Photo by Damien TUPINIER

Originally Posted On: https://mountainsweethoney.com/beekeeping-supplies-guide/

Veteran beekeepers are privy to the importance of first-rate beekeeping supplies. They understand that the difference between a quality hive and one that skimps on design and function can mean the difference between a healthy, successful hive; and one that fails to thrive — or fails altogether.

Poorly made supplies typically malfunction or break sooner and have to be replaced. Badly designed frames may not fit the hive properly, causing bees to go rogue and cross comb between the frames, which can be a real mess to correct. Ill fitting clothing and accessories can create an unsafe environment for beekeepers such as lack of ventilation, or a tight fitting jacket or overalls, which may lead to stings. 

Every beekeeper, whether a novice or veteran, should research the necessary tools for safe and successful beekeeping. Mountain Sweet Honey Company takes the hard work out of it and does the research for you. We only provide top-notch supplies that are high-quality and long-lasting. Our customer service reps work one-on-one with every beekeeper, no matter their experience level, to determine exactly what they need to purchase, and the best timeline to make that purchase based on their geographic region. We are passionate about helping beekeepers and providing them with all the necessary equipment and tools they need to start, maintain, or expand their beekeeping operation. 

Beekeeping Supplies in Texas

Most of the food and vegetation we depend on requires pollination. Fruits, vegetables, and other flowering plants must be pollinated to produce offspring and expand. Strawberries, blueberries, beans, apples, squash, coffee, cotton — to name a few. Wildflowers and other flowering plants also depend on pollination, as do food sources for cows and other animals. Honey bees play a big role in pollination, helping to transfer pollen from male plants to female plants. Unfortunately, there’s a decline of bees due to loss of habitat, loss of food sources, exposure to chemicals and pesticides, and other stressful factors.  

Beekeepers play a crucial role in helping to maintain, preserve, and grow the honeybee population. A lot of honey bees are kept in colonies of hives managed by Texas beekeepers. These beekeepers require high-quality supplies such as hives, frames, hive accessories, suits, gloves, smokers, hive tools, and packaged bees. Otherwise, without the right tools, beekeepers are unable to successfully complete their objective of helping bees thrive. 

Mountain Sweet Honey Company has devoted its purpose to help Texas beekeepers. We ensure the various tools and supplies needed for fruitful hives are readily available. From packaged bees to extractors and education — we ensure Texas beekeepers have everything they need. 

Some of the necessary supplies needed to start a hive may include the following items. Keep in mind, knowing which tools are necessary is important, but ensuring you’re purchasing and using the best quality supplies on the market will save you money and trouble in the long run. 

Texas Beekeeping Clothes and Supplies for Beginners

High-Quality Beekeeping Jacket or Full Suit

Handling bees can be a painful endeavor if you don’t have the proper clothing to protect you from stings. Too light of clothing and the bees may be able to penetrate the fabric and reach your skin. For a beginner, protective gear is a must. An overall suit will protect your upper and lower torso from unnecessary stings. While a jacket will only protect the upper part of your body, it’s better than no protective clothing at all. 

Beekeeping Helmet

A helmet when fitted properly will help to keep the veil in place. It should include grommets on each side of the helmet and for a snug fit, a front strap. Vent holes will also allow for minimal ventilation. 

Beekeeping Hat & Veil

Wearing a hat and veil is critical for novice beekeepers. It’s important that the hat and veil fit properly, offer good ventilation, and are free from defects or tears. A proper hat and veil helps keep your eyes, nose, and face protected from bee stings. Wearing white clothing is less attractive to the bees, so a white hat and veil can make the bees less agitated when you’re working on the hive.  

Beekeeping Gloves

Wearing proper gloves helps protect your hands from not only bee stings, but potential scrapes and other injuries when beekeeping. It’s important the gloves are built to last several years and offer proper ventilation for heat evaporation. Goat skin or nylon goatskin gloves allow for heat evaporation, and are thin enough to be able to grip frames and other necessary tools while still providing enough dense material to protect your hands from stings. 

Beekeeping Jacket & Tools Combo

For the new beekeeper, Mountain Sweet Honey Company aims to make purchasing the proper tools, clothing and other supplies easy. Providing only first-rate products is one way we ensure Texas beekeepers have everything they need for a productive and successful hive, but we take our customer service one step further by offering packages of supplies. For the new beekeeper, the beekeeping jacket and tools combo offers novice beekeepers everything they need to get started — at an affordable price. The kit includes:

• Jacket and veil combo (sizes small to 4XL)
• Beekeeping gloves (XSmall to XL)
• Standard smoker
• Beginning beekeeping book
• Boardman feeder
• Bee brush
• Hive tool

Beekeepers can also upgrade to a mesh jacket for $20. The mesh provides ample ventilation and has three layers, which helps body heat to escape and keeps you cooler on hot Texas days.

We also offer First Year Starter Combos, packaged bees, a large supply of various frame hives, and a variety of other high-quality tools and products. Click here to learn more.  

Beekeeping Supplies in Georgia

Georgia offers beekeepers the perfect landscape and atmosphere for beekeeping. Mountain Sweet Honey Company is located in the North Georgia mountains and is devoted to helping Georgia beekeepers start, maintain, or expand their hives. The benefits of beekeeping are substantial, whether for the protection and promotion of bees, monetary gain, a hobby, or helping to pollinate trees, plants, flowers, or other vegetation on your property.

No matter your reason for beekeeping, and no matter your level of expertise, owning the proper tools is essential to a prosperous hive. We listed some essential clothing and beginner equipment above, but as you progress in your craft, there will undoubtedly be issues that arise that require specific gear or products to get the job done. Knowing what those tools are, and being able to confidently purchase something you know is designed well and made with high-quality materials is important. You want products that will last a long time and do what they’re meant to do. 

Premium tools can mean the difference between a job quickly and well done, and one that takes longer to accomplish and still lacks superiority. Using hives built with premium, strong wood that are hand-crafted and manufactured with detail and function in mind is important. What hive you purchase should be dependent on your specific needs and all of the hives at Mountain Sweet Honey Company are tailored for individual purposes. Whether you’re searching for a beginner hive, an 8-frame hive, a 10-frame hive, a medium grooved frame, or deep grooved frames, every element of our beekeeping supplies selection is hand-picked for its durability, quality, and superior function. The same goes for our tools and clothing.

The frame and foundation of your beehive plays a crucial part in the success of your hive. Frames come in several different shapes, depths, and sizes, and what size frame you purchase should depend on the size of your super. Mountain Sweet Honey Company has experienced customer service representatives who help Georgia beekeepers determine what supplies are best for their individual projects.

Hive Bodies

Choosing the best hive body can be confusing, especially if you’re a beginning beekeeper. There are many types of hives on the market today. To make the decision a little easier for you, Mountain Sweet Honey Company offers first-year hives designed specifically for beginning beekeepers, as well as starter hives that can be added to and accessorized as your hive expands. We offer hand-crafted Langstroth hives, the standard when it comes to beekeeping, and all our hives are locally manufactured with premium American-made wood from Virginia. Each hive is always built with quality craftsmanship and is tailored specifically for novice or advanced beekeepers.

Hives for Beginners

First Year 10-Frame Hives:

This is a complete bee hive kit. The hive body is crafted with Eastern White Pine from Virginia. The plywood is from Georgia grown pine. You can purchase this kit already assembled or you can assemble it yourself. Included in the kit is a solid bottom board, an entrance reducer, a brood box (10) frames and foundation, two medium supers, 20 super frames and foundation, one inner cover, and one telescopic cover. All our medium and deep hive bodies come with pre-drilled holes for 6D nails. This reduces the possibility of the wood splitting. Should you choose to purchase it unassembled, you will need a hammer, wood glue, and/or 6D nails, all of which aren’t included in the kit. The exterior of the hive should also be painted to seal and protect the wood. 

First Year 8-Frame Hives:

If you’re a beginning beekeeper, the first year 8 frame hive is a great option. This hive is typically all the wood ware you’ll need for your first year of beekeeping. It’s a full kit that includes beekeeping equipment such as a solid bottom board, an entrance reducer, a brood box, 8 brood box frames and foundations, two medium supers, 16 medium super frames and foundation, one inner cover, and one telescopic cover. All of our medium and deep hive bodies come with pre-drilled holes for 6D nails, which greatly reduces the chances of the wood splitting. You can purchase this hive body assembled or unassembled. For unassembled kits, this hive body does not include a hammer, wood glue, or 6D nails. The first year 8 frame hive body is crafted from white pine from Virginia and is made in Toccoa, GA. The plywood is from Georgia grown pine. The exterior of the hive body needs to be painted to seal and protect the wood.

Custom Crafted Frames and Foundations

Medium Grooved Frame – perfect for plastic wax coated foundation and the side bars include a middle foot designed to reduce small hive beetle activity. We recommend changing the frames and foundation about once every five years to reduce toxicity in the hive.

Deep Grooved Frame – A deep grooved frame works perfectly with a deep hive body. Each frame is custom crafted and accepts plastic wax coated foundation. The side bars offer a middle foot designed to reduce small hive beetle activity. We recommend changing out your frames once every five years to help reduce toxicity within the hive.

Medium Plastic Foundation – Bees absolutely love the wax coating on this high-quality foundation. Pierco is the leader in plastic wax coated foundation and all the wax is produced in the U.S. During extraction the foundation stays in the frame. We personally use this product and have been able to use higher RPMs while extracting honey. You can specify whether you want black or natural color. Remember to always keep the foundation out of direct sunlight as it might melt the wax. Each case has 100 sheets.

Medium Plastic Double Waxed Foundation – Medium foundations have a thin edge that are designed to snap-in to the top and bottom bar of grooved wood frames. Wax foundation is a natural way to start bees drawing comb on frames. The double waxed foundation makes this process even easier for the bees. All the wax is sourced in the U.S., keeping with Pierco’s high quality standards. Each case has 100 sheets and comes in black or natural color. This foundation snaps into 6 ¼ frames and is designed to fit 6 5/8 depth supers, is extremely durable, compatible with both manual and automatic uncapping equipment, is impervious to wax moths and is consistent and has uniform cell depth (5.2 mm) for ultimate honey production.

Mountain Sweet Honey Company has a full-line of hives, frames, foundations and other necessary supplies for Georgia beekeepers. Click here to learn more. 

Other Necessary Beekeeping Supplies:

• Hive smoker
• Smoker fuel
• Bee brush
• Premium hive tool
• J-hook hive tool
• Pocket hive tool
• Metal frame gripper
• Top feeder
• Bucket feeder
• Frame holder
• Spacer tools
• Queen marking cage
• Queen catcher
• Swarm trap
• Winter hive wrap
• Hive stand
• Entrance guard
• Transport bags

Benjamin Franklin said “The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.”  Mountain Sweet Honey Company agrees. If you wish to have a healthy, thriving, and successful beehive, investing in high-quality tools is the first step in achieving your goals. Because we are passionate about helping all beekeepers, no matter their level of expertise, we have hand-picked each item in our online store to ensure it’s top quality, efficient, lasts long, functions properly, and is affordable. We take it a step further and put kits together aimed at helping novice beekeepers who might not know exactly what they need to purchase to start their first hive. We also offer books and other educational materials to help beginners learn how to safely handle bees, build their first hive, and maintain that hive in a healthy way to ensure it’s successful.

Our customer service representatives are also available to answer any questions you may have. Mountain Sweet Honey Company is located at 758 Georgia Highway 184, Toccoa, GA 30577. You can reach us by phone at 706-886-1322 or fill out our contact form here. 

Mountain Sweet Honey Company, LLC
758 GA-184
Toccoa, GA 30577
(706) 886-1322
https://mountainsweethoney.com/