How do I buy my first bee colony?
A nucleus colony is the best first purchase: five frames with a laying queen, brood at every stage, and bees already covering them. Before you accept it, look for eggs, a solid brood pattern, and no sour smell or perforated cappings. Buy locally, buy early, and avoid unseen colonies sold as full hives.
The full lesson
The most ideal time to buy your first bee colony is early spring. Always buy your bees from reliable, certified and well-known professional local beekeepers. For beginners, buying a new colony with ready frames is much easier. Make sure the bees completely cover at least five or six frames when buying.
The queen is the heart of the colony. Verify a marked, young and healthy queen. Capped brood on the frame should be solid and compact, showing good colony health. Carefully check the hive for varroa mites or any deformed wing bees during inspection. The colony must have sufficient honey and pollen stores to feed the bees.
Transport the bees at night or dawn with the hive entrances completely closed. and let the bees orient themselves. Place the hive, gently open the entrance, and let the bees orient themselves.
This lesson is also in the app, along with the other twenty-nine.
Next lessons
Where should I put my beehive?
1:40 7How do I open a beehive for the first time?
1:40 8How do I read the frames in a beehive?
1:40Lessons and forum answers describe beekeeping practice and peer experience, not veterinary guidance. Treatment thresholds, inspection timing and disease management vary by climate, subspecies and local regulation. Diseases that are notifiable where you live must be reported to your national bee inspectorate.