Beekeeping Supplies
Campbell’s Gold is a go-to source for everything bees, including beekeeping equipment and clothing. Not a carpenter? No problem, we offer equipment assembly as well as sales, for a reasonable fee. Not only are we committed to providing you with quality beekeeping equipment, and a variety of styles of bee clothing to protect you out in the field, we also have qualified master beekeepers on hand to answer questions and to ensure you purchase only what you truly need. Beekeeping is a trade and an artform and one that’s best learned from asking a lot of questions to a variety of people with years of experience. Come with your questions and let us share our experience with you.
Equipment you will need to get started:
- Jacket, vest or full bee suit with fencing veil
- Gloves – full leather or short rubber
- 4 x 7 smoker
- Hive tool – standard or j-hook
- Bee brush – helpful tips:
- Keep some of those Timmy’s beverage trays to fuel your smoker, as well as dry grass clippings
- Tuck your pants into your socks and never ever wear shorts beekeeping. Ever.
What you’ll need to start a colony:
- A nuc (a small ‘nucleus’ bee colony sourced from an established colony)
- Outer cover
- Inner cover with hole
- Screened bottom board
- Two deep supers
- Ten deep frames
- Ten deep foundation
- One deep feeder
- One honey super
- Ten shallow frames
- Ten shallow foundation
Optional:
- Queen excluder
- Entrance reducer and mouse guard (pictured)
- Mite sticky board
- One shallow feeder
- Extra boxes and frames
Helpful Hints
- Seriously consider taking a beekeeping class before investing in the purchase of a beehive.
- Know that part of your job as a beekeeper is to suppress swarms, so ensure you understand the causes and signs of swarming behaviour and how to deal with them.
- If you decide to buy used equipment, ensure that it has been properly inspected and sterilize with gamma rays (Iotron Industries) before moving into your apiary.
- Bee disease and the Varroa mite are here to stay. Ensure that you understand the signs symptoms and treatments of the pests, parasites and diseases afflicting bees today.
- Make sure that you have enough food and water in your bee yard for bees. A single hive can use up to a litre of water per day in summer to maintain a suitable hive temperature. Bees easily drown in swimming pools or large bodies of water.
- Orient your hive to the south-east and ensure that the entryway is free of obstructions.
- In the first year of a beehive’s life we don’t generally recommend removing honey from the colony for extraction. Make sure you understand how to treat your bees in spring and summer so that they will survive the winter.
Queen Bees & Bee Stock
Here at Campbell’s Gold we no longer bring in foreign bee packages or queens. We are committed to the production of hygienic bee stock, meant to overwinter and thrive in the British Columbian climate. We sell four frame nucleus hives (nucs). We ensure that every nuc leaving Campbell’s Gold has a well mated queen, and a thriving, healthy colony building up. If they’re not ready, if they’re not healthy: they don’t get sold. We keep a waiting list each year, but can’t guarantee a delivery date or quantity until we assess conditions each spring. We test for hygienic behaviour and only breed from the best queens in our bee yard.
What you’ll need to start a colony:
Please refer to the section above covering the basics of what you’ll need to start a bee colony. Campbell’s Gold is a go to source for all these items, as well as support and advice from qualified, master beekeepers. Above, we have also provided some hints and tips to help you avoid some common pitfalls.
Want to Learn More About Bees?
If you hadn’t already heard, you should know that we’re big on sharing our knowledge and love of bees! Campbell’s Gold offers a beginner beekeeping course, as well as occasional workshops related to bees and beekeeping. You can also visit our Bees & Beekeeping page to learn more about bees and the history of beekeeping.
