Basic Beekeeping Equipment And Accessories

There is a lot of beekeeping equipment available on various websites. These include beehives, beeswax sheets, protective clothing for beekeepers, honey extractors, bee smokers and many other apiary accessories.

Bee Hives

For bee keeping, the most important beekeeping equipment is the bee hive.  It should be made of good quality wood, and Western Red Cedar is often used to make them. Some others use pine, which is relatively cheaper, but not as stable.

Cedar is the best choice for making bee hives, because it smells good and is beautiful to look at.  Cedar has many natural oils and they make the wood stable.  That is the reason why it does not warp even it is subjected to the worst weather.

Besides bee hives there is a lot of other beekeeping equipment which has to be acquired by the beekeeper.  Honey jars, hive tools and accessories, jar labels and good beekeeping books are some of them.

Sometimes a fence may be necessary for your apiary if you want to keep your equipment safe from cattle and other animals.  Let us therefore look at some of the most important things required in a list of beekeeping equipment.  A basic set of equipment is required to run a unit and some objects are absolutely mandatory.

Basic Equipment
The most important beekeeping equipment is the smoker.  If you make proper use of the smoker, it is possible to manage the hives, since the bees remain docile when you have the hive open.  If you don't use a smoker, there is every chance of stings for the beekeeper as well as others nearby.  It will also cause the colony to be more aggressive in the future.
The bee suits also helps you from not getting stung as you work with the hives. It keeps the honeybees from crawling into your clothes and masking your body odor.  It also helps you to keep cooler if you are working in the direct sun. If your bee suit does not include a bee hat and a veil, you should acquire them too.  They are critical in keeping bees away from your head and neck.
Hive Tools and gloves are handy gadgets to have as your beekeeping equipment.  The tools come in various styles.  The gloves prevent the bees from stinging your hands and keep them from crawling up inside your sleeves.  A bee brush could also come in handy whenever you want to brush bees off things or off yourself.
Ankle and wrist straps are totally optional, but are nice to have if your bee suit or clothing does not provide them already.  With these straps you can seal up your pant legs and sleeve cuffs to avoid bees from crawling in.
Probably a full body suit is ideal to provide excellent protection, comfort, convenience and durability.  If it is properly sized and worn, the full body suit provides total sting protection when you are working the hives or dealing with other stinging insects like wasps and hornets.