How Much Does it Cost to Start Beekeeping in 2020?

Maybe it’s your new year’s resolution. Or maybe you’ve been champing at the bit to become a beekeeper for years. Nevertheless an important question needs to be answered, how much does it really cost to start beekeeping? Here we’re going to completely breakdown the costs you can expect to incur if you’re going to go for shiny new equipment and completely prepare yourself for a lifelong hobby.

Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby to have, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a beekeeper too! The team and I are constantly asked questions about our career because looking after bees compels children as well as adults. Honeybees are wondrous creatures that bring a lot of joy to their keepers and there are many reasons why people get into beekeeping initially. It may be that you are passionate about the environment and want to promote a little bit of biodiversity in your area. Maybe you love honey and desire jarring your own harvest. Either way, with bees I find that people either love keeping them or they hate it! So if you fall into the former, prepare yourself for a lifelong hobby as not many quit unless they cannot physically look after them anymore.

So hopefully you’re reading this because you’re seriously considering taking up beekeeping as a hobby but you’re unsure of the costs involved. Let’s just say, beekeeping is not a cheap hobby, at least not initially. Thankfully enough most beekeeping equipment is reusable and we completely encourage that (as long as hygiene standards are kept up – but that is a whole other blog post). Let’s just break it down, don’t worry if you’re not familiar with what everything is at the moment, but believe me – you need all of it!

We’re going to assess the cost of equipment using the cheapest sized hive – the British National* Please note prices are correct at time of publication.

Complete Hive Price

	Becky’s Beezzzs	Bee Equipment	Thorne	Maisemore	Abelo	National Bee Supplies	Paynes
First or Second Grade?	First	Second	First	First	Second	First	First
Price Inc Frames?	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Cedar or Pine	Cedar	Pine	Cedar	Cedar	Cedar	Cedar	Cedar
Queen Excluder Type	Plastic	Plastic	Wired Framed	Plastic	Plastic	Wired	Plastic
Roof Depth	8″	4″	6″	8″	4″	6″	4″
Flat Packed or Assembled	FP	FP	FP	FP	FP	FP	FP
Complete Hive Price	£241.94	£149.00	£231.40	£241.92	£125.00	£285.00	£240.00

First or Second Grade? First grade bee equipment is the highest classed wood used in making frames, hives, floors and roofs. They have less knots making them easier to construct and less likely to split when nailing. Second grade equipment also doesn’t necessarily fit together perfectly unlike their First Grade cousins. We have to emphasise that unless you are an experienced carpenter we do not recommend buying second grade equipment, or you may just be throwing your money away.

Cedar or Pine? We have to say that buying Canadian First Grade Cedar (also known as Western Red Cedar on some sites) is the best option in the long run. Pine needs to be treated so that it doesn’t rot, whilst cedar doesn’t need to be treated at all. If the material is Cedar but not Canadian it is going to actually be British Cedar, which is extremely knotty and only used in Second Grade equipment.

Queen Excluders? In terms of efficient cleaning, plastic queen excluders are the most long lasting and easiest to clean, though in our opinion they are a lot less attractive than the wired framed queen excluder. You do have to be careful with the plastic queen excluders because they can snap, a hole bigger than the bee space renders your queen excluder useless. The wired framed queen excluder has a bee space, but make sure you match it to rest of your kit because a lot of brace comb on a wired queen excluder is just a nightmare to clean however you can buy a tool to assist with cleaning. We normally wouldn’t recommend the wired queen excluder without a frame, because it is more likely to get warped. With both plastic and wired unframed you do not get a bee space so again you need to take this into consideration when making this choice. No bee space will mean that the excluder will sit directly onto the top bar of the frames for a hive with bottom bee space.

Roof Depth? In our opinion getting a deeper roof is the better choice because it is more versatile and provides more insulation in the winter months. With deeper roofs you can easily put a feeder and fondant on without exposing the crownboard to pests and the elements. It is also a lot weightier so you can rest assured that your roof will not fly off in high winds.

Flat Packed or Assembled? All of the companies above supply their equipment flat packed. As a beekeeper you don’t need to have carpentry skills, most hives will come with assembly instructions but if they don’t you can easily find instructions on most beekeeping supplier sites. In order to save money it is always wise to buy flat packed and it also means that you will learn how to construct your own equipment. It is never that complicated although initially it can be a little time consuming depending on your skills (which is why we always recommend first grade equipment). If you really don’t want to assemble any of your equipment, National Bee Supplies, Maisemore and Thorne provide an assembly service, ranging from £50.41 to £110.00 (price in assembling complete hives only).

Final Recommendation? Is it a bit cheeky to recommend ourselves? Well in terms of price and quality considering all of the above options, we do believe that we at Becky’s Beezzzs as well as Maisemore and Thorne have the best price for the complete hive. National Bee Supplies does a great deal that includes frames and foundation but we’re going to go more in depth with that in the next section.

Average Price for Complete Hive: £215.15

Hoffman Frames & Foundation (Flat Pack)

Here you can see a mix of the Hoffman and Manley Frames (inc plastic spacers)

	Becky’s Beezzzs	Bee Equipment	Thorne	Maisemore	Abelo	National Bee Supplies	Paynes
First or Second Grade?	First	First	First	First	First	First	First
10 x British Standard Frames	£15.90	£14.22	£16.50	£15.90	£10.00	£15.75	£16.56
10 x British Standard Foundation	£12.48	£12.60	£11.20	£12.48	£11.80	£8.76	£13.20
30 x British Standard Super Frames	£38.70	£42.66	£49.50	£47.70	£30.00	£47.25	£49.68
30 x British Standard Super Wired Foundation	£23.67	£26.25	£20.70	£23.67	£22.50	£20.85	£25.92
Gimp Pins (500g)	£10.60	£7.25	£3.00	£8.47	£5.00	£8.95	£9.60
Complete Price	£101.35	£102.98	£100.90	£108.22	£79.30	£101.56	£114.96

First or Second Grade? Unless you’re a commercial bee farmer you’d probably won’t want second grade frames. As explained earlier, you’re definitely better off having first grade frames for easier construction.

Hoffman or Manley? When perusing the sites you might see codes such as DN1, SN1 or DN4 and SN4. This is referencing the type of frame, Hoffmans are self spacing frames, so you don’t need any other kit. Manley frames have straight side bars, therefore you need to buy plastic spacers that slip onto the lugs or alternatively buy castellated spacers.

Gimp Pins (Frame Nails)? Don’t underestimate the importance of buying good frame nails, we implore you to try a few brands, but cheap and brittle frame nails can turn an easy task into frustrating hours of work!

Final Recommendation? There is not much variance in price amongst the big equipment providers. Abelo is the cheapest by a huge margin, I cannot vouch for the quality as we have not bought this particular product, but we have bought their assembled frames and no complaints on our end!

Average Price for Frames & Foundation: £101.32

Spring Nuc of Bees

	Becky’s Beezzzs	I Want Bees	Sipa Honey Bees	BSHoney	Maisemore	Bee Equipment	Thorne
Number of Frames	6	6	6	5	6	5	6
Queen Type	Buckfast or Carniolan	Unknown	Buckfast	Buckfast	Unknown	Buckfast or Carniolan	Unknown
Offers Postage?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Total Price	£230.00	£240.00	£249.00	£220.00	£240.00	£235.00	£265.00

Number of Frames? A little self explanatory, the nuc generally comes as 5 or 6 frames although you can buy nucs of just 3 or 4 frames. We used the most popular 5 or 6 frame for our comparison and you can clearly see which are better value for money. Most nucs come with 2 frames of stores no matter if they are on 5 or 6 frames, so the main difference is how much brood you will get, and doesn’t it sound better to get 4 frames of brood?

Queen Type? We used to provide the option of having Ligustica or Mellifera headed colonies too, but this unfortunately led to problems within our operation so we now only offer Buckfast or Carniolan similarly to Bee Equipment. Other companies did not state the breed of bees they offer, and the others only offer Buckfast.

Postage? We understand that not everyone can come and collect their nuc, but we do always encourage that our customers collect, there is so much less risk involved. We want to sell ourselves above others, but try going local too, possibly within your association – that means less fuel used and the bees will have a shorter, therefore less stressful journey (just ensure you are three miles away, as the crown flies, from the nuc’s original site or all your flying bees will return there!).

Final Decision? We offer the best priced 6 frame as well as offering the choice between Buckfast or Carniolan headed colony but your local hobbyist beekeepers may sell for a fraction of the price so always be on the lookout for a good deal – do note that they may not be as strictly inspected, and you do want to ensure you have good healthy disease free bees on frames that are new or just 1 year old. They may also not have traceability or the same record keeping details as nuc producers.

Nuc of Bees Average Price: £239.85

Suits & Tools

	Becky’s Beezzzs	BBwear	BJ Sheriff	Thorne	Maisemore
Beesuit (Fencing Veil)	£112.99	£112.99	£162.00	£136.00	£110.00
Hive Tool	£10.00	£10.50	£10.49	£10.00	£11.38
Smoker	£29.00	£27.50	£29.99	£17.50	£30.77
Disposable Gloves	£6.50	£6.50	N/A	£5.00	N/A

Total Price	£158.49	£157.49	£202.48	£168.50	£152.15

Beesuit? I tried to get the most similar looking beesuits on the market to compare, and there is a £52 price difference from Maisemore’s to BJ Sheriff’s. There are some subtle but important differences such as thickness of the material and ease of cleaning. Both BBwear and BJ Sheriff manufacture their beesuits in the UK, and we at Becky’s Beezzzs are proud stockists of BBwear’s fantastic beesuits, the team wear them throughout the summer and they have lasted for years. Our apprentice also has a BJsheriff suit, provided for free by them as they help to sponsor the Beefarming Apprenticeship Scheme.

Hive tools? Generally hives tools don’t have that much of a difference in the quality, basically if they do the job then it’s fine.

Smoker? Your smoker is going to be your best friend in the future and it is imperative that you get an effective one. We stock an amazing German Manufactured Rauchboy smoker, it has an internal chamber and I have to be honest we have tried many smokers on the market and none stand up to this one. There are a lots and lots of different smokers available, many of them being manufactured in China and to be honest they are not the greatest of quality. We suggest you find and buy a quality smoker, maybe go on recommendation from a experienced beekeeper, and stick with it.

Disposable Gloves? We recommend that our customers get used to using disposable gloves when handling bees instead of thick leather gloves. They’re definitely less protective in terms of stings but they are much better in reducing the risk of spreading disease in addition to making it easier to go through your hives swiftly (or maybe it’s just me that is extremely clumsy with thick gloves on?) This may be less of a concern for those with only a few colonies. If you are really not comfortable starting with a nitrile glove and feel you do need a little more protection on your hands then try starting with a marigold type washing up glove, these are thicker than nitrile. Alternatively wear leather with a nitrile glove over them. Remember though, most stings occur because we crush the bees!

Final Recommendation? A little difficult to have a fair comparison of total costs since BJ Sheriff and Maisemore don’t supply disposable gloves but you can always mix and match your order.

Average Suits & Tools Price: £161.49

Treatments & Feed

	Becky’s Beezzzs	Paynes	Thorne	Maisemore	Abelo	National Bee Supplies	Bee Equipment
Apilife Var	£5.80	£6.24	£6.00	£6.82	£6.00	£5.90	£4.90
Apistan	£4.00	N/A	£4.60	£5.04	£3.98	£4.38	£3.98
Syrup	£26.00	£29.40	£29.00	£29.00	£25.00	£23.95	£18.75
4 Pint Rapid Feeder	£5.50	£6.98	£3.50	£7.01	£5.50	£4.95	£3.40
Fondant	£5.25	£6.80	£6.75	£6.46	£5.00	£6.75	£4.95
Pollen Patty	£4.40	£4.80	£4.00	£4.00	£5.00	£4.75	£3.75
Total Price	£48.95	£54.22	£45.55	£55.81	£48.49	£48.49	£37.74

Treatments? The price of this is going to vary every year, but you will have to pay for two treatments a year (ideally with different active ingredients). The prices above are shown for 1 treatment per colony and some of the treatments are sold in packs enough for 5 colonies. Apistan is an example of this, there are 10 strips per pack so you can expect a full pack to cost 5 times what is quoted above.

Syrup and Feeders? You may not need syrup every year if you always make sure to leave a good amount of honey in the colony, in your first year you are likely to feed syrup to encourage your nuc to pull their foundation frames when hiving them. We usually experience a period known as the “June Gap” each year, this is not necessarily in June, and feeding syrup maybe necessary at this time also. Across the companies they are all 12.5kg jerry can of Ambrosia syrup except for Bee-Equipment which is a 14kg jerry can of Invertbee Syrup. And if you’re feeding syrup, you will need a feeder.

Fondant and Pollen? In the winter you may need a pack of fondant and pollen to ensure your girls get through. Hefting is not an exact science of course, so we always recommend to put fondant on even if you think they have plenty of stores (the weight could be Ivy for example, which they will find extremely difficult to break down if it has set hard through the winter).

Average Price of Treatment and Feed: £48.46

Honey Extracting and Jarring

In your first year it may be wise to be cautious with how much honey you remove from your hive. Your goal first and foremost is to keep your colony strong, with plenty of stores to welcome the spring in your second year. In any case, as a hobbyist you won’t be likely to buy an extractor or any other heavy machinery, you may invest in some muslin or a double strainer. You may also find quite a few jars knocking about in your cupboard ripe for reusing, so it’s unlikely you’d buy a gross of jars straight away.

Memberships & Courses

It is always recommended that you join your local association and do a beekeeping course before buying your own bees. We always ask prospective beekeepers if they have been on course before we sell them bees. We have had many customers attend our beekeeping courses with us who have been on order and who are so excited to get their bees but then when they’re with us during the practical handling portion of the course it’s just not what they were expecting. We have also had customers who bought a lot of equipment from us only to find they were dangerously allergic to stings. If you do a course first you will know for sure that beekeeping is for you before you commit to buying any equipment.

	Becky’s Beezzzs	River Cottage	Buckfast Abbey	The London Honey Co	Surrey Bees	Forestry England
	£90.00	£155.00	£110.00	£150.00	£100.00	£70.00

Association membership costs approximately £30 per annum, this varies of course so check your local association’s website. And if you want more personal and ongoing support with beekeeping then most associations do beginner beekeeping courses throughout the winter.

Average Price of Membership & Courses: £142.50

So How Much Does it Cost to Start Beekeeping?

Well, adding all of the average costs up, we get to a grand total of £908.84. Of course by reading this post you can see quite a range in terms of the cost of equipment, courses, clothing and tools, less difference when it comes to feed, treatments and nucs so you can really choose where to save your money.

It’s in our view that you would want to invest in good quality equipment that you can re-use year after year, if you are looking after your kit you shouldn’t have to replace them for a long time. Another of our top tips is to really look local for as much as you can, people are constantly selling secondhand equipment so you can really save money this way. But, do be careful buying second hand, this is one way of spreading disease, so make sure you sterilize any second hand kit you buy before you put your bees in it.

I hope this gives you more of an idea of what you can be looking to spend before getting knee deep in the beekeeping world. Remember that the initial costs are quite high but as long as you look after all of your kit then you shouldn’t be looking at many ongoing costs. Beekeeping is a highly rewarding hobby that many people enjoy, so please start checking out some of the stores referenced here and start looking forward to getting involved!