When to start a beehive in florida
How much does it cost to start BEEKEEPING?
so you want to be a beekeeper and you're
saying next spring is the year to do it
but you have no idea how much it costs
you don't exactly know what type of
equipment you need that's what this
video is about this is the end of my
first season of beekeeping I actually
got some honey from one of my hives
which is great for your first year so
I'm gonna share everything I used and
how much it costs to help those new
beekeepers out there
[Music]
so for this video we're going to make a
couple assumptions first assumption you
are buying everything brand new second
assumption you're buying everything
separately the third assumption is that
you are buying from blue sky B supply
that's an online website great website
there is another one called Man Lake the
great thing about Man Lake is that they
have free shipping over $100 but I think
blue sky has slightly better prices
overall but they don't have the free
shipping I'm pretty sure so you need to
compare these two websites see what
works for you blue sky B supply and man
Lake
both are great be keeping supply
companies I'm also making it an
assumption that you are getting 10 frame
supers which is what I'm using but you
need to know this beekeeping is a little
bit different in every region in America
so you may be doing something slightly
different the people in your area might
be doing something slightly different
but I'm gonna go ahead and break down
first the components of a hive and I'm
gonna tell you exactly how much it cost
brand new and then you can be the judge
to find a way to make things cheaper and
at the end of pricing everything out I
am going to give you a grand total and
then I'm going to tell you a couple ways
that you could save some money to make
beekeeping a little more affordable if
you can save a little bit of money
that's always a good thing so let's go
ahead and talk about hive components and
how much they cost so in the background
you can see my hive that I was able to
get 20 pounds of honey and 20 cut comb
sections this year which is great for my
first year so I'm gonna first break down
these components and then tell you how
much it cost
according to blue sky bee supply.com
so first we have the bottom board this
bottom board is basically the bottom of
your hive there's a couple of different
types you can get you
get a screen bottom board a solid bottom
board a lot of people switch off back
and forth depending on the season but a
bottom board alone just the bottom board
costs $18 and this is important too I'm
not including tax or shipping on any of
my prices so taxes is going to be
different shipping is gonna be different
so plan on spending a little more money
buying this up brand-new so the bottom
board is $18 this next one this is the
hive body it's a deep super it's a 10
frame super that costs $45 it comes with
a box and the frame and it has wax
foundation there's 10 frames inside of
there so for 45 bucks you can get the
deep body the next one is a medium super
it's smaller than the deep body and that
with the 10 frames is going to cost you
$40 now I have a second medium super
that I'm about to take off for the
season that's also $40 I'm going to
assume that you have a great first year
and you're going to need this medium
super you may not actually need the
medium soup the second medium super your
second your first here then it's
actually raining so I probably won't be
inspecting my bees inside the hive is an
inner cover I'll probably show shot of
that that inner cover cost $12 and then
on top of that the outside cover that's
your top cover that again brand-new
is $23 so basically right now we're
sitting at over a hundred and fifty
bucks for this hive setup so that is a
decent investment for beekeeping next up
we have bees you got to buy bees
sometimes you can get a swarm if you got
a swarm those are free bees but the
thing is you are probably not going to
get a swarm just getting into beekeeping
I know people that have been trying to
catch swarm for years
some have luck some have never caught
one but don't count on getting a swarm
your first year a swarm is basically
bees that have been crowded out of their
nest sometimes they're wild B sometimes
they're from a neighbor's hive and
they've flown out of their hive because
they don't have enough room so a bee
package costs about a hundred and twenty
five dollars a Nuke which is a queen
it's basically a mini high the hive is
already laying eggs you gotta have a
wide range of Ages a Nuke can cost a
hundred and eighty dollars
so getting a hive of bees is a big first
time investment so we had a freak
rainstorm so I'm not doing a hive
inspection for this video but that's
okay I'm gonna keep going with basically
these are hive components a lot of
people say you know are optional but
really in the end you need to have these
so I'm going to include them this is
probably the cheapest B component you'll
ever buy this is a entrance reducer and
you use this in the fall and the winter
and the spring when your hive is small
and it can't defend itself and it also
will keep in some warmth this is only a
dollar fifty but guess what if there's
anything you can make for beekeeping it
is an entrance reducer but this is
something you really need to have if you
want your bees to have more success then
we have a queen excluder some people use
these some people don't some people call
it a honey excluder because sometimes
bees will not go through it but the
purpose of this is to keep the Queen in
the lower section of your hive so that
she doesn't start laying eggs where
you're hoping to harvest honey from
people do not want honey that has eggs
in it if you're doing cut comb and it's
just a lot easier if you keep the Queen
down in the hive body and the first
super some people getting use these some
people
I think they're worth having even if
you're not using them because you may
need it and if you don't have it you're
not gonna have it so this is about eight
dollars the next accessory for hives
what you really need anyways this is a
hive feeder especially if you're
starting your hive off you're gonna have
this feed your hive sugar water there's
lots of different feeders this is a top
feeder that goes on top of your super
and then you have your top cover over
this this is about fourteen dollars
there's lots of different types of high
feeders but this is the one I use you
can shop around and figure out the one
you like the best so now we've talked
about everything you need for the hive
we've talked about purchasing bees hive
accessories that really you kind of need
and now we're gonna finish it up with
tools and safety gear and again I'm just
showing you the bare minimum and you can
get as deep as you want into the gear
you think you need so I'm trying to show
you the best price for everything brand
new straight out of the box so let's go
ahead and share tools and safety gear so
you have to have a smoker again some
people don't use a smoker very rare but
as a first year beekeeper this smoker
has been very very handy you don't know
what you're doing you're learning and
bees are aggressive at certain times of
year and they're not aggressive at other
so at the beginning that you may not
really be using your smoker but I tell
you what when you're harvesting honey
and taking honey away from the bees
you're going to want to use your smoker
this is a basic smoker it cost about
thirty dollars a veil at the very
minimum you want a veil you can get an
affordable one for about sixteen dollars
this is a hive tool there are lots of
different types of hive tools this one
only cost six dollars online through
blue sky
but you can get more expensive ones that
go up probably to about $25 and then I
think everybody needs a be brush to
brush bees away especially when you're
harvesting and moving frames around so
that oh and last but not least again
some people don't use them and mine are
pretty dirty I need a wash them but
these are gloves these are the special
sheepskin leather gloves these cost
about $20 again I don't really use these
that often but the times I've used them
this year they've been really handy and
some people after a couple years you'll
use less and less safety gear maybe but
it's important to have it in case you
need it
so what is the grand total brand new to
get into beekeeping not counting taxes
not kind of shipping this is the number
three hundred and seventy three dollars
and fifty cents whoa that is a lot of
money three hundred seventy three
dollars and fifty cents the reason I
made this video is I did not know it was
going to be that expensive when I got
into it and I had to be committed once I
had my bees I had to keep going and it
was an expense that I didn't really know
was going to be that expensive now this
is if you buy everything brand-new now
I'm gonna give you a few tips on how to
save a little bit of money
number one you can buy a lot of this
starting gear as a complete set they're
their starter kits on a lot of be supply
websites so you can get a discount
through there you can buy use gear use
equipment now there's controversy about
use equipment you can spread disease you
don't want to bring mites or a virus
onto your property so that is up to you
if you want to buy used gear there's
lots of people that say yes
no so that's gonna be a topic for
another video what's another way you can
save money you can get stuff as gifts so
I got some of my gear from my mom thanks
again mom I keep saying it in videos
thank you mom as a Christmas gift so if
you're getting into beekeeping tell your
family hey can you buy me the smoker for
Christmas I really wanted 30 bucks hey
can you buy me this bee veil that's 16
dollars right so you can get stuff as
gifts you can also what is another way
you can make some of this equipment
yourself the hive bodies or just square
boxes if you have basic carpentry skills
you can probably save a few bucks off of
the hive components you can find ways
around some of the equipment you can get
a mosquito net that they sell for like 6
bucks that can work some of this gear
you don't need 100% of the time but it's
up to you to decide if you're gonna get
it or not
so hopefully this video has been helpful
for those people that are thinking about
getting into beekeeping I actually got
some of my gear for presents and I got
some of my hives at a flea market or at
least about half of the hive so I saved
about a hundred bucks by buying used
hives I won't get like you know random
frames from somewhere that are drawn and
you don't know anything about them but
yeah so I managed to save some money
through gifts and buying some used gear
and then a lot of my gear is also new so
if you have any questions if you think
you have a cheaper way to save money
with beekeeping go ahead and share in
the comments below until next time happy
beekeeper
[Music]
