Best Beehive Types for Beginners: Pros and Cons of 5 Popular Hives
Choosing your first beehive can be surprisingly confusing. Ask five beekeepers which hive is best and there is a reasonable […]
Beginner Beekeeping
New to beekeeping? Start here! Get beginner-friendly advice, how-tos, and tips to help you grow confident and keep your bees happy and healthy.
Is the Flow Hive Worth It? Pros, Cons & What Beginners Should Know
The Flow Hive is worth considering if you want to make honey harvesting cleaner, easier and less physically demanding, and
Why Are Bees Clustering at the Hive Entrance?
Bees clustered at the hive entrance are often bearding to manage heat and airflow. Learn how to tell normal bearding from crowding, robbing and swarm preparation.
How to Raise Honey Bee Queens
Learn the queen-rearing cycle from selecting breeding stock and producing queen cells to drone management, mating nucs and evaluating newly laying queens.
How Much Does a Queen Bee Cost?
In 2026, many standard mated honey bee queens in the U.S. cost about $35 to $65 before shipping. Virgin queens are often cheaper, while specialist breeder queens can cost considerably more.
Why Don’t Bees Sting Beekeepers?
Beekeepers do get stung, but smoke, calm handling, protective clothing and experience greatly reduce the number. Deliberate stinging is not a safe way to build immunity.
How Much Honey Can You Get From One Hive?
A current U.S. benchmark is about 48 pounds of harvested honey per producing colony, but individual hives can range from almost nothing to well over 100 pounds depending on forage, weather and colony strength.
How to Find the Queen Bee in a Hive
Find the queen by starting in the brood nest, checking frames with eggs and young brood, and looking for the bee that is longer, moves differently and attracts a small retinue of workers.
When to Add Supers to Beehives
Add a honey super when a strong colony is entering a nectar flow and has nearly filled the space it already has. For later supers, a practical guide is to add the next box when about two-thirds of the current one is occupied.
How Much Do Beehives Cost? Ultimate Beginner Budget Guide
How much do beehives cost? For a conventional Langstroth hive, a basic new hive can start at around US$100–$200, while