How can you plan to make a bee hive?

Building a beehive is the first step in becoming a beekeeper. Planning a beehive involves choosing a type of beehive for your specific needs and constructing the hive.

1. Choose the type of beehive you need

   Determine the purpose of the beehive. Common uses for beehives are pollinating your garden or harvesting honey. The most used beehive type for these purposes is the Langstroth hive.

2. Choose a location for your hive

   Choose a location for your hive in a warm place that is sheltered from strong winds and near a clean water source.

3. Build the hive

   To build the hive, buy the specific beehive kit and assemble as per the instructions. To do this, you will need a razor blade, a hammer, a carpenter’s square and four clamps.

4. Place bees in the hive

   Obtain bees by capturing wild bees or buying a package of bees from a local beekeeper. You have two ways to introduce a queen and the workers to the hive — indirectly and directly. The indirect introduction lets worker bees become familiar with the queen over time as they eat their way through the food in the packaging to her. The direct introduction places the queen immediately in the hive with the worker bees. Purchased bees aren't packaged with their own queen. Therefore, it is possible that she will be attacked if introduced directly.