Beekeeping 101

Keeping bees can be one of the most challenging and rewarding things you can take on! Things have changed a lot in the last 25 years. The days of throwing bees into a box and then extracting honey once a year are long past. If you intend to keep bees like your grandpa in the 80s or just want to have honey “on tap” in the backyard, it is highly recommended that you re-examine your expectations. A number of new and evolving challenges have been arriving on our doorstep, including the introduction of spotted lantern fly in 2024, that make it imperative we are educated in honey bee care so that we can avoid hive losses and enjoy the fruits of our labor!

For beginners wanting to know where to start, the best thing to do is to make your way to our Oldham County Beekeepers Association (OCBA) club meetings!

The OCBA is a friendly and welcoming Kentucky beekeeping club where we focus on education and community involvement. We are always working to provide our beekeepers with a wealth of information for you to access.  It is important to network and build relationships with other beekeepers. Facebook pages work great for updates and changes, but physically coming to the meetings is integral to your success.

The OCBA meets the second Thursday of each month at 7pm at the La Grange Firehouse (around back in the basement). The only exception to these meeting dates is when the club has field days scheduled.  Please see the events listed on our events page for more detail.

Educational Opportunities for New Beekeepers

There is a highly recommended beginner beekeeping program, co-hosted among

four local Kentucky bee clubs in February and March each year. Videos from past years’ beginner classes can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw-1UBRWtydMlmF8SgxzQIoj1oUbcnwKj 

The videos are admittedly a little long and in depth, but they are a great tool for learning the basics of beekeeping. There is a lot of information (and misinformation) out there so it is important to have a general understanding of the beekeeping basics from a trusted source, before acquiring bees.  It is said that 90% of beekeeping is the fundamentals. If you prepare yourself beforehand, this will help you to handle the other 10% and make confident decisions.

Beekeeping Book Recommendations

There are several great beekeeping books for beginners. The “Beekeeping for Dummies” book is both informative and approachable, but be sure you only use the most recent edition as beekeeping changes rapidly. Several other books are available on the subject.

We have some additional resources listed on the Oldham County Beekeepers Association Extra Resources and Publications Page. Start with a short one. It is admittedly dated, but is a solid beekeeping overview. The Webster documents are written by a real beekeeping expert, a literal beekeeping professor, but can be overwhelming for a beginner.

There is also a list of Educational Resources For Beekeepers, put together by Jake Barker, EAS & Cornell Master Beekeeper. This document will provide a bunch of links to vetted and recommended materials. There is a lot of beekeeping content on the internet, but most of it is unreliable.

Buying Your Bees

As bee-buying time rapidly approaches, a lot of the companies out there will tell you it is time to order your packages and nucs. Advertisements for buying bees will start showing up in the fall. This is where the buyer should beware. The OCBA recommends buying bees from a club member, due to recurring disease, quality, and pest issues from many outside suppliers.Oldham County and the surrounding area has some great people to get bees from and we generally have a surplus of bees within the group. You can find a list of our members who sell bees and equipment on our  Nucs, queens, and equipment page.

 You will want at least two hives as a beginner. Members will generally offer both nucs and swarms. Nucs are generally the better product, but swarms are cheaper. The reality is, most of our successful group members have a preponderance of bees in the spring, in part because their bees have proven successful here, and their options are either “rehoming” those bees or risking losses to swarming. Local sales lead to further local investment and, by buying your bees locally, you are setting yourself up for a more successful beekeeping journey. 

The bulk of these locally-resourced bees are mutts from our local breeding and capturing programs. Most club members are selecting for varroa resistance to varying degrees of success. We also seek easy-to-handle bees with gentle temperaments. The individual bee suppliers can much better inform you of the qualities of their bees.

While “brick-and-mortar animal businesses” are allowed to sell animals on Facebook, private individuals are not, but may advertise for rehoming while charging rehoming fees. The admins will monitor both Facebook pages and will remove comments for bee sales and posts by non-area, non-group members, and those who we have any apprehension about (due to past experience and/or lack thereof).

There is also extensive amounts of scammers who will let you make a deposit or purchase bees and queens and they never show up. This is more an issue for the big regional group pages. Deal with someone who is a real person. Referrals are recommended. 

Buying Equipment

As far as equipment, the standard recommendation is buy new. Many experienced beekeepers have bought or been gifted used equipment several times, and even with disease free equipment, there is usually so much unseen damage you end up upside down on that investment. Buyer beware. New is recommended for a reason!

There are a number of equipment retailers in the region, though prices and quality can be everywhere. 

You will need personal protective equipment and enough materials for at least two full hives to accompany your two nucs. It is also recommended to have spare equipment on hand in case you need to make a split or catch a swarm.

Information on Hives and Components

Wooden beekeeping equipment is made in either industrial settings (Dadant and MannLake) or in small shops like a few of our Amish producers and The Honey and Bee Connection in Morehead, Ky. Most of the equipment fits together perfectly, however, sometimes it doesn’t. Some of it can be out of spec. Unfortunately, this does happen on occasion and across the board with all suppliers. A common issue with boxes is where the height of the boards is offset due to a small issue with the teeth-cutters, and/or cutting wet wood. A table saw can rapidly true these up and eliminate big gaps between boxes. (You will quickly learn that a big chunk of beekeeping is actually woodworking and a good table saw and technique can fix a lot of problems.)

Most producers use pine of some sort, though we do have an Amish producer (Pete Zook) that primarily uses cypress. Some seek the cypress for expectations of longer useful life, although most beekeepers think it is likely a negligible difference. Cypress and cedar readily split, so expect significant checking on those materials. Hives can be left unpainted, painted, chemical dipped or waxed dipped. Painting is most common. Cypress is somewhat difficult to paint but is doable with modern coatings. Many big commercial beekeepers chemical dip because it is fast, cheap and effective, and keep treatment vats in their warehouses. While the bee supply stores have the dip products in their catalog, most non-commercial beekeepers will not take on that endeavor.

Wax dipping involves devoted equipment to do it well, but when done correctly,  provides exceptional durability. The only nearby supplier who does this, to the club’s knowledge, is HappBee Acres.

Many beekeepers have their preferred equipment and hive arrangement. The hives could be double deeps with medium supers, or all mediums, in eight or 10 frame arrangements. Foundation use is recommended.  Most members have switched to plastic foundation.

The frame styles differ between the foundation products, with groove-top-bar and grove-bottom-bar for plastic foundations, and wedge-top-bar for all current wax applications (for wax, groove-bottom-bar is acceptable, though many prefer split-bottom-bar for wax).

All plastic foundations are not created equal!  The choice among club members is the Acorn brand of foundation. It is highly recommended to get the double waxed type.  There are also some members that have had general success with MannLake’s Ritecell.

Comparatively, bees generally love real wax foundation, but it has its drawbacks. It is far slower to install and really requires horizontal frame wiring regardless of manufacturer statements. It is much more sensitive to rough handling and the bees will chew sections of it out.

Regardless, make sure the wax used is bonafide beeswax. Honey bees will more readily draw out the foundation if there is a good coating of beeswax on the foundation. Beginning beekeepers need to be aware that there are a number of cheap synthetic waxes with dubious results. These products can cause more harm than good and can jeopardize your success. 

It is also recommended against buying any hive equipment from internet-only suppliers. It is good to know who you are buying your equipment from and that the company practices good customer service.  Many new beekeepers have had issues with a particular online-only supplier which sells wax-coated equipment. The woodenware rapidly deteriorates and the delaminated wax has been seen to hold water on the wood. Frames from places unknown fall apart or are resolutely rejected by the bees. Purchasing your equipment from a brick-and-mortar store outweighs purchases made for internet convenience.

Personal Protective Equipment

A good-fitting bee jacket and leather gloves combined with heavy jeans and boots is the best affordable way to start. Many beeks prefer a suit for complete protection, as jeans are not sting-proof. Ventilated jackets and suits are nice, but come at a premium. Fencing-style jackets work well for most, while larger-necked individuals may benefit from a cricket or round-hat type top. Many experienced beekeepers prefer nitrile gloves, but you should start with leathers. Leather gloves offer pretty miserable tactile control, but beginners invariably smash bees at least the first few times. Good PPE lets beginners muddle through the learning process of getting into hives; bad PPE leaves hives uninspected and dead come spring.

Suppliers

This region is flush with suppliers, such as nationwide retailers Dadant (Frankfort, Ky.) and MannLake (Clarkson, Ky; the old Kelley Bee Co.) and local suppliers like Peter Zook (Franklin, Ky.), The Honey and Bee Connection (Morehead, Ky.) and nearby out-of-state suppliers HappBee Acres (Batavia, Oh.) and Dogwood Ridge (Boonville, In.). Every beekeeper has an opinion as to what equipment is best. At OCBA we offer members the opportunity to be listed on our Nucs, queens, and equipment sales page. It is a great resource.

Mentorships

If you want a mentor, show up at meetings. The club does not have a formal mentoring program for liability reasons, but you have the opportunity to meet potential mentors by going to meetings, putting in time and showing that you are serious about taking this on. Good mentors save you time, money and bees.

The OCBA has a great number of good mentors. Good mentees put in the time and do as much reading and education as they can before the bees show up and show they value their mentor’s input. Some mentors charge for their time. It is best to communicate this ahead of time with your potential mentor.

Lastly, some very important items to consider:

• Beekeeping is not a hobby; we work on the bees’ time and work is the right word for it! It is an expensive, hectic, demanding obsession. It easily costs $1,200 to get started and 120 hours to learn the most basic suite of skills. Our most successful beginners have been those who spent their first year just as a club member, having bought only a jacket and gloves. They spend their first year shadowing other members to see if beekeeping is right for them and how they want to approach it.
• You need to be a self starter. If you need someone to hold your hand the whole time, you and your bees are not going to make it.
• Buyer beware! We cannot offer any guarantees regarding these listings or product quality from a retailer as a club. Any issues with a supplier are best addressed by first contacting that supplier for a resolution. Supplier quality can vary, so it is recommended that you get referrals.
• There will be emergencies or urgent issues. If you run into a problem, put it past your mentor or on the Facebook page and see what feedback you get. In general, there are no urgent emergencies in the apiary (save robbing) and urgent actions usually just aggravate situations. Take a deep breath, take notes, seek resources and then take action in an ordered timely fashion. Build those resources up before you need them. Understand the tasks of the year and their timeliness. You keep your bees alive by handling problems before they are problems. The Beekeeper’s Calendar is a great tool to see those problems coming.

Beekeeping is an exciting journey and, when approached with preparedness and education beforehand, can be very rewarding and empowering. Should you have any questions we encourage you to join our club (or a club if you are not in the area), attend a meeting, and talk to experienced beekeepers. Otherwise you can contact us through our online form.