New beekeeper, starter kit

[chickenwing654]

Hi,

Wondering what I should have at site with starting a hive?  Especially quantity.

Thinking 2 deep supers (for Brood), 2 medium honey supers, 40 frames, inner cover, telescoping cover, screened bottom board, and bees.  Wondering what is recommended for frames types with foundation types?   Do you recommend wood frames with foundation, or the plastic frames that is wax coated?   Smoker, and Veil hat.  Should I have more on hand for extras?  What about medications on hand?

I see a bunch of videos of beekeepers with no protection, wondering how many of you where the full suit?  Or some protection?

Thanks
David

Should I have something else that I didn't think of ?

thanks in advance.

David

[iddee]

You opened a can of worms with that question. Every beek likes different things. I would suggest starting with two hives, one deep or two mediums for each. Screen bottoms are slowly going by the wayside and solid bottoms are coming back. Take your choice or try one of each.
Same with frames. Try different ones and see which you like best. Wood frames and wax foundation are the most work. Wood frames and plastic foundation are easier, but harder to get the bees to accept. Don't buy kits or extra equipment until sure it will be used. Many things are bought and never used.

[BeeMaster2]

David,
You need to have the protective equipment even if you are comfortable not using it. Sometimes you will definitely need it. Wear what ever you need to bee comfortable. If you can, I recommend not using gloves. Smoke your hands real good. If you use heavy leather gloves, you will crush bees. The gloves will bee stung over and over as the bees react to the venom in them. This will cause the bees to bee more aggressive.
You definitely need a good, large smoker.
I like the plastic cell foundation in wood frames or foundation less wood frames. If you have small hive beetles, do not use the all plastic frames. They have lots of small areas that the bees cannot use or protect.
You also need a couple of hive tools. They get lost easily.
I still have the medication that I bought when I started. I never use them.
Before you buy bees, ask the seller what they are treating their bees with. You will need to treat your bees with the same chemicals. I would try to find a local beek that is selling bees without using any chemicals/antibiotics.
Bees can and do develop queens that have the genetics to handle all the problems that we have thrown at them when we don't use all those chemicals on them.
Good luck.
Jim

[beesNme]

I made all my boxes, i bought 2 nuc hives, and put 1 nuc on deep wood frames with foundation, the other i mixed with foundation/ foundationless.  Then the basic equipment, jacket,veil, hive tool and smoker. I would try and get local, This will be my first over winter.   Where in ma ?   I lived in cape cod for 18 years

Good luck

[jayj200]

over here I would go full suit

foundationless means more work, keeping the come straight no cross comb no one talks of double comb.
Plastic! those hold places for SHB to hide

[Michael Bush]

Advice:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesoptions.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnewbees.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm

[Eric Bosworth]

I would recommend standardizing on one size hive body. It makes it so much easier to share resources between hives. I also agree with Sawdust that you will need protective clothing. One thing that I would say however is that gloves are a double edge sward. With gloves it is difficult to feel the bees and easy to squish them by accident. However I have been stung in the hand many times because I was trying to hold a frame with one hand and I didn't have a very good grip and almost dropped it and squished a few bees with my bare hand by accident. I rarely use much protection. If I do it is usually because I know I am going to do something that will alienate them. As far as frame types... I don't use foundation or medication. The bees will either live on their good genetics or they will die by their poor genetics. If you are starting from packages I would find a local source for queens and re-queen mid summer with a local queen. see

http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=FNE09-665&y=2009&t=0

I also don't recommend 1 hive. If you have two and one is doing poorly you can use resources from the strong hive to help out the weak hive.