getting
started keeping bees an easy and fun process. After all, beekeeping is a hobby and hobbies are
supposed to be fun!

Happy beekeeping,
Laryssa

Founder,
Beekeeping Made Simple

“I like putting on a baggy suit, forgetting myself and getting as

close to the be es’ lives as they will let me.”
- Sue Hubbell

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 Scientists believe
humans have been
taking honey from
bees for over 9,000
years!

STEP 1
Know What to Expect
Beekeeping isn’t like most hobbies where you can pick it up when you have the time and
forget about it when you’re busy. Bees are living creatures that require weekly maintenance.
As with most things in nature, there is no one right way of doing things and no set schedule.
Beekeeping involves listening to your bees, paying attention to your environment and adjust-
ing to the bees’ schedule. If that sounds like fun, move on to the next paragraph.

TIME
Expect to spend 1 hour a week inspecting your hive when it is warm out. Add an extra 30
minutes for each additional beehive. When its cooler out, but still over 60F, you can usually
check your hive once every other week (for most people, this is the early Spring and the Fall).

Once it gets below 60 degrees out, you will have very little beekeeping to do until spring
when it is over 60F again.

TIP! HAVE A BUDDY

Having a buddy not only makes start-up costs a lot lower, but it makes beekeeping
more fun and gives you someone to check on your bees for you when you’re away.

COSTS INVOLVED
Start-up costs vary depending on the type of equipment you buy and the quality. I
recommend investing in something well made to start. Veils and gloves, especially, can
rip within weeks of buying them if poor quality.

To start, you’ll spend:

• roughly $200 on equipment, per beehive
• $20-$150 on safety gear
• $150-$250 per package of bees or nuc (varies depending on your location)

Expect to also spend some money on honey harvesting equipment. However, most first year
beekeepers don’t harvest any honey, so this is an expense you can save until later.

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 A bee flies
about 9,000 miles
to gather enough
nectar to make
1lb of honey.

ACTION STEPS:
q Assess whether beekeeping is something you have the time for right now.
q Find a buddy to keep bees with (or a family member to help out occasionally).

TIP! DON’T BUY AN EXTRACTOR

A lot of bee associations own an extractor that their members are welcome to use.
This is well worth the small cost of membership. Extractors are large and even a small
hand crank will set you back at least $200 plus shipping.

STEP 2
The Logistics
WHERE
When looking for a place to put your bees, it’s best to look for the following:
• a flat spot or ability to level
• an area that does not flood
• protection from predators such as bears or ability to put in fencing
• easy access by vehicle or cart - a box of honey can weigh upwards of 40lb!
• away from roads, high traffic areas and bright lights

NEIGHBORS
If your neighbors have a pool, be prepared for bees stopping by. You also want to make sure
your neighbors don’t spray herbicides in their garden. This can kill a small hive within hours!
Talk to your neighbors first and educate them on spraying at sunset when most bees are in
the hive. There are also non spray techniques like torching weeds, laying down a weed cloth
or using mulch.

YOUR COUNTY RULES

Depending on where you live, there may be rules for keeping bees. For example, some areas
require you to register your hives. You can find this information on your county’s website.

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 All worker bees are
female. They are the
only bees in the hive
that gather nectar.

FOOD FOR BEES

Rural areas usually are the best for bees. Second best are cities and third are suburbs. Although
cities seem like mostly concrete, there’s a lot of parks and trees. Suburban areas tend to have
large, grassy spaces which are food deserts for bees.

Planting flowers for bees can help provide food for them, but be prepared to plant a lot! It
takes roughly 1-2 million flowers to produce enough nectar to make 1 pound of honey. Before
you plant, make sure the flowers are honey bee friendly. Honeybees do not gather nectar from
all flowers. Most importantly, plant flowers that bloom in the early Spring or Fall when the bees
are struggling to find food.

The easiest way to provide a large food source for bees is to not mow your lawn. Let the
wildflowers in your lawn bloom and the bees will thank you. Fruit trees and bushes are another
great source of food because they produce a lot of flowers.

TIP! SOME BEE FRIENDLY PLANTS

Trees: apple, maple, plum, mesquite, avocado, black locust, crabapple, macadamia nut
flowers: zinnias, goldenrod, sedum, asters, witch hazel, sunflower, borage, poppy
edible plants: watermelon, cucumber, eggplant, hot peppers, herbs, cantaloupe

Don’t let it stop you

If your yard isn’t the best place to keep bees, there are lot of great places to keep bees other
than your home. Here are a few options:
• cemetery (lots of flowers and very little foot traffic)
• botanical garden or park - just make sure it’s away from foot traffic
• someone else’s property - free pollination and free honey!
• the rooftop of a business - many businesses now boast that they have hives. Restaurants and
hotels, especially, will add to the menu if the honey used was from their beehives.

ACTION STEPS:
q Find a space to put your bees
q Are there county laws to consider?
q Is there enough food for your bees? If not, make a list of flowers to plant next Spring.
 A honey bee
visits 50-100
flowers in one
collection trip.

STEP 3
Mind Over Matter - Getting Stung
The anticipation of getting stung is often worse than the pain of the actual sting. The more
you’re stung, usually the less you swell.

If you have never been stung by a honey bee, make sure you’re not allergic before keeping
bees. Often people think they were stung by a honey bee, but it was in fact a wasp.

If you have been stung in the past, and you swelled up badly, that doesn’t necessarily mean
you are highly allergic to bees. When I first started keeping bees, I swelled up very badly, but I
did not have the common signs of anaphylactic shock. Talk with your doctor if you’re unsure
about your allergy.

HOW NOT TO GET STUNG

There are a few things you can do as a beekeeper to avoid getting stung. You can:
• Wear a full suit and sting resistant gloves
• Use smoke to mask alarm pheromones
• Open the hive between 10am and 3pm when most foragers are out
• Move slowly and gently
• Keep your hive healthy. Unhealthy bees are cranky bees and cranky bees like to sting.

IF YOU ARE STUNG

1) Get the stinger out ASAP. Scratch the area with your fingernail or credit card and it will
come out quickly. Do not pinch it as if it was a splinter.
2) Immediately after removing the stinger, apply mashed up plantain weed on the stung area.
It is a common weed found in most yards. Or you can apply a drop of peppermint oil or
place a copper penny on the area (the darker the better). These remedies alleviate the
venom.
3) Apply ice later if it begins to swell or itch.

ACTION STEPS:
q Make sure you’re not highly allergic to honey bee venom.

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 Honey bees
have 4 wings,
5 eyes and
6 legs.

STEP 4
Education
Now you need to learn about bees and the technical skills of beekeeping.

TAKE A BEEKEEPING CLASS

Trust me on this, the easiest way to learn how to keep bees is by taking an online class.
In-person classes are great for seeing if you like being around live bees, but they aren’t the
best for learning beekeeping. Why? Because you take a class in the Summer and you don’t
remember it all next Spring! I’ve been giving in-person classes for years and I see it happen
with students all the time. Online classes allow you to watch and rewatch the lessons as
many times as you need to.

I don’t encourage teaching yourself just with YouTube and books. That’s what I did when I got
started. I thought I was ready, but I didn’t know some key things nor did I have someone to
go to when I needed help. I lost 3 hives my first 2 years and almost gave up beekeeping. That
was $300 wasted!

However you choose to learn, the skills you must know if order to keep your bees alive
and healthy are: overwintering your hive (unless you live somewhere that doesn’t get a
frost), testing and treating for Varroa Mites (unless you live somewhere without varroa mites),
swarm prevention and identifying eggs. The ideal class would also offer mentorship so that
you have an experienced beekeeper to go to with questions once the class is over.

ACTION STEPS:
q Learn about bees and the roles of the queen, worker and drone
q Learn how to spot eggs
q Learn how to prevent swarming
q Learn the steps to overwintering your beehive
q Learn how to check for mites and get rid of an infestation
Your First Lesson, The Bees in the Hive
There are three different kinds of bees in the hive - queen, worker and drone.

THE QUEEN
The Queen is the mother of all the bees. She is long and narrow, about 50% larger than the
worker bees, and can live up to 5 years. Her role within the hive is to lay eggs. Every hive has
just one queen bee.

THE WORKER
The worker bees makes up over 90% of the hive. Their job is to do everything needed to keep
it going except mate and lay eggs. They gather nectar and turn it into honey, build honey-
comb, defend the hive, clean the hive and care for the babies. All worker bees are female.

THE DRONE
The drone is what we call the male honey bee. His job is to mate with a queen. He dies
shortly after mating. If a drone has not mated by the time Winter comes, in cold climates, the
worker bees will kick the drones out of the hive.

TIP! WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLASS

Look for someone open to mentoring or answering questions once the class is over
and one that addresses swarming, mite treatments & overwintering.

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 A honey bee
can fly as fast
as 15mph.

STEP 5
Get Your Gear
In your beekeeping class you should have learned the parts of the hive and what you’ll need.
There is a checklist on the next page for your reference, so you don’t forget anything. One
website we often go to is Dadant.com. They sell high quality products that last awhile. There
are also a lot of smaller bee supply websites I strongly encourage you to check out that
might be closer to your home. These smaller bee supply companies may save you money on
shipping and you can support a local, small business.

TIP! A FEW WAYS TO SAVE A BUCK

Getting started beekeeping can be pricey. My advice is to keep it simple. Start with the
basic hive parts & safety gear. Don’t buy gadgets until you know you need one.

A few ways to save some money:

1) Build it yourself. Bee boxes can be made fairly easily if you have a table saw. Go to
beesource.com/build-it-yourself for plans you can download for free.

2) Order unassembled. 1 unassembled box with unassembled frames is $32.95.

One painted and assembled box with frames from the same supplier is $60.75.

3) If you have the time, try luring a swarm instead of buying bees. You can make them
easily on your own or buy one.

4) Join a bee association that owns an extractor that they let members use. Membership
fees are usually under $50 a year and extractors are $200 or more.

5) Keep bees with a buddy so you can split the cost of equipment and bees.

6) Find someone who would benefit from having bees on their property (free pollination
or wants honey to use in their business) and offer to tend to the bees for free and share
the honey harvest. In exchange they help pay for equipment.

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 Supplies Checklist
q Head protection - veil, veiled jacket or
suit with veil.
q Hat or helmet to wear under veil
q 1-2 hive tools
q Smoker
q Sting-resistant gloves
q Medium frames/super frames
q Deep frames/hive body frames - 9.125”
q 2 deep supers/hive bodies
q 2 medium or shallow honey supers
q Lid (telescoping outer cover if cold climate)
q Bottom board
q If not wearing a suit, one heavy weight long
sleeve shirt and pants.
q Hive stand (optional)
q Smoker fuel (tree bark, pine needles, burlap)
q Lighter or torch
q Pen and notebook
q Hive feeder (cold climates only)
q Entrance reducer (or make your own)
q Queen excluder (only necessary for flow
hives)

ACTION STEPS:
q Order gear
q Assemble and paint (if not
beeswax-coated)

TIP! WHEN BUYING A VEIL

Look for a veil that has a wire screen, not fabric. Wire will last considerably
longer and not rip!

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 Honey is the
only food that
NEVER
goes bad!

STEP 6
A Community
GET YOUR HANDS STICKY
This is an optional step, but for those of you who have the extra time, it’s worth doing.
Get some hands-on time with the bees. Take an in-person class or find a local beekeeper
to shadow. Get your hands sticky and see if you like it.

Contact your local bee association and ask if they can send an email out to their members or
go to a meeting and network. If there is a way you can give back, offer that as well. If you’re
strong, offer to help move bees. Offer to help harvest honey or label jars - a task most bee-
keepers hate doing. If you’re a designer, offer to make them a honey label. Some people are
happy to let you shadow them, but its always nice to offer a way to show your appreciation.

FIND A MENTOR
Having a mentor is another optional step but one that will save you hours of headache and
stress. I didn’t have a mentor my first 2 years and I felt lost. My 3rd year I had a mentor and
she explained SO MUCH just in the first few months. It was a game-changer for me. I went
from being unsure to having fun. I didn’t dread problems in the hive.

The other benefit is that you have one person to go to for help. When you go to online forums
or talk to a group of people at your bee association, you’ll get a lot of different responses. This
can sometimes make you feel even more confused. All of our online classes include mentor-
ship because I believe it’s one of the best ways to ensure your hive survives its first year.

ACTION STEPS:
q Join a bee association
q Contact local beekeepers and ask if you can shadow them

TIP! LEARN ABOUT BEES FIRST

Take a class and learn about bees & beekeeping first so you have some knowledge
when you shadow a beekeeper. Then you can ask more thoughtful questions out with
the beekeeper that will help you when you have your bees.

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 One way bees
communicate is
by dancing.

STEP 7
Get Your Bees
Bees are sold in two ways - packages and nucs. A package of bees is a screened box with
about 10,000 worker bees and one queen bee. They are usually about $100. A nuc (short for
nucleus hive) is 3-5 frames of honey and baby bees (brood) covered in worker bees and one
queen. A nuc is usually about $150 and the ideal way to go. A nuc is essentially a mini bee-
hive. You have a queen bee that is already laying eggs, baby bees, food and a fully working
hive. A package requires the bees to start from scratch and requires that the beekeeper re-
lease the queen. Although a package of bees is an OK way to start, if you live in an area with
an especially long Winter or cold Spring, you may want to get a nuc so the bees have a better
chance of gathering enough food to survive the Winter.

WHERE TO BUY BEES

Buy bees as locally as possible! Contact your local association and ask for recommendations.
Many have a link on their website for local farms. Or ask any local beekeepers you might
know. You can also ask the person at the honey table at your farmers market. Do not buy
bees online and have them shipped to you. It’s very common for the bees to arrive dead.
Even if they are still alive, they are incredibly stressed out. Start off on a good foot and pick
up your bees. This might mean having to drive 1-2 hours to a farm. I can’t stress enough how
important it is to know other hobby beekeepers. This is a good time to car pool and get rec-
ommendations from people for good places to buy bees.

Get a marked queen

When buying your bees, if you’re asked if you would like a marked queen, say yes. A marked
queen will have a dot of paint on her back. This makes it a lot easier to spot her.

ACTION STEPS:
q Ask around for recommendations for places to buy bees
q Order your bees by January if you’re ready to get started in the Spring.

TIP! ORDER YOUR BEES IN THE WINTER

Most bee farms take orders in the winter for the Spring. Place your order in January to
make sure they don’t sell out.
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 3,000 year old
honey was found in
King Tut’s tomb & it
was still edible.

Thank you for reading!

Are ready to get started keeping bees? Here at Beekeeping Made Simple, we offer online
beekeeping classes and mentorship. Learn more at BeekeepingMadeSimple.com. Just for
reading our guide, here’s a coupon. Use promo code BeeBook for 25% off.

Have questions? Email me. I can be reached at Laryssa@beekeepingmadesimple.com. I’m

happy to answer questions by new-bees looking to get started.

Thanks for reading,

Laryssa
Founder
Beekeeping Made Simple

25% OFF
GETTING STARTED KEEPING BEES
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Redeem at beekeepingmadesimple.com.
Enter promo code BeeBook at checkout.

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