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How to start beekeeping

If you are thinking, 'how do I start beekeeping'? You have come to the right place. On this page we give you all the steps needed to start beekeeping and manage your bees.
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How to start beekeeping and experience the taste of your own bees honey.

Beekeeping is a brilliant hobby. It's fun, challenging, rewarding and the whole family can get involved. Want to know how to start beekeeping? It starts with buying some bees and we have nucleus colonies for sale that are calm, placid and make the perfect partner for your back garden hive.

How to start beekeeping - hive
How to start beekeeping - hive
1. EDUCATE YOURSELF

Before you buy your bees, do as much research as you can. Read books, watch videos, speak to beekeepers. You want to learn as much as you can before the bees arrive. We also recommend joining the local beekeeping association and going to a taster session before you buy your bees. This will give you a good idea of what the hobby is about.

How to start beekeeping - hives outside
2. BUY EQUIPMENT

Once you are sure beekeeping is for you it's time to buy your equipment. Beekeeping can be an expensive hobby but buy cheap, buy twice is a good philosophy to follow. Don't buy cheap equipment and definitely don't buy used equipment. It's a massive disease risk. We recommend poly hives from Abelo. They are the best on the market. 

How to start beekeeping - nooks outside
3. LOCATION

We always suggest to beginners to not place your bees in your back garden, unless it's HUGE. Out apiaries are just so much easier to manage. The bees are much happier out of the way and it makes the management of bees so much easier. Speak to a local farmer and see if they are willing to let you place some beehives on their land.

How to start beekeeping - hives outside
4. ORDER YOUR BEES

This is probably the most important step in the process. Buy your bees from a trusted seller or purchase them from your local beekeeping association. Make sure the bees have been inspected by a professional beekeeper for disease. Buying cheap bees never ends well. They either end up dying or even worse, spreading disease around your brand new apiary. 

How to start beekeeping - hives outside
5. LEARN SOME MORE

Now your bees have arrived, this is where you begin to learn what beekeeping is all about. Observe your bees at every opportunity but only inspect them when its needed. Bees tend to do better when they are not disturbed too often but you need to inspect them at least once per week to ensure that they don't swarm. When bees swarm EVERYTHING becomes a lot more difficult. Try to avoid it.

How to start beekeeping - Laurence checking the honey
6. YOUTUBE

It would take me years to try and write down the details of my YouTube videos, so why not subsrcibe to my channel and see for yourself. I have recorded over 1300 videos which document how to start beekeeping but also how to manage your bees effectively throughout the season. We film 3 new videos every single week and there is a video available for any question you may have about bees.

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Great service with the best queens. Never miss the videos. The best YouTube channel by far. Answers every question on his live streams without Super Chats

David J Biscoe

How to start beekeeping. All you need to know.

Beekeeping mistakes. I have made them all. In the video below I give you an overview of how to start beekeeping but also let you in on some tricks of the trade which means you don't have to make the same mistakes I made when I was starting beekeeping over 10 years ago. 

HOW TO START BEEKEEPING IN 2024. LEARN MORE.

How to start beekeeping with our buckfast nucs for sale

From Nationals to Flow Hives, we have nucleus colonies for sale to fit your beehive. Our calm, placid honey bees arrive with an F1 Mated Buckfast queen, 3 to 4 frames of brood in all stages and are securely packaged in a Paynes poly nuc. The perfect way to start beekeeping.

Buy Queens Online.jpg
Worth every penny, I'm not tight I'm cash conscious so for me to pay a small monthly subscription and keep paying it I must feel it's value for money. If I ask a question,  it's answered personally in mins. And the videos are so on time for what you should be doing and when you never miss a trick

Cub Rider

Our ordering process is simple

We do our best to make things as simple as possible. From fast checkouts to Apple/Google Pay. We have you covered.

Easy Ordering

Our website is backed by WIX so it's super-fast and secure. We support fast checkouts with Google/Apple Pay to make ordering as simple as possible. We take all major credit/debit cards.

Fast Delivery

We work as hard as the bees to get your orders to you ASAP. Queens/Nucs are sent via Royal Mail’s Special Tracked Next Day Delivery and all other orders are sent via a Tracked 48hr service.

Customer Service

We don’t just deliver your bees and abandon you. We produce a wide range of videos to help you become a better beekeeper. We are always contactable by phone, email or WhatsApp.

Quality Products

Whether you want to buy queen bees or you are looking for nucs for sale, quality is everything to us. We don't cut corners! When you buy from BMH, you get the very best bees money can buy. 

View our FAQs

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