If you want to start beekeeping, you need to take care of suitable equipment, tools and preparations. The choice and implementation of the aforementioned depends in particular on the size and direction of the industry. At the very beginning, the beekeeper needs some basic accessories that help make his work easier and protect him from bee stings. In general, beekeeping tools can be divided into three major groups. These are personal equipment, tools and preparations.
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Personal equipment
Personal equipment is necessary for the beginner beekeeper as well as for the multi-hive beekeeper. This category of equipment includes a headgear and a protective net. The cover can be completely independent or it can be attached to a jacket or overalls. The net must be at a suitable distance from the face, must be black and allow an effective view through the net. At the same time, it should be thin enough to let enough air through. The beekeeper must also have protective clothing, the sleeves must be tightened with elastic, and the same applies to trouser legs. Protective shoes are an important part of the basic equipment. For effective hand protection, he must have special gloves with suitable sleeves.
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Tool
A properly selected beekeeping tool represents the beekeeper’s extended arm and effectively reduces direct contact with the bees. To open the hive parts that are glued with propolis, a beehive or American chisel is needed. The latter is also particularly useful in stack hives, namely for separating individual stacks, and later for successfully moving the honeycomb when inspecting the colonies. It can also be used to remove wax extensions. A broom is used to remove or plaster bees from the honeycomb when tapping, and to clean other bees after inspecting the colonies in an AŽ hive. This must be made of medium-hard hair. A goose feather or sprigs of boxwood can also be used for such purposes. The latter soothes the bees with its aroma. A rake with a longer handle is used to clean the bottom of the hive. Instead, a simply cut slat can also be used, with which the beekeeper can also clean all the corners of the hive bottom thoroughly enough. Special comb extractors are also welcome. Finally, a painter’s trowel can also be used to help with hive cleaning. A typical feature of AŽ hives is that a comb stand or a comb is often used during work. This tool is therefore necessary for stacking honeycomb before plastering, as well as during a thorough autumn and spring inspection of colonies and when searching for the queen. In order to move the honeycomb more easily, this type of stand must have a larger spacing. For quieter work with bees, the beekeeper needs a suitable source of smoke. This calms the bees. In this case, for example, smokers with bellows in a wide variety of designs are welcome. Special equipment is required for pouring honey from AŽ hives – in addition to a comb and a brush, a spreader, which can be wooden. In case of loaded hives, an empty load is suitable for plastering. In larger beekeeping operations, wooden frames with felt attached are used to remove bees. Carbolic acid is dripped onto it, which drives bees away from the honeycombs. During tapping, it is a good idea to have a special container handy for carrying the honeycomb from the tap. During swarming, a tool for scraping the swarms is also needed, which must have a sufficiently long attachment. Before tapping, the honey caps must be removed from the honeycomb. Special forks are used for this purpose, but the caps can also be removed just as quickly and effectively with a special knife. It can also be used to remove extended honey cells. If the honeycomb is placed on a suitable stand, it is even easier to detect. The drained caps are collected on a net. The honey is drained underneath. The modern method of tapping is dictated by the tapper. This is a centrifuge for ejecting honey or an ejector. There are several types of tappers available, which differ in the number of combs.
During tapping, immediate cleaning is essential, which can be effectively provided by single or double sieves or chamber cleaners. If the tapped honey is not yet fully mature, it must be stored in ripening containers. These are special oval containers with mesh lids. Modern beekeeping also dictates the use of feeders. Several types of such devices are available. In AŽ hives, feeders are built into a window in the brood chamber. For adding larger quantities, suitable wooden troughs are welcome, into which up to three liters of sugar syrup can be poured. If the latter are used for stimulating control, a special float is also needed to prevent rapid withdrawal of syrup. For smaller beekeeping, a solar melter is a good choice, with which we can access the wax in a sufficiently affordable way. Beekeeping accessories also include a kit for marking queens. This usually consists of four colors and a mesh for covering the queen during painting and drying the paint. If we clip the wings of the queens, we can also avoid such a device. Beekeeping, which is focused on collecting pollen, needs a beekeeper. Such a device helps to partially remove pollen from the hind legs of the bees and immediately dries properly afterwards. Various containers for transporting dry bees are also included as additional inventory. Queen cells for transporting or adding queens should not be missing either.