Honey Bees
Supplies and Checklist
In winter or early spring:
Before your bees arrive around the end of April or beginning of May, have the following ready.
- Hive with all its components x2
- Feeders x2
- Smoker
- Smoker fuel
- Hive tool (I keep a few around)
- Bee brush (I thought this was a little superfluous at first, but it really does come in handy)
- Frame grip (not essential, but I use it all the time)
- Notebook and writing utensil
- Veil
- Gloves (goatskin or nitrile)
- Suit
- Sugar to make syrup
- Pollen patties
- Varroa treatments (don’t necessarily have to have right away, but I would rather have treatments on hand so that I can take action right away if I notice a problem)
I don’t personally use these, but many beekeepers also recommend:
- Queen excluder
- Frame spacer
- Hive carrier
Before honey harvest, have a plan for how you are going to get the honey from your bees, extract, and bottle the honey.
- Fume board or blower for honey super removal
- Uncapping knife or large kitchen knife
- Honey extractor
- Bucket with honey gate
- Sieve
- Bottles and labels
Before winter, have supplies to winterize your hive.
- Tar paper or hive wrap
