If you want to start a new and interesting hobby, the hobby of beekeeping might be for you. Beekeeping is enjoyed by many people, and for some it turns into a career. In order to start beekeeping, you first need to collect bees. One big advantage to beekeeping is being able to collect honey straight from a natural hives.

Bees travel in swarms. Collecting these swarms is the easiest way to collect many bees for your hive and as an added bonus you’ll get a queen bee as well. Before you get started, go find a friend with a bee problem so you can gather some free bees. Swarming mostly happens in the springtime when the pollen is out. Bees sense it and swarm towards it.

There are many pieces of equipment that you need to bring with you. One of the most important things is a bee veil to protect your head and face, and other protective clothing. Some of the other necessary things are some type of box with a lid to put the bees in, and a special cage just for the queen bee; something to lure the bees towards you, such as old honeycomb, lemon scented furniture polish, or any other swarm lure, and sugar water. There are other things you may want, or may need, depending on where your hive is. A smoker for example will help calm the bees, making them easier to collect. If the original hive is high up in a tree, then a ladder would be handy as well.

Once you have your bees, you can introduce them to their new home. Make sure their new hive has access to plenty of pollen and is out of the way of people. Once you have a population of bees in your hive, you’re ready to start beekeeping.

Justin Smith likes teaching others beekeeping basics and does so from his beekeeping blog.