Beekeeping – How to Get Your Bees

If you aren’t allergic to bee stings, beekeeping can be a great way to take an active role in agriculture even if you don’t have a great deal of money and acres of land . You only need one hive to get started and once you have purchased it you can keep it in a remote corner of your back yard. Some people even have a hive in their suburban homes!

Before you decide to keep bees though you will have to check the local rules and regulations with your council or relevant authority.
They will tell you if you live in an area that restricts keeping bees. They will also be able to give you the contact information of your state’s beekeeping organization so that you can become a registered beekeeper.

Once the administration side is done you can select a site for your potential honey bee hive.

Once you have selected a site for your beehive you will need to buy the equipment needed to successfully maintain a beehive. Some of the equipment can be purchased used on EBay or similar online websites. You can also contact your beekeeping organization and ask for a list of suppliers from them.

Before acquiring bees for your hive it’s important to make sure that you are properly protected, which means you have to purchase beekeepers’ gear.

Once your hive is in place and you are confident that everything is in working order it’s time to order your honey bees. The easiest way is to order Honey Bees from an established Apiary. You should plan on placing you bee order early in the winter. The order is typically shipped in March and April. Most Apiary’s ship their bees through the postal service. When the bees arrive at the post office your mail carrier will call and ask that you pick up the bees. Very few mail carriers are comfortable driving all over the county with a car full of young angry bees and most bees are healthier if they don’t have to spend several hours in a hot car.

When you pick up your bees they should have been packaged in a special carrying case that is designed just for bees. This package will be a wooden framed “house” that has a screen covering the outside. This packaging allows air to circulate to the traveling bees and also protects handlers such as post office employees from getting stung.

When you get your bees, do not be surprised if you see a few dead bees laying in the bottom of the package. Traveling is hard on bees and they can’t all be expected to live through the trip. The rest of the bees should be clutching the sides of the container.

You will notice that one bee in the container has been separated from the rest of the hive.This is your queen bee. The rest of the bees in the container will make up the rest of your bee hives hierarchy.  Some Apiaries ship the queen with a couple of nurse bees. The top of the queen’s container will be covered with a piece of sugar candy.

You can also see a container that is filled with a sugar solution. This sugar solution is what the bees feed on while they are traveling. Once you get your bees home offer them something to drink. You do this by taking a spray bottle and cover the container with a very fine spray of water.