Instructions for New Bee Hives

Keeping bees can be an entertaining and modestly lucrative hobby. Bees can provide honey and wax, and they can help a healthy garden by pollinating flowering plants and trees. The practice of apiculture, or keeping bees, dates back to ancient Egypt, and the basic equipment for keeping bees has changed little over the past few thousand years. Setting up a beehive involves stacking a series of wooden boxes designed to shelter the insects, putting on protective gear to prevent stings, and placing the bees into their new home.

Things You'll Need

  • Beehive kit
  • Protective veil, gloves and suit (optional)
  • Packaged bees
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Instructions

  1. Hive Assembly

    • 1

      Place cinder blocks or bricks in the area where you want your hive. You don't want the bottom of the hive getting wet.

    • 2

      Position the hive stand on top of the blocks or bricks. Be sure it's balanced properly.

    • 3

      Place the bottom board on top of the stand. Put the brood chamber on top of it. Bees will brood and produce honey for their own use in the brood chamber. Insert frames into the chamber. Most brood chambers will require 10 frames. The frames catch the honey for the bees.

    • 4

      Position the queen excluder on top of the brood chamber. The excluder keeps the queen bee in the chamber.

    • 5

      Stack the honey super on top of the queen excluder. Insert the frames into the honey super. You'll get honey for your own use from the super.

    • 6

      Place an inner cover on top of the honey super. Put an outer cover on top of the inner cover to protect your bees from bad weather.

    Bee Introduction

    • 7

      Collect your bees from an apiary, post office or delivery service. If you have to pick them up, do so as quickly as possible to prevent losses.

    • 8

      Fill the feeders with sugar syrup. The syrup will provide nourishment for the bees while they're beginning to make honey. A 1-to-1 mixture of sugar and water will ensure that the bees don't starve and begin reproducing as quickly as possible. You can use a plastic bag with a slit cut into it as a feeder; commercial feeders are also available.

    • 9

      Put on protective gear. This might include a suit, veil, hat and gloves. It's usually best to introduce the bees to their new home late in the afternoon, since they're less likely to fly away and more likely to be peaceful.

    • 10

      Remove the bees from their packaging. They'll usually be in two separate cages: One for the queen and a few other bees, and one for worker bees. Place the queen cage into the brooder chamber. Pour the worker bees into the chamber. The queen cage is usually sealed with a small plug of sugar. The worker bees will eat through the sugar to free the queen. The process also allows the worker bees to recognize her as their queen.