Essential Beekeeping Equipment

Your hive tool is one of your most critical pieces of equipment. Bees glue everything in the hive together with their resin-like propolis. This requires the beekeeper to pry the seal open with a hive tool before separating boxes, checking wooden frames, or working around the brood chamber.

A hive tool allows you to detach comb from hive sides, cut and scrape propolis, and pry frames or other hive parts apart. It is useful whether you are checking a bottom board, loosening an inner cover, or working through honey supers. Our ultimate hive tool, (pictured), is our premium option. It is hand-forged in Portland, Oregon from 1/4" steel and engraved with the Bee Built logo.

Our tool is based on the “Bill Wood Comb Knife,” but has the added benefit of incorporating a traditional hive tool on one end. Having fallen in love with the original comb knife, but tired of carrying around a traditional hive tool for situations where prying is needed, we decided to combine the two.

Whether you are using a horizontal top bar hive, a Warré hive, or a foundationless Langstroth, this is an incredibly useful tool that you will use constantly. We offer a few other value options as well.

A smoker is an invaluable tool for all beekeepers because it helps make defensive bees more manageable during inspections. Primarily, smoke makes honeybees believe there may be a wildfire nearby. This prompts them to eat honey from colony stores in preparation for a potential move. Honeybees are often more docile with a full stomach due to the physical difficulty of tipping their abdomens up to sting.

Smoke also masks the alarm pheromone given off by guard bees, minimizing the defensive reactions of the colony. Honeybee alarm pheromone smells like banana candy, so if you smell bananas at the hive entrance, it’s time for another gentle puff of smoke. Similarly, beekeepers should not eat bananas directly before getting into a hive, since it may be perceived by your bees as alarm pheromone.

Our American Smoker  is made of stainless steel and includes a wrap-around heat shield and grate at the bottom to improve burning. Most beekeepers use clean, untreated smoker fuel such as pine needles, wood shavings, or dried leaves so the smoke stays cool and safe for the bees.

Bees tend to target the face of mammalian intruders, so a jacket with a veil is an essential tool for beekeepers. Bees have CO2 receptors on their antennae, which allow them to detect our exhalations and respond defensively. This ability developed to protect the hive against threats like bears. Common folklore states that bees sense fear, but really they are sensing fear behavior.

If you are nervous around bees, you may breathe more heavily, which can lead to stings. Many experienced beekeepers do not wear any gear and have become so comfortable working bees that they can behave calmly and not get stung. We recommend all beginners use at least a veil while they gain experience, though we also offer hat/veil combinations with ventilated and non-ventilated jackets and full body bee suits for additional protection.

Another fear-sensing behavior bees pick up on is shaky or fumbling hands. Confident, experienced beekeepers often do not wear gloves because they prefer to maximize their maneuverability, but we suggest all beginners start with gloves as a safeguard. Beekeeping gloves are made of soft leather or other tough but flexible materials to protect against stings without jeopardizing comfort.

As many beekeepers gain experience, they may choose lighter gloves or work without them, but beginners usually benefit from the added confidence. Our leather beekeeping gloves feature ventilation just above the wrist, which is a lifesaver on a hot day!

More useful than you would imagine, the bee brush can be used to gently move bees off of comb, brood combs, bee boxes, or other places you don't want them to be. This is an essential tool for honey harvest, when bees are covering frames where they store honey, for repairing broken wax or beeswax comb, and sometimes for swarm removal. Keep in mind that the bees HATE the brush and you will find them stinging it mercilessly as you use it, so use it sparingly.

Beekeeping is a dynamic and ever-changing experience that requires research, lots of beekeeping books, and patience. Considering all the environmental factors that affect your honeybees, and the fact that every honeybee colony is different, you may see something different every time you get into your hive. The queen, eggs, pollen, brood nest, winter stores, and overall bee behavior can all tell a different story. In order to make appropriate management decisions, beekeepers must be flexible in their ability to figure out why bees are behaving a certain way, and how certain actions may impact their well being.

We offer an array of beekeeping books written by experts in the field. Reading as much as possible will help to give you a solid understanding of beekeeping best practices, from when sugar syrup may be helpful to how an entrance reducer or more room in the hive can affect the colony, and help you make sometimes tough decisions.