Every bee supply company offers hundreds of excess and unnecessary pieces of equipment. It can get pretty overwhelming trying to sort through what you actually need! In this article I am going to go over the absolute necessaries and my recommended suppliers. Let's get started!
Necessary Equipment
Deep Box-this serves as the brood chamber for your hive
Medium Super- serves as the boxes for the bees to store honey in. (not totally necessary will explain)
Frames-at least 10 for each box you buy. Make sure they have foundation! I recommend plasticell.
Bottom Board- This will serve as the base for your hive.
Cover- serves as the lid for your hive. Feeder- there are many different styles. I suggest either a division board feeder or a entrance jar feeder.
Deep boxes can be used as a honey super as well. In fact is is rather nice to only use deeps because all the equipment is then standardized. However, It can get extremely heavy! A deep box full of honey will easily weigh 80 pounds. I recommend purchasing woodenware from Dadant or Manlake. They sell high quality equipment and it will last a long time. Some other suppliers buy their equipment out of China and it is just poor quality and will break down. You will need at least one Deep box, and one either medium or (another deep), for each hive the first year.