Apiary Startup Calculator + Honey Forecast
Example plan (2 hives, standard tier)
Estimated budget: $1,260–$1,620
Planning estimates, not live prices — check current price on Amazon or your supplier before buying. Plan: 2 × Langstroth 10-frame, 1 beekeeper, bees from 3-lb packages, Mid-Atlantic & Midwest.
Order bees by March — suppliers sell out; packages and nucs ship April–May.
Itemized shopping list
| Item | Category | Qty | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep brood box, 9-5/8" (10-frame) | woodenware | 4 | $140 |
| Medium honey super, 6-5/8" (10-frame) | woodenware | 4 | $116 |
| Deep frame with foundation | woodenware | 40 | $100 |
| Medium frame with foundation | woodenware | 40 | $90 |
| Bottom board (screened or solid) | woodenware | 2 | $45 |
| Inner cover | woodenware | 2 | $34 |
| Telescoping outer cover | woodenware | 2 | $64 |
| Entrance reducer | woodenware | 2 | $7 |
| Queen excluder | woodenware | 2 | $28 |
| Top feeder (2-4 gal) | feeding | 2 | $50 |
| Package bees (3 lb with mated queen) | bees | 2 | $295 |
| Smoker with heat guard | tools | 1 | $31.50 |
| Hive tool | tools | 2 | $23 |
| Bee brush | tools | 1 | $9 |
| Full bee suit with veil | protection | 1 | $127.50 |
| Beekeeping gloves (goatskin) | protection | 1 | $23.50 |
| 2-frame manual extractor (crush-and-strain = $0 alternative) | extraction | 1 | $180 |
| Double sieve strainer + bottling bucket | extraction | 1 | $40 |
| Total (standard tier) | $1,403.50 | ||
Honey forecast (conservative)
| Season | Total surplus | Metric | 1-lb jars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (new colonies) | 0–40 lbs | 0–18.1 kg | 0–40 jars |
| Year 2+ (established) | 80–140 lbs | 36.3–63.5 kg | 80–140 jars |
Moderate season; a strong nuc installed early may give a small first-year surplus. Forecast generated July 2026; bees for the coming season are ordered January–March. Curious how a harvest translates into containers? The honey jars calculator converts pounds into jar counts.
Verified against esmis.nal.usda.gov· Last verified: 2026-07
main nectar flow light flow no flow
How the calculator builds your list
The baseline for one Langstroth 10-frame hive is the setup most US beekeeping associations recommend: two deep brood boxes (9-5/8″) where the colony lives year-round, two medium supers (6-5/8″) for surplus honey, 20 deep and 20 medium frames with foundation, plus a bottom board, inner cover, telescoping cover, entrance reducer, queen excluder, and a top feeder. An 8-frame hive uses the same stack with 16+16 frames.
Gear that does not scale with hive count is calculated separately: one smoker, two hive tools, and one bee brush for the whole apiary, plus a suit and gloves per person (fit them right — see the suit sizing guide and glove picks). The extractor is sized by hive count — a 2-frame manual unit handles 1–2 hives, a 4-frame manual is worth it for 3–5, and electric makes sense from 6 hives up. See manual vs electric extractors for the details.
One thing no shopping list covers: where the hives go. Before anything ships, walk your yard with the placement guide — sun, wind, water, flight paths, and the setback rules many cities enforce.
Cost ranges come from tracking typical US retail prices across major suppliers and Amazon. The budget tier assumes unassembled woodenware and import-brand gear; premium assumes assembled, wax-dipped boxes and US-made equipment.
Gear matched to your plan
Picks that match your hive style, region, and scale. See the full roundups for alternatives: starter kits, ventilated suits, smokers.
Hoover Hives 8-Frame Complete Kit
8-frame version: a full deep weighs about 65 lbs vs 80-90 lbs for a 10-frame - noticeably easier on the back.
Humble Bee 410 Polycotton Suit
Solid entry-level full suit with round veil. Fine for northern climates; hot in southern summers.
VIVO BEE-V002 2-Frame Manual Extractor
The default first extractor for 1-2 hives. Tangential basket: spin one side, flip frames, spin the other.
VIVO Stainless Bee Smoker with Guard
Standard-size smoker with heat guard and hanging hook. Big enough to stay lit through a 2-hive inspection.
Standard 10-Inch Hive Tool
The basic pry-and-scrape tool. Buy two - one always goes missing in the grass.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start beekeeping with 2 hives?
Plan on roughly $800–$1,400 for two complete Langstroth hives, bees (packages or nucs), one suit, a smoker, hive tools, and a small manual extractor. The biggest swing factors are bee source (nucs cost $40–$75 more than packages) and whether you buy assembled or unassembled woodenware. Run the calculator above with your own numbers for an itemized list.
Why does the calculator recommend starting with 2 hives instead of 1?
With two colonies you can compare behavior (is this hive weak, or is it just the weather?), and you can transfer a frame of brood or stores from the strong hive to rescue the weak one. If your only queen fails with one hive, the colony usually dies before a replacement arrives.
Will I get honey the first year?
Often no. A first-year colony spends most of the nectar it collects building comb and storing food for winter. In the North expect 0–10 lbs of surplus, in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest 0–20 lbs, and in the South 10–30 lbs — and harvesting anything must never take the hive below its winter-stores minimum.
Do I really need an extractor in year one?
No. With 1–2 hives, crush-and-strain harvesting (cut comb from the frame, crush it, strain through a sieve) costs almost nothing beyond a bucket and strainer. The trade-off: bees must rebuild that comb, which costs them roughly 6–8 lbs of honey per pound of wax. An extractor preserves the comb so bees refill it faster.
When should I order bees?
Order in January–March for April–May delivery. Reputable suppliers sell out of packages and nucs by early spring almost every year. If it is already summer, use the season to build and paint equipment, then order early for next spring.