Part II: Getting Started with Responsive Beekeeping
- Angela Roell
- Apr 18
- 5 min read
When you put bees in boxes you have a responsibility to understand & be responsive to their needs. Let's talk about how to raise bees responsively.
Hi again bee pals, welcome to my blog series on Responsive Beekeeping. You can read the opening blog here. I'll be posting these each week from 4/11-5/16/25 to support new beekeepers prior to They Keep Bees' Package Pick Up.
Let's get started...
This week I'll give you some insights into different types of hive equipment and then we'll talk about where bees come from and how to choose the right bees for you.
The Best Box for your Bees
Beekeeping requires we select a box or vessel for our bees to live in. There are so many different hive designs. You can build hives yourself or buy them from distribution companies like Mann Lake, Dadant or Blue Sky Bee Supply.
At TKB we run two types of hives- the Langstroth hive for honey production, drone colonies and cell builders for our queen production. We use a modified Warre or Box hives for queen mating nucs and to grow up nucleus hives for overwintering.
Take a Langstroth Hive & Comfort Hive Tour with these 5 minute videos.
We build our own Warre hives from rough cut pine lumber. Rough cut lumber encourages propolis production. Pine is a soft, light wood so we can move 100s of these boxes a year without hurting our backs. We source lumber from a local lumber yard, and cut our hives into length. We have crafted a jig for these, and their easy assembly makes them swift to build.
You can also build your own Langstroth equipment. At TKB we generally purchase pre-cut Langstroth boxes and assemble the parts. Here we use deep hive bodies interchangeable between five frame and ten frame equipment. We like frame feeders and simple bottom boards. Our inner covers are reflectex. An accessible inner cover material, but you could also use untreated burlap, thick cotton or other organic material on top.
At TKB none of our boxes are painted. Frames are assembled on site. We use strips of starter wax we render ourselves as the foundation. There are many types of foundation. We use these methods because they work for us, and because they work with our system for management and care. I suggest folks spend time diving into the different types of hives, their apiary plans and goals to get clear. Hive equipment and protective gear are a significant investment. You want equipment that will work for you, and that you can grow with.
Each hive design has positives and negatives, and is suited to various ecologies and beekeeping practices. It's important to find the right hive fit for your ecology and your beekeeping practice. For example, Top Bar hives are cheap, simple and easy to build. Unfortunately in the Northeast, where I'm based, bees have a difficult time thermoregulating these hives during our long cold winters. They're better suited for tropical, subtropical and desert ecologies with warmer winter temperatures.
Hive Designs
A pdf with measurements for how to build the components of a 10 frame Langstroth hive. | |
An open source document on how to make Warre hives and their history. | |
A step-by-step planning guide to building top bar hives. | |
Plans for building Slovenian boxes. Slovenian boxes are intended to go in a bee shed or hive house. | |
Interested in swarm traps? Check out swarm trap plans here. |
Personally, I like to use my old 5 frame and 10 frame Langstroth equipment to make swarm traps. Read Michael Palmer’s advice about why you should be incredibly cautious before buying other beekeepers old used Langstroth equipment here.
Where Do Bees Come From?
Bees can come from several locations. If you want a deep dive lecture into sourcing bees you can watch, How to Acquire Bees. In this 20 minute lecture I take you through a variety of ways you can source bees.
Starter hive sources each have their positives and negatives.
Nucleus hives and package bees are the two ways you can buy a beekeeper's stock. Nucs are a starter hive on wax comb or foundation, packages are shook swarm. Both will come with a first year queen. The idea is that these small starter hives are ready to grow up into a full hive. They usually produce a honey crop after one full season, and the first year crop is usually reserved for overwintering...
You can also try to catch free bees from the trees. This takes a little bit of observational know how of the ecosystem, finding locations frequented by bees, and hanging swarm traps about 5-7 feet from the ground in trees. Baited with old comb & lemongrass oil swarm traps can catch a queen in a few days or it can take months. I recommend baiting monthly for up to a year at any swarm trap location. You can also get on swarm collection lists with your local beekeeping club. This means someone will contact you when they need a swarm relocated and you provide the service in exchange for free bees.
This is different from "hive removals", and one should be cautious and clear about expectations in these agreements. In addition, any hive you catch should be quarantined in a yard away from your other bees, so you can test and monitor them for pathogens prior to introducing them to an apiary with your other bees.
The chart below defines the many ways to get bees, and includes outlinks to several videos about how to choose the one that will work for you.
Four Ways to Get Started with Bees
Nucleus | How to Install a Nuc (8 min) | A nucleus hive or nuc is a small queen right hive with four to five frames of brood and food. |
Packages | How to Install a Package (20 min) | A package is a queen with three to four pounds of bees bonded to her. These are made by beekeepers using a hive shaking method. |
Swarms | Swarm Catch Video (30 sec) | You can set traps for swarms baited with old comb and lemongrass oil. |
Cut Outs | Cut Out Video (13 min) | Once you catch a swarm you'll need a plan to cut it out of the swarm trap to transfer the bees into a hive. |
I hope this helps you further map how you want to get started with bees. Next week we're going to talk about hive anatomy, and what is going on inside boxes of bees.
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