Starter Kit Overview
Lesson 1
There is a lot of beekeeping information to consume, including a never-ending plethora of beekeeping products you can buy. How do you know which things you actually have to have to get started? In this course, you’ll get an in-depth look at the essential items that come as part of most beekeeping starter kits (including ours). We’ll also provide our recommended item combinations.
Beekeeping Equipment Background
Beekeeping is an exciting hobby that many see as an unexplored frontier.
People of all ages and backgrounds are joining the beekeeping club at unprecedented rates (see the numbers from honey industry reports here).
While there are aspects of beekeeping that still require study and research to understand, many facets have been used by beekeepers for hundreds of years with varying degrees of success.
One such facet that beekeepers intimately understand is beekeeping equipment.
Beekeepers have largely used the same equipment for the past 165+ years. However, in recent years, there has been an enormous influx of new equipment variations and alterations added to the market.
These changes, along with a few recent innovative beekeeping products, can make it hard for the beginning beekeeper to discern what they need to have to get started.
Enter the Starter Kit
To alleviate some of the confusion, beekeeping supply companies often provide the essentials you need to have in a product collection known as a Starter Kit.
Most Starter Kits contain everything you absolutely must have and some might include some nice extra pieces of equipment.
Important Note
Not all starter kits are made equal. Some kits include things you don’t need such as a frame gripper and some are missing crucial elements such as a hive tool or a bee suit.
The purpose of this course is to outline the essentials needed to successfully complete a season of beekeeping.
With that in mind, here are the basics your starter kit must have:
- Bee Suit - preferably full body (gloves come separately)
- Beekeeping Gloves - preferably goatskin
- Hive Tool - usually only comes with one but consider purchasing extras
- Smoker - technically optional but more details on this later
- Woodenware - one fully assembled and ready-to-go hive
We’ll explore each of these in greater depth in the following lessons. The next lesson covers the bee suit, the most critical piece of equipment a beekeeper will ever use.
Let’s head to the next lesson to learn more about it.
Leave a comment
Comment as a guest: