Must Have Beekeeping Supplies Tools and Equipment for Beginner Beekeepers

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If you want to get started with beekeeping, there are some must have beekeeping supplies, tools, equipment and clothing every beginner will need. I often have folks ask me how to get started with backyard beekeeping so here are the supplies we use and recommend when you get started with beekeeping.

What does a beginner beekeeper need?

There are some basic pieces of equipment and tools you will need to start beekeeping. It is a major up front investment in beekeeping supplies which can be expensive to start out a new hobby.

Sometimes you can find folks who are getting out of beekeeping and selling used beekeeping equipment on Craigslist or Facebook sale groups.

We have an active statewide beekeeping group on Facebook and there is a sale post specifically where folks can list any beekeeping supplies, equipment and clothing for sale.

Sometimes you can find beginner beekeeping starter kits online like these that are made specifically for beginner beekeepers to get all the basic tools and equipment you need in a package deal.

Beekeeper Equipment, Tools and Supplies

There is a list of equipment you will need to start beekeeping. Some of these tools are handy to have but not an absolute necessity.

The most essential beekeeping tools are a good hive tool and a smoker. Each piece of beekeeping equipment and tools listed here are ones we use. We didn’t start out with every single tool but added them as we gained more experience and heard recommendations from fellow beekeepers in our local beekeeping club.

Bee Hive with frames

There are multiple styles of beehives available so decide what works for you. We chose to start with building our own Langstroth beehives since they are the most common style. The only downside I can say about a Langstroth hive is the amount of weight a super loaded full of honey. I can move 75-100lb bales of hay no issue, but lifting up a 100+ pound Langstroth bee hive super is a bit tricky for me and I usually need my husband’s help (and I hate asking him for help lol!)

We did eventually make a medium super with frames like these instead of the standard deep frames. This is definitely helpful in reducing the heavy weight of a Langstroth super loaded down with 100+ pounds of honey!

Hive Smoker

Bees become agitated when they think their hive is being threatened (which is basically anytime you open up their hive!) but they calm when smoke flows through their hive. It’s important to have a good quality beehive smoker since this is one piece of equipment that gets A LOT of use.

The first smoker we bought in a kit tore on the bellows and stopped working well which made it challenging to use at the beehives. Five years ago I invested in this higher quality hive smoker and it is still in really good shape and working well.

Fuel For the Bee Hive Smoker

We have used a variety of fuel for our beehive smoker while trying to figure out what works the best. There’s nothing worse than being out at the beehives trying to do a hive inspection and the fuel in the hive smoker stops smoking or won’t stay lit. It’s not only frustrating but the bees get really agitated and a bit more aggressive without the consistent smoke.

The main types of bee hive smoker fuels are pellets and cotton fiber. I’ve also tried picking up handfuls of dried pine needles from under one of our pine trees to use.

What I’ve found to work best for an easy to light, long lasting smoldering smoke producer is a mixture of is cotton fiber, smoker pellets, and a handful of pine needles from our property. I’ve been using this the last few years and it works great!

Hive tool

This is a must have for working with beehives! Honey bees “glue” everything shut with propolis so when you go out to the beehives, we always have to pry the lid and cover off. The beehive supers are usually stuck together too as well as the frames inside the box.

We have two different styles of hive tools. We started off with this basic style of beekeeping hive tool and this is still my husband’s preferred tool.

I attended a demonstration with a beekeeping instructor from the University Beekeeping program and he highly recommended using a J hook style beekeeping tool. I bought one to try it out and this is my preferred style of hive tool since I can use the J hook to help loosen or lift out a frame.

Bee Hive Frame Holder/Perch

This isn’t an absolute necessity but it sure is handy to have! I use this when doing a hive inspection or harvesting honey and I want to take some frames out to inspect inside the bee hive. This handy bee hive frame holder tool hooks to the outside of the bee hive super and securely holds the frames.

Frame Lifter/Holder/Gripper

This also is not an absolute necessity but makes beekeeping much easier. This frame gripper tool is used to pick up a frame to lift it out of the bee hive. What I like about it is that It helps me to pick up frames without smashing honey bees like I would if I picked up a frame with my gloved hands (this happened my first year beekeeping!)

One word of caution when using this tool, sometimes it ruins the wax comb on the frame if you aren’t super careful and the tool slips off and clamps the wax instead of just the wood frame. This is the frame gripper we have and recommend.

Bee Brush

This beekeeping brush is used for gently brushing bees off a frame of honeycomb. I initially didn’t like the idea of using a beekeeping brush since it seemed to agitate the bees. Then I realized that this is a necessity when harvesting honey frames. I’ve since learned how to gently but effectively brush bees off the frames when we’re harvesting honey.

Beekeeping Tool Box

It is really helpful to have a toolbox, carrying case with a handle or bucket to hold all your beekeeping supplies and tools that are needed when doing a hive check. We keep all our necessary beekeeping tools and supplies here so we always know where they are and can easily carry them back and forth from our beekeeping shed to our beehives.

My handy husband made our beekeeping tool box with scrap wood leftover from other projects so we didn’t have to spend money on buying one. He read some tips on how to make a beekeeper’s toolbox then created one to hold all our beekeeping tools. My husband fashioned an old horse shoe into a hook and mounted it to one end to hold our little tin pail for beeswax scrapings from the hives that we’ll later render into beeswax

Container to hold wax

We have a little old tin lard bucket that hangs off our beekeeping toolbox to put in any bits of wax we scrape out of the hives. I collect all the wax scrapings in a box in our beekeeping shed. When I have a bunch, I render it into beautiful beeswax to use in our homemade body care products like lip balm and medicinal salve.

Honey Bee Feeder

Honey bee feeders are used primarily in the early season to feed honeybees before nectar starts to flow. Sometimes they are used in the fall to feed the bees when there isn’t enough wild forage for them and you want to limit their consumption of winter food stores of honey in the hive.

There are several styles of honey bee feeders: tank feeders, front entrance feeders, round feeders, top feeders and feeders that look similar to a chick waterer. I also know some folks who make their own bee hive top feeders.

We have these tank feeders that fit down inside the super in place of one of the frames. These are handy to use in the spring when it’s not always warm enough for the bees to fly outside the hive. The downside to a tank feeder is that you have to open the hive to fill the feeder.

How to put together frames for a Langstroth bee hive and use a tank feeder to feed honey bees — The tank feeder can be seen on the far right of the bee hive in place of one of the frames

I’ve also repurposed one of our extra chick waterers and placed rocks in the syrup around the base so the bees wouldn’t drown in it. This style of honey bee syrup feeder sits by the front entrance to the hive or on top of the beehive.

This is my favorite style of feeder to use since I don’t have to open the hive to fill it. The key is to wake up early enough before the bees start flying out of their hives so I can refill the syrup without having to wear my beekeeping suit or open the hives.

Beekeeper Clothing

There are a couple pieces of beekeeping clothing that we highly recommend to beginner beekeepers: a good pair of beekeeping gloves and a protective suit.

Beekeeping Jacket and Veil

When we first started beekeeping, my husband watched some YouTube videos of long-time beekeepers going out to their beehives with no protective clothing (one guy even went shirtless!) and they didn’t have any issues.

My husband liked the idea of going out to the bee hives without protective clothing but since he was new to beekeeping didn’t think that was a good idea to start off with. Instead he bought a beekeeping jacket with hat and veil.

When he would go out to the beehives, he wore the beekeeping jacket and veil with his jeans tucked into his socks and tall, snug fitting rubber boots so the honey bees couldn’t crawl inside his clothes and potentially sting him. This set up worked ok except that it was so hot! He now only uses this set up when picking up new nucs in the spring.

Beekeeping Suit with Veil

Since the majority of beekeeping happens in direct sunlight in the hot summer months, we’ve learned it is so worth it spend a little extra money and buy an aerated breathable beekeeping suit. You still may break a sweat when out checking the bee hives, but not nearly as bad as a solid cotton suit or wearing jeans with a beekeeping jacket!

A few years ago I bought an aerated breathable beekeeping suit and absolutely love it! I prefer a beekeeping suit with the hood attached since it is much easier to put on and take off. When doing a hive check in the summer, I wear shorts and a tank top underneath my protective beekeeping suit and it works great.

Child Sized Beekeeping Suits

We also bought child sized beekeeping suits for our kids so they could start learning how to be beekeepers. We bought these kids sized beekeeping suits with attached hat and veil and didn’t invest in more expensive breathable suits for our kids.

Why? Because kids grow so fast that we knew we’d have to buy new ones again due to them growing. Our kids do start to get a bit too hot after a while in this style of non-aerated beekeeping suits so they often will take turns standing in the shade of a nearby tree while alternating turns using the beehive smoker.

Beekeeping Gloves

We use long beekeeping gloves that come up to our elbows on top of our beekeeping suits. The hand part is made of leather and the section from the wrist to the elbow is thick but flexible canvas. There is elastic at the cuff near the elbow to keep it snug against our suits so bees can’t get in.

Tall boots

When you wear a beekeeping suit, it’s important to have the ankle of the suit fit down snugly over top of a pair of boots so you don’t have any ankle or sock exposed where you could get stung.

I wear this pair of cute yellow rubber bee boots because every beekeeper needs a pair of cute bee boots, right?! I bought these boots a couple years ago and wear them every time I go out to the beehives and when feeding our animals on the homestead.

What equipment do you need to collect honey from bees?

If you plan to harvest honey from your beehives, the main piece of equipment you will need is a honey extractor. You’ll also need an uncapping fork or some folks use a hot knife to uncap the honey comb before extracting it.

A honey extractor is an expensive piece of equipment but worth the investment if you plan to harvest honey from your beehives each year.

Some beekeeping clubs own a shared honey extractor that club members can sign out to use. This is a great option if you don’t want to invest in your own.

We decided to invest in our own so we could extract honey whenever it worked for our schedule and not have to fit it into a narrow timeframe on the busy bee club schedule.

We invested in this basic hand crank style honey extractor. Some people modify their hand cranked honey extractors to be operated by a power drill but we’ve never done this.

Instead, we make honey extracting a family event. We have contests to see who can crank the honey extractor the longest and then the fastest. It’s always especially fun to see Grandma get in on the action and crank the honey extractor too!

Read our post on how to extract honey from honeycomb for more specifics on how we harvest honey.