Essential Beekeeping Equipment for Beginners
So, you have finally decided to embark on a beekeeping journey. But when you started shopping for beekeeping equipment, you learned to your dismay that they can get a bit pricey real quick! Since it wouldn’t make sense to rush out and spend all your hard-earned cash on your newfound hobby, you have to approach things with extra care.
To avoid breaking the bank, here are some essentials that you can never do without if you want to ensure the success of your beekeeping adventure!
Bees
This is the first thing you need. After all, you can’t be a beekeeper without any bees in the first place, right? For this, you can choose to catch a swarm or buy packaged bees. It’s your call.
Bee Brush
Every time you remove the frame from the beehive, chances are you will need a good quality brush to get rid of the bees from it.
- While most bees often come off by just giving the frame some good old shake, there will always be some stubborn ones that would refuse to budge.
- A bee brush has firm and long but not stiff bristles that you can use to gently remove any remaining bees.
- If you can’t find one, you can always opt for a good quality soft paintbrush as an alternative. However, paintbrushes may be more expensive than regular bee brushes.
Beekeeper’s Suit
Although you might want to get an actual beekeeper’s veil, a real beekeeper’s suit isn’t always necessary. If you want and can buy a new one, there’s nothing wrong with this, either. But if you like to minimize your expenses for your beekeeping equipment, you can always make do with the available stuff at home.
For example, you can pair a hunting camo jacket with long jeans and a pair of work gloves. You can also use tube socks and tuck your jeans into them. Grab the duct tape to secure your jacket at your wrists. Put on your gloves and use another duct tape layer to tape these to your jacket. And just like that, you’re all set!
