Backyard Bee Raising
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2025Many homeowners have pets. Dogs, cats, and maybe even a rabbit or a hamster are frequent animal companions for millions of people around the country. If someone told you, however, that they raised tens of thousands of “pets” in their backyard, you might think that they took the whole “crazy cat woman” characterization to an entirely new level. The average honey bee colony, however, has anywhere between 10,000 and 80,000 bees and is one unique opportunity for keeping animals on a small homestead level. While you might not be able to play with your bees as you would with a dog, beekeeping is an intensely exciting hobby. It can allow homeowners to contribute to the ecological resiliency of their home
Many of us might harbor painful childhood memories of running away from a swarm of bees or getting stung after accidentally knocking a wild beehive off a branch when climbing a tree. People who suffer from severe allergic reactions to raising honey bees might want to stick with a more traditional cat or dog pet. However, bees raised in backyard hives can be an extremely safe and ecologically functional choice of “pet.” Below, we offer a complete overview of how you can start raising bees in your backyard.
Table of Contents
- Can I raise bees in my backyard?
- How do you start keeping bees?
- Keeping bees for beginners
- How much does it cost to raise honey bees?
How do you start keeping bees?
Bees are fascinating creatures with complex societal structures. Besides offering honey, beeswax, and pollination services, homeowners can spend hours learning the unique architecture and organization of their colony. Another benefit of keeping bees is that once you set up the necessary infrastructure, bees will mostly take care of themselves.
To get started, you will need to purchase a beehive (see below for an explanation of three options), a beekeeping suit, a smoker, and the colony itself. When your hive and colony come in the mail, you will want to face your hive towards the southeast and position the hive so that honey can be easily accessible during harvest. If you live in a windy area, you will need to create an artificial windbreak at the back of the hive. In addition, search for areas in your yard with indirect sunlight as direct sun during the summer months can cause problems with overheating. With these underlying conditions, your hive will have the optimum temperature, sunshine, and ventilation needed to begin creating honey and beeswax for you and your family.
Once everything is set up, backyard beekeepers should expect to spend about one hour per week on colony management. During cold winter spells, there may be some additional work needed to help your colony safely overwinter.
Keeping bees for beginners
Once your hive is set up, there is relatively little work or maintenance on your part. Bees make honey from the nectar of flowers that they visit during their days of foraging. Of course, you can help your bees make honey by planting a variety of plants that will flower throughout the year. Check out this guide for how to plant a “bee lawn.”
During the first year of beekeeping, the chances are that you will not be able to harvest substantial amounts of honey or beeswax for yourself. It is vital to give your bees an opportunity to “get settled” before starting the harvest process. In subsequent years, however, honey and wax can be harvested whenever a substantial nectar flow is occurring (i.e., whenever the bees have access to lots of flowers). During these flows, your beehive will fill with cured and capped honey. Bees rely on honey to stay alive during the winter but will produce excess honey, which is what backyard beekeepers can harvest for their use.
During the middle of summer, check your hives every week or two. When you see several frames in your hive that are filled and capped with honey, you can remove that frame and harvest the honey. You will, of course, want to leave a few frames for the honey bees to survive during the winter. This helpful video shows how to harvest honey from your hives safely.
- The Langstroth Hive: This type of hive has removable frames meaning that the backyard beekeeper can inspect the bee colony without having to cut out the honeycomb. This option is considered less invasive to bees and is relatively easy to manage. These types of hives are stackable, which is vital for backyard beekeepers who want to expand their operations, but don’t have a lot of space. A wooden Langstroth Hive should cost you around $120.
Tobias Roberts
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.
