So you’re curious about keeping bees. Maybe you’ve been watching them work your garden, or a friend has a hive, or you just love the idea of having your own honey. Whatever brought you here, the good news is that getting started is easier than most people think.
I’ve taught hundreds of beginner beekeepers over the years, and the question I hear most is: “Where do I even start?” Well, you don’t need to read 10,000- books on beekeeping. Or get overwhelmed by all the internet answers. Some of the most important things you can do don’t even require bees yet.
Here are seven practical things you can start doing before you get bees — whether you’re months away from getting your first hive or just testing the waters to see if beekeeping is for you.
1. Get Your Garden Working for Bees
This is the single best thing you can do before you even get a beehive, and it’s something that benefits bees whether you end up keeping them or not. Bees need diverse forage — different types of pollen and nectar from a variety of flowering plants. Think of it like our own diet: we can’t live on bread alone, and bees can’t thrive on just one type of flower.
Start with flowering herbs — lavender, rosemary, thyme, and basil are all easy to grow and bees absolutely love them. Add some native flowering plants suited to your area, so our local native bees have access too and try to plan for something in bloom across as many seasons as possible. Even a small urban garden or balcony can make a real difference.
If you’re using any chemical sprays or pesticides in your garden, now’s the time to stop. Bees are very sensitive to chemicals, and a chemical-free garden is one of the best foundations you can give your future colony.
2. Set Up a Water Source
This one’s simple, and you can do it today. Bees need water — they use it for cooling the hive, diluting honey to feed young bees, and building comb. Without a nearby water source, they’ll find your neighbour’s swimming pool or dog bowl, which isn’t great for community relations.
A bird bath with some stones or pebbles in it works perfectly. The stones give bees safe landing spots so they can drink without drowning. Position it about 10 metres (30 feet) from where you’re planning to put a hive, ideally along the path bees would naturally fly.
Here’s the important part: set this up before you get bees. Once bees discover a water source, they’ll keep returning to it. If they find your neighbour’s pool first, they’ll keep going back there even after you provide something better. Getting in early saves you a headache later.
3. Spend Time Watching Bees
This might sound too simple to be useful, but it’s one of the most valuable things a future beekeeper can do. Good beekeeping is built on observation — learning to read what bees are telling you through their behaviour rather than constantly opening hives to check on them.
Next time you’re in the garden, stop and watch the bees working the flowers. Notice how they move from bloom to bloom, how they communicate, how they respond to your presence. You’ll start to see that they’re not aggressive — they’re focused on their work and generally couldn’t care less about you unless you threaten their home.
If you know someone with a hive, ask if you can sit near it for a while and just watch the entrance. You can learn a surprising amount about a colony’s health from observing what’s happening at the front door, there’s a whole book written about it called ‘At The Hive Entrance‘ by H Storch — bees coming in loaded with pollen, guard bees checking arrivals, the general energy and mood of the colony. I still learn from my bees every time I sit and watch them, even after all these years.
4. Scout Your Property for Hive Placement
You don’t need bees to start planning where they’ll live. Grab a notepad and walk your property with fresh eyes — this is one of those things that’s much easier to get right before your bees arrive than to fix afterwards. Moving an established hive is stressful for bees and a real headache for you.
Morning sun is critical — bees need early sunlight hitting their hive entrance to get them up and foraging before other pollinators clean out the best nectar. In the Southern Hemisphere, (Australia) an entrance facing east to northeast is best. In the Northern Hemisphere, that means an entrance facing east to southeast. Check where the afternoon shade falls too, especially in summer. Bees handle cold better than extreme heat, and excessive sun can stress a colony. A deciduous tree on the western side is ideal — if you don’t have one, consider planting one now.
Notice your wind patterns and think about how the hive fits into your daily life. You don’t want the bees’ flight path crossing the path you walk every day to the shed, pointing at the kids’ trampoline, or aimed at the clothesline. The goal is a spot where bees can go about their business undisturbed and you can enjoy your garden without getting in each other’s way.
Quick note: before you finalise your spot, check your local council or municipality regulations. Many areas have specific rules about hive numbers, distance from property boundaries, and registration requirements. It’s also worth having a chat with your neighbours — let them know what you’re planning, address any concerns, and offer to share some honey when the time comes. A quick conversation now can turn potential objectors into enthusiastic supporters.
5. Choose a Hive That Works With Bees
When most people picture a beehive, they imagine the stacked white boxes you see in commercial operations. That’s a Langstroth hive, and while it’s the most common design out there, it’s not the only option — and it’s not necessarily the best one for the bees.
I use and teach with the Kenyan Top Bar Hive — a horizontal design that lets bees build their own natural comb hanging from individual wooden bars. Instead of lifting heavy boxes, you simply slide bars sideways. You can access the honey area from one end without disturbing the brood nest where the bees are raising their young. It’s gentler on the bees, easier on your back, and you get to see the incredible comb structures bees build when they’re given the freedom to do it their way. When bees choose their own cell sizes rather than being forced onto pre-made foundation, the colony organises itself the way millions of years of evolution intended — and that supports healthier bees over the long term.
The Top Bar Hive is also simpler and cheaper to build than a conventional setup, and you don’t need expensive extracting equipment — just basic kitchen supplies for the crush-and-strain method, which produces incredible honey with all the natural enzymes, pollen, and flavour compounds intact. If you’re interested in exploring this approach, we have Top Bar Hives and detailed construction plans available on our website.
6. Learn Before You Leap
I see a lot of enthusiastic beginners rush out and get bees before they’ve really understood what they’re getting into. A little investment in learning beforehand gives you confidence and helps you avoid the common mistakes that can make things harder than they need to be.
A good beekeeping course — whether online or in person — will teach you to read your bees rather than just giving you a calendar of tasks to follow. Look for one that focuses on understanding bee behaviour and colony health rather than just maximising honey production. There’s a real difference between being taught to manage bees like livestock and learning to work with them as the intelligent, self-organising organisms they are. Books from experienced Natural beekeepers are another great way to explore different approaches and figure out what aligns with your values.
Beyond formal learning, connect with beekeepers in your area. Join a local club, attend meetings, and ask if you can visit someone’s apiary and see hives being opened firsthand. If you can find a mentor willing to guide you through your first season, that’s worth its weight in honey. Confident beekeepers make calmer decisions, and calm beekeepers have calmer bees.
7. Set Up a Swarm Trap
When you’re ready for your first colony, catching a swarm is one of the most exciting and rewarding ways to get bees. A swarm is a colony’s natural way of reproducing — roughly half the bees leave the original hive with the old queen to find a new home. Despite what movies might suggest, swarms are actually quite gentle. The bees have gorged on honey before leaving and are entirely focused on finding a new place to live, not on stinging anyone.
Setting up a swarm trap is straightforward. Place an empty hive or suitable box in a sheltered, slightly elevated position and add a few drops of lemongrass oil on a tissue inside a partly unzipped plastic bag. Lemongrass oil mimics the pheromones bees use to communicate, and it can draw scout bees from a surprising distance. If you have any propolis or old beeswax, rubbing some around the entrance makes it even more inviting. Place your traps or use your empty beehive towards the end of winter so they’re ready for early spring when swarm season begins.
There’s something special about bees choosing your hive as their home. These are locally adapted bees that have demonstrated strong survival instincts — exactly the kind of genetics you want when starting out. I still set up about ten swarm traps on my large property most years, and the thrill of finding one that’s been claimed never gets old. If swarm catching isn’t practical for your situation, connecting with local beekeepers who can provide a swarm or a small starter colony of locally raised bees is the next best option. Join a bee club in your area, most clubs have members dedicated to swarm catching who provide swarms to members each spring.
Start Simple, Stay Curious
Beekeeping isn’t about having all the answers before you begin. It’s about approaching bees with curiosity, patience, and respect. Some of the best beekeepers I know started with nothing more than a garden full of flowers and a genuine desire to learn.
The bees themselves are remarkable teachers. They’ve been doing this for millions of years without our help, and when we create the right conditions and step back enough to let them do their thing, they rarely disappoint.
Whether you start tomorrow with a herb garden and a bird bath, or you’re planning to set up your first hive next spring, every step you take brings you closer to one of the most rewarding relationships you can have with the natural world.
And if you want to dive deeper into any of these topics, we’ve put together comprehensive guides on everything from choosing and positioning your hive to catching swarms and understanding the fascinating biology of the bee colony. Take it at your own pace — the bees aren’t going anywhere.
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FAQs
What basic equipment do I need before getting my first bees?
You need less than you might think — a good protective suit or veil, a hive tool or stiff-bladed knife for prying bars apart, a smoker (though you’ll use it sparingly), and a bee brush for gently moving bees during honey harvest.
If you’re going with a Top Bar Hive, you won’t need the expensive extracting equipment that conventional setups require — just basic kitchen supplies like a bucket, strainer, and jars for the crush-and-strain method.
Quality matters more than quantity, so invest in a decent beekeeping suit you feel confident in.
Can I keep bees in a small suburban backyard or on a balcony?
The quality of your space matters far more than the size — I’ve seen thriving hives in surprisingly small suburban gardens and even on apartment balconies in big cities.
The key is thoughtful positioning: make sure there’s a clear flight path that doesn’t cross your neighbours’ regular activities, provide morning sun and afternoon shade, and set up a water source so your bees aren’t visiting the neighbours’ pool.
Check your local regulations for any setback requirements from property boundaries, and have a chat with your neighbours before you set up — most people are supportive once they understand the benefits bees bring to local gardens.
What herbs and flowers are best for attracting bees to my garden?
Flowering herbs like lavender, rosemary, thyme, basil, and sage are some of the easiest and most reliable bee-attracting plants you can grow — they’re hardy, low-maintenance, and bees absolutely love them.
Beyond herbs, add a mix of native and introduced flowering plants suited to your climate and aim for succession planting so something is always in bloom across the seasons.
Variety is what matters most — bees need different types of pollen and nectar just like we need a varied diet, so a diverse garden with multiple species will always outperform a large patch of a single flower.
Do I need to take a course before getting bees, or can I learn as I go?
You can absolutely learn as you go, but a good course before your bees arrive will save you from the common early mistakes that make beekeeping harder than it needs to be — and give you confidence when you’re standing in front of an open hive for the first time.
Look for a course that teaches you to understand bee behaviour and read what your colony is telling you, rather than one that just hands you a checklist of tasks to follow on a calendar.
Combining a course with hands-on experience from a local mentor or beekeeping club is the ideal approach — book knowledge gets you started, but there’s no substitute for seeing hives opened and bees handled by someone experienced.
What's the difference between a Top Bar Hive and a conventional Langstroth hive?
A Langstroth hive is the stacked white box design most people picture, designed for commercial pollination and honey harvesting — it uses removable frames with pre-made wax foundation but involves lifting heavy boxes and disturbing the entire colony during inspections.
A Kenyan Top Bar Hive is a horizontal design where bees build their own natural comb hanging from individual wooden bars — you access it by sliding bars sideways rather than lifting, and you can check the honey area without disturbing the brood nest where bees are raising their young.
The Top Bar Hive is simpler to build, cheaper to get started with, and lets bees organise their colony the way nature intended — which tends to produce calmer bees and a more enjoyable beekeeping experience for beginners.
