Beequipment

Some of the beekeeping supplies that I ordered from Mann Lake Ltd. arrived today - I got the essentials to start with:

• Smoker (to calm the bees when opening the hive)
• Hat and veil (minimal protection when working with the bees)
• Suit (so that all of my clothes stay clean when working with the bees, also better protection)
• Hive tool (the thing that looks like a crowbar - the bees make a very sticky substance called propolis that they use to seal the inside of the hive, the hive tool helps pry apart the boxes).
• Bee brush (to quickly brush the bees off a surface when setting equipment down, this helps minimize the squishing...)

I still need to get some bee medication and another deep (there are three sizes for honey supers: deep, medium and shallow. The largest boxes are called deeps, there are usually one or two deeps at the bottom of the hive that hold the brood, the shallow and medium boxes are usually on top and are used for collecting honey).