Honey Odyssey

Decision 06 of 8

Equipment and the first budget: what you need and what it costs

The short list of tools you cannot skip, the expensive items that can wait or be borrowed, and what associations say a start costs.

Applies to: Beginning beekeepers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; honey bees, Apis mellifera   Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Decide first: Choosing the hive and the frame: a decision for years, Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start with

This decision fixes: which purchases are made before the bees arrive and which are postponed to the first honey harvest or the second year; whether the first extractor is bought, borrowed from a club or shared with a mentor; how much sugar or syrup is budgeted per colony for the first winter; the rough size of the first budget and of the yearly running costs, with the year of each figure

Equipment and the first budget: what you need and what it costs
Photo: Joska16, CC BY-SA 4.0

The short list that cannot wait

A Swiss cantonal training centre lists the working tools for a beginner as a hive tool, a bee brush and a smoker or beekeeper's pipe; Swiss hive users also need a frame grip (Switzerland, 2022).Confirmed fact, source 4 The same guidance names the protective clothing as a veil or beekeeper's hat, a beekeeper's jacket or full suit, and gloves (Switzerland, 2022).Confirmed fact, source 4 A Bavarian beekeeping club priced the personal basic kit of jacket with veil, gloves, hive tool, brush, smoker and smoker fuel at about 100 Euro in January 2022 (Germany).Reported by the farm, source reported 7 A Hessian club gave the same personal kit at about 80 to 140 Euro in 2022, split between the tools and the protective clothing (Germany).Reported by the farm, source reported 6 A feeder belongs to the first purchase: the Hamburg association's 2022 starter list includes feed buckets and frame feeders, and the Bavarian bee institute's undated list for a school apiary names a feeding device with each hive (Germany).Confirmed fact, source 5

Hives, frames and foundation

The Bavarian bee institute's equipment list for a school apiary of four hives starts with hives of three to four boxes each, a queen excluder, a feeding device and 30 to 40 frames per hive (Bavaria, Germany, undated sheet).Confirmed fact, source 2 The Hessian club budgets frames at about 45 to 50 Euro per hive and foundation at about 30 sheets, or 40 to 55 Euro, per colony (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 6 The Hamburg association's list for a two colony start counts 100 frames, 6 kg of foundation and an embedding tool to fix the foundation into wired frames (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 5 The Bavarian club priced three colonies, three complete hives with weather covers, frames, wire, foundation, excluders, bee escapes and an embedding transformer at about 1,250 Euro in January 2022 (Germany).Reported by the farm, source reported 7 In Switzerland, the Agroscope bee research centre reported in 2004 that, according to the wax processing firms themselves, only Swiss beeswax was being used to make foundation (Switzerland, 2004 report on 1993 to 2002).Reported by the farm, source reported 11

What can wait: extractor, uncapping tools, wax melter, scale

The Bavarian bee institute says the honey extraction equipment in particular can often be borrowed, and that borrowing from a club, teaching apiary or fellow beekeeper eases the budget at the start (Bavaria, Germany).Confirmed fact, source 1 A Bavarian club states that many beekeeping clubs own simple honey extractors which members can use for a small hire fee (Germany, 2022).Confirmed fact, source 7 Swiss guidance recommends a mentor who lets the beginner share expensive items such as a honey extractor for the first period (Switzerland, 2022).Confirmed fact, source 4 If an own extractor is bought, the Hamburg association priced a four frame extractor, uncapping tray and two uncapping forks at about 680 Euro in 2022 (Germany).Reported by the farm, source reported 5 A wax melter becomes necessary at the latest in the second year; the Hamburg association priced one at 170 to 350 Euro in 2022 (Germany).Reported by the farm, source reported 5

Sugar for the first winter

The Bavarian bee institute plans about 16 kg of sugar per colony for winter feed, and more where nucleus colonies or emergency feeding are involved (Bavaria, Germany).Confirmed fact, source 2 The joint newsletter of six German bee institutes gives the winter store as about 15 kg for colonies on one box and 18 to 22 kg for colonies on two boxes (Germany, 2020).Confirmed fact, source 8 The same institutes state that each kilogram of sugar or syrup fed yields about one kilogram of stored food, and that food already in the hive is subtracted from the requirement (Germany, 2020).Confirmed fact, source 8 Young colonies on one box should hold at least 12 to 14 kg of winter stores; because low temperatures make feeding impossible from about mid September, the stores must be checked and topped up before then (Germany, 2021).Confirmed fact, source 9 In money, the Hamburg association budgeted four units of 16 kg winter feed at 18 Euro each, 72 Euro in all, for a two colony start (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 5

What a start costs, by source and year

The Hamburg beekeepers' association tells beginners to expect start up costs of about 2,600 Euro at 2022 prices and advises against trying with less; its itemised two colony list comes to 2,011 Euro without an extractor, plus 680 Euro if an own extractor is bought (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 5 The same association puts the cost of the bees themselves at about 150 Euro per colony, a figure it dates to 2022 and expects to keep changing (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 5 The Hessian club's 2022 list gives bees, hives, frames, foundation and accessories for three colonies at 1,000 to 1,800 Euro, plus honey equipment from about 800 Euro in all, of which the extractor alone is from 400 Euro (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 6 Austria's 2020 to 2022 newcomer grant used a flat package price of 1,250 Euro for at least five new hives, five package bees and five queens, paying 70 percent (Austria, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 10 The Bavarian bee institute warns that about 98 percent of German beekeeping is non commercial and that profit in a business sense is not to be expected at today's average apiary size (Germany).Statistical estimate, source est. 1

What keeps costing after the first year

The Hessian club's yearly bee health materials come to about 70 to 80 Euro for three colonies, and a monthly beekeeping magazine to 50 to 60 Euro per year (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 6 If honey is sold, the Hamburg association adds about 350 Euro for a calibrated scale and about 60 Euro of recalibration every two years (Germany, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 5 The Bavarian institute puts the beginner's time at roughly 10 to 15 hours per colony per year, depending on how intensively the bees are kept (Bavaria, Germany).Statistical estimate, source est. 3 A basic course belongs in the first budget: the Hessian club quoted the Kirchhain institute's course at 190 to 250 Euro in 2022; Austria's grant required at least 24 teaching units (Germany and Austria, 2022).Reported by the farm, source reported 6 Used equipment can cut costs, but the Bavarian institute says old items may carry disease agents and must be disinfected, while stainless steel honey equipment can usually be taken over without concern (Bavaria, Germany).Confirmed fact, source 1

The chain of decisions

  1. 01Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start withthe first decision
  2. 02Learning before the first beeafter: Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start with
  3. 03Where to put an apiaryafter: Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start with
  4. 04Choosing the hive and the frame: a decision for yearsafter: Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start with; Learning before the first bee
  5. 05Where the bees come fromafter: Choosing the hive and the frame: a decision for years; Where to put an apiary
  6. 06Equipment and the first budget: what you need and what it costsafter: Choosing the hive and the frame: a decision for years; Why keep bees, and how many colonies to start with
  7. 07Registration and the law: what must happen before and after the first beesafter: Where to put an apiary; Where the bees come from
  8. 08The first season: what the first year looks likeafter: Where the bees come from; Registration and the law: what must happen before and after the first bees; Equipment and the first budget: what you need and what it costs

Sources

  1. Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau (LWG), Fachzentrum Bienen, Veitshöchheim. Was kostet mich der Start? Information sheet for beginners, undated PDF. Link
  2. Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau (LWG), Fachzentrum Bienen, Veitshöchheim. Die Vorarbeiten (Bienenhaltung an Schulen), undated PDF. Link
  3. Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau (LWG), Fachzentrum Bienen, Veitshöchheim. Sind Bienen das Richtige für mich?, undated PDF. Link
  4. Bildungszentrum Wallierhof (Kanton Solothurn), Imkerei. Tipps für Neueinsteiger, dated 07.01.2022. Link
  5. Imkerverband Hamburg e.V. (IVHH). Startkosten Grundausrüstung / Anfangskosten, prices Stand 2022. Link
  6. Imkerverein Friedberg und Umgebung e.V. Kosten Einstieg Imkerei, Stand 2022. Link
  7. Imkerverein Hohes Fichtelgebirge. Entstehende Kosten, prices Stand Januar 2022. Link
  8. Bienen@Imkerei Infobrief 21/2020, 24 July 2020. Published jointly by DLR Fachzentrum Bienen und Imkerei Mayen, LWK NRW Bienenkunde, LWG Institut für Bienenkunde und Imkerei, LLH Bieneninstitut Kirchhain, Landesanstalt für Bienenkunde Hohenheim, Länderinstitut für Bienenkunde Hohen Neuendorf. Link
  9. Bienen@Imkerei Infobrief 20/2021, 16 July 2021. Published jointly by the six German bee institutes listed under s8. Link
  10. Agrarmarkt Austria (AMA). Merkblatt Neueinsteigerförderung für Jungimkerinnen und Jungimker gem. Sonderrichtlinie 2020 - 2022, Stand 05/2022, Version 03. Link
  11. Fluri P., Schenk P., Frick R. Bienenhaltung in der Schweiz. ALP forum 2004, Nr. 8. Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux, Zentrum für Bienenforschung, February 2004. Link

Last checked: 21 October 2026. Every statement in this article was compared with the source it cites. Spotted an error? Report it.