For an alternative beehive kit, check out the SummerHawk Ranch Victorian Teak Backyard Beehive also at Costco.
Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Hive Kit |
Here are the specs:
Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Beehive Kit Product Info
Costco Item#: 1002260Costco Price: $249.99
Found at: Costco in South San Francisco, CA (451 South Airport Blvd.) and Hayward, CA (28505 Hesperian Blvd.)
(price and availability may vary per Costco location)
Farm to table now has a new meaning with the Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Beehive Kit |
Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Hive Kit at Costco |
Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Hive Kit – This kit contains everything a new beekeeper needs to get started in one box! Featuring our Little Giant 10-frame Langstroth hive including frames with foundation installed, gloves, veil, smoker, smoker fuel, bee brush, hive tool, frame feeder and the book Beekeeping for Dummies. Bees must be purchased separately. This beginner kit will help you become the backyard beekeeper you envision. All you need to add is a package of honeybees.
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Key Features:
- 10-frame Langstroth hive, frames with foundation
- Bee brush
- Gloves, smoker, veil
- Smoker fuel
- Hive tool
- Frame feeder
- Beekeeping for Dummies book
7 comments:
This is a great deal, but still only half of the things you would truly need to start a beehive.
This is a great deal, but still only half of the things you would truly need to start a beehive.
Hi @Trevor, thank you for your thoughts on the Miller Manufacturing Little Giant Hive10kit Beginner Beehive Kit. For those beginners thinking of taking up the hobby, what do you suggest they would need in addition to this kit to get started?
This kit will get you started but you would need a couple of additional hive supers before you could even think about harvesting honey. These additional pieces are readily available across the U.S. and are not expensive. This kit will only give the bees a place to live and lay eggs. They need more of these hive bodies or supers to store honey. Please keep in mind that you must leave an extra box full of honey for the bees to eat and survive during the winter. I have raised bees for many years and we certainly need more folks involved so that our crops are pollinated each year. With all of this said please research or join a local beekeepers association for more knowledge. It is very rewarding but it does take some knowledge and patience.
Hi @Les, thank you so much for all that great info! That's useful for beginning beekeepers or those thinking about taking up beekeeping as a hobby. There's definitely a lot to learn when it comes to beekeeping, and, hopefully, it isn't too intimidating for beginners.
Hi @ExecMemberMike, having kept bees many years ago, there are quite a few more things you would need. I would highly recommend a bee suit and gloves for beginners - you don't want to be put off by stings from aggressive bees. To extract honey without bee eggs and larvae, you will also need a queen excluder and a "super" with 10 more frames for honey storage. A mouse guard is important to stop mice from nesting in (and destroying) the bee colony in winter. An uncapping knife helps get the honey out of the frames and a honey extractor (hand or electric-powered) is the only efficient way to get honey out of the wax cells, unless you have purchased a Flow Hive from honeyflow.com or one of their supers. Of course you will need jars too, and many people filter their honey through a mesh strainer to remove any stray bee legs and wax fragments.
I totally agree with Les that joining a local beekeepers association is just about essential, if you are a beginner. Many offer mentoring or the opportunity to work with an experienced member in their hives before you start your own. This makes the whole process much less intimidating. I would also buy another book such as The Beekeeper's Handbook by Sammataro and Avitabile, to provide more detailed knowledge. The more people who take up beekeeping, the better for our environment, so I hope you decide to try it out.
Thank you for all the valuable advice @Dawn! Ya, I'm all for helping the environment, so that's why taking up beekeeping would be a cool thing to get into. If I don't get into beekeeping at least your and Les' advice will help others reading this get into it. Thanks again!
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