September is the ideal month to start and you can set yourself up for about $600, with little further investment other than jars for storing honey.
Here’s what you need to get started. HIVE to house 40,000 to 60,000 bees.
Start with one box, adding boxes up to four layers high three to four weeks later as the numbers increase.
Not giving the bees enough space can cause swarming, in which the queen leaves with a number of workers and drones and establishes a new hive.
There are several components you’ll need to set up the boxes, including frames, foundation sheets that go in the frames, stainless steel wire to suspend the foundations in the frames, and paint to finish it all off.
A beehive is a very moist environment as the bees have to evaporate 60 to 70 per cent of the moisture from the nectar to make honey, so nails and other hardware should be cement or plastic-coated.
Smoker of any size, although larger ones are easier to keep lit. You can burn bark, casuarina needles, woodchips, even hessian, but don’t use anything that has been sprayed with pesticides.
Protective gear such as a suit that covers you head to toe, or a veil, gloves, long sleeved top and long trousers, socks and shoes.
Hive tool to lift off the lid, move the boxes around and lift out the frames. Buy a commercial one or use a flat drive screwdriver for the job.
Brush for gently removing bees from the frames when harvesting honey.
Bees are sold by weight and a 2kg bag of bees costing about $100 is sufficient for a four-box hive. Each bag contains a new queen in her own wooden cage. She is placed in the box and the rest of the bees are shaken in.