Here are some ideas! (Books followed by equipment)

(Cheaper faster Kindle versions too)

• Beginner How To Books:

1. The Idle Beekeeper by Bill Anderson – (This almost belongs in my specialty section as it is about Warre hives, not traditional Langstroths. However, the fundamental concepts about the bees and why they do what they do in the hive is so stellar for beginners I’d still rank it as my number one for all beginners. Whatever hive body you settle on)

2. The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeeping by Dean Stiglitz

3. The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum

• Special Topics or Natural Beekeeping:

1. On The Spot Queen Rearing by Mel Disselkoen

2. Keeping Bees with a Smile by Fedor Lazutin (Do not be put off by the cheesy Russian cover, this is a great book about how to build double walled insulated horiztonal deep hives for extreme north beekeeping)

3. Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives by Georges de Layens

4. The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally by Michael Bush

• More Comprehensive Reference and Recipes:

1. The Beekeeper’s Bible by Richard Jones

2. The Honey Handbook by Kim Flottum

3. Make Mead like a Viking by Jereme Zimmerman

• Advanced Topics:

1. Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley (The How and why Honeybees Swarm and choose a new location)

2. The Lives of Bees by Thomas Seeley

3. Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting by Thomas Seeley

• Fiction or Memoirs of the Lives of Beekeepers:

1. The Honey Bus: A Memior of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May

2. The Beekeeper’s Wife by Shanda Blue (Fiction)

3. The Hive and the Honeybee by L.L.Langstroth (The man, the legend, the Reverend)

Starter Gear:

1. Smoker, Frame Grip, Hive Tool Kit 

2. Cool Ventilated BeeJacket with Fencing Style Hood (PLEASE NOTE, if you use a fencing style hood you MUST wear a baseball cap under the veil. If the veil is allowed to touch your face the bees will sting your nose.) –

3. Square Veil with zipper for your current jacket (Must also purchase helmet separately)

4. Bee Helmet and Square veil alternative option – (Do NOT purchase the Mann Lake one on Amazon, my inner band broke in under 2 months. Cheap quality, Go with this one at GloryBee on sale right now) – Helmet  and  Veil

5. Gloves – For most inspections I would suggest double layering Nitrile gloves. Your dexterity is WAY better with gripping frames, you can feel if you are about to squish a bee and can avoid it and making them defensive, and while they can technically still sting you if they really tried, they seem confused by the nitrile like they don’t know they are on skin, and will keep looking for a place to sting, never finding it. When the finally do, they can’t penetrate the gloves very deeply meaning less pain and venom (they are gloves for surgeons to resist needle pricks and cuts). You can grab nitrile gloves at Ace Hardware or off amazon. IF you plan on doing swarm capturing and extractions and want extra protection, get whatever beekeeping gloves have good ratings on amazon!

Starter Equipment:

1. Standard Langstroth Hive bodies – I suggest running 100% mediums if you aren’t restricted to a deep frame nuc you’ve purchased. Easier on the back, and no need to buy different sizes of frames for different reasons. Please reach out to our local Polson dealer: Western Bee Commercial grade wood (cheaper) is fine, and you can pay extra to have it pre-assembled if you don’t have an airpressure stapler.

2. You can also go with Polystyrene Hives which have a very high R-value insulation compared to traditional wood.  My bees have overwintered in these very well.  The Lyson brand at BetterBee.com is superior.

Total needs per hive:

a. Bottom Board

b. Slatted Rack (optional but beneficial)

c. 2 Medium or Deep Hive bodies

d. 1 medium super

e. 10 frames with foundation for every hive body you purchase (20 for 2, 30 frames for 3)

f. Telescoping Cover with Inner lid or Burlap instead of inner lid.

Special Purchases:

1. Apprentice Beekeeping ONLINE class with University of Montana, several times and dates available this year

2. Beekeeping conferences occur all year in all regions and states. We’ll list them on our Events page.

Finally, the BEES:

1. There are no longer any local (Flathead) Nucs for sale that I personally know of. Ingvar and I have a goal of providing those to our club once we get our operations established and larger. You have the options of:

• Getting packages mailed to you through websites.
• Visit our Bee Purchasing page under Resources or click here
• However, all this cost and trouble might not be necessary. I have been successfully capturing FREE bees– Swarms that are the result of spring hives doubling and sending out new colonies in search of a home. And I’ve given them that home using simple traps set at eye level using ratchets on a tree (to later come home to my apiary). The price of packages (just bees) and nucleus colonies (3-4 frames of brood plus bees) is growing so high it’s not sustainable to keep as a hobby. $180-$250 PER hive. You can watch this slide show I presented at our bee club meeting where I will perform a HOW TO CAPTURE FREE BEES FOR NEWBEES.   You can also watch my full video presentation about Sustainable Beekeeping by trapping, splitting, and pollinator health at the Free The Seeds 2020 event with this link.