[Furryears]

Hi there, I have a small holding and over the years am slowing ticking off the animal "set ups" for the sheep and chickens.

My next project I think I would like to be bee keeping. Can anyone initially give me an idea on what I would need to have to set up, the rough cost and of course the cost in time? Extracting matchines seem very expensive - is there another way most people get there honey processed - or does each keeper have this expensive piece of kit?

Many Thanks

[waterbuffalofarmer]

http://www.lbka.org.uk/beginners_guide.html
Hope this helps. When I kept bees, I only had one hive, I for a long time never used an extractor, but having one would make things easier. I have one sitting in my garage, for future use though. You buy them ssecond hand in good condition off ebay, there are some here reasonably priced.http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=honey%20extractors&ssPageName=GSTL Mine is an old fashioned one though, I still hope it works okay for me I hope this info helps and all the best with beekeeping, it all sounds very exciting. Can you keep us updated on how you're getting on?

[Bionic]

Most bee keepers, at least in the beginning years, do not own their extractor.


If you join a local club they will almost certainly have at least one extractor (ours has 2) for people to use. We also have a very good member who is happy to extract honey for others using his own equipment.


We went a few years without an extractor ourselves but someone giving up sold us theirs for a reasonable price. 

[ZacB]

Hi Furryears. Excellent time the year to start beekeeping. Find your local association via the BBKA website and make contact, attend winter meetings to meet other local beek's. In the spring visit some hives just to make sure you are happy with bees - it's not for everyone. You will most likely be able to borrow a suit. Cost to date nothing 
Purchase a good quality suit, our club has arranged discount with one of the suppliers, don't invest in a poor quality bargain - you'll waste time messing with zips trying to make it bee tight and then still find bees troubling you!
Purchase your first colony from the club or a local member, there's always people giving up or down sizing, go with the flow and buy the style of hive others are using then when you need something you will be able to borrow. You may be able to get involved with swarm collection to source your first bees then you would only need the hive.
As for the extractor, as already mentioned, clubs usually have these for members to borrow so investment in the early years need not be excessive.
So costs.....£60/£80 for a suit, 2nd hand hive with bees....£100-£250+ depending on state of hive, membership of local club £30-£50....other bits & pieces, smoker etc etc £50ish.
Thornes is a good website for info on equipment, don't know where you are but they are having an annual sale in a couple of weeks, Then there's the BeeTradeX event and BBKA Spring convention early next year, both good events.
Good luck with your next venture, look us up if your in the Suffolk arae

[sss]

Top bar hives can be a good way to keep costs down.

Like others have said look at your local association to get you going

[Sudanpan]

Deffo hook up with your local association. Ours (West Cornwall) highly recommend taking the beginners beekeeping course (1 evening a week for 2 terms, Jan - Jun)
The associations will generally have a mentor programme and also many have a protocol of getting novices set up with starter nuclei at a very reasonable cost.
Beekeeping is addictive (IMHO) and you can quickly find yourself perusing all the bee mags and saying 'I MUST have that...'!

[waddy]

We went on a beekeeping course with the Quantocks division which was excellent. There is so much to learn. We also did a rent a hive programme through them which ended up with us taking a full hive home at the end of a summer of supervised group sessions building the hive up from a nucleus of bees. The hive and bees only cost us £50 doing it through the club this way. We are now in this and our local club (South West division) where there is lots of advice and enjoyable meetings looking at bees and eating cake. We have club equipment we can use. Joining your local club really is the best way to do it.


 
Helen

[PK]

I started by attending the local bee keepers association introductory course in March this year and now have three hives with bees following the steps almost exactly as outlined by Zac above. I would add the benefits of having someone  local to act as a mentor.

[cloddopper]

I endorse all the above adding :-

If you're handy with a decent saw bench and a router  you can save a small fortune by making your own hives from plans sold by the BBK .
 Attending  the national bee show can also save you a lot of money on the parts of new self spacing frames & pre wired foundation wax for both supers & brood box , but you do have to be there early on as most decent stuff is sold fairly early on in the first day .

 What ever you do , I offer that:- You're best off making sure all your hives & frames are of the same pattern as it makes it much easier innthe long term and you'll only ever need one stule of things .

 If possible try and get/make  two neuc boxes , so that you can use these early on to make your own swarms for new hives and also  to collect the odd ferral swarm that may occur.
Come mid August you can always combine a couple of nests or two fully filled neuc boxes into one hive ( using the newspaper method ) and feed them like mad to get them through winter 7 spring  healthily