The first thing you have to do is choose a site for your hive. Once you have all your equipment and are wearing your beekeepers gear, it's time to get the bees into their new home.

Bees can be obtained in a variety of ways. New beekeepers may prefer to purchase bees in three pound boxes from a local apiary for their first hive. The standard starting box is should be ordered in January or February for delivery or pickup in March or April. These package bees will arrive via the US mail, and will be housed in a wood frame box with screen covering the outside. The open design is needed so the bees have enough air circulation to cool themselves. Upon arrival at your local post office, you will be contacted by telephone to "come and get your bees!"

Package bees should be checked to make sure nothing has happened in shipment. A few dead bees in the bottom of the box is expected, and the remainder of the group should be "chaining" or hanging from the top of the box or clinging to the sides. The queen will be enclosed in a queen cage and suspended from the top of the box to one side of a can containing sugar solution. The sugar solution will serve as food for the time the bees are in transit. In central Texas, package bees are far more likely to suffer from heat stress than hunger. A fine mist or spray of water should be applied to the side of the cage, for the bees to drink.

The first step in installing package bees is to lift the can containing sugar solution and hold it so that the bottom of the can is level with the opening of the box. Then quickly slide the queen cage out of its slot and remove it from the box. The queen cage will have a plastic cap covering a plug made of sugar candy. I use a nail to remove a portion of the candy plug so the workers will have an easier time chewing through the candy to free the queen. I then remove the sugar can and use a square of cardboard to cover the opening of the box until I'm ready to shake the bees into their new hive. I place the queen cage one frame away from the opening in the hive, so that she is close to where the new bees will be "poured". The queens scent is important in keeping control over the hive as a group. If the queen has not been with the package bees for two or three days, its important to pour the new bees over the queen cage and close to where she is.

Remove three central frames from the hive so there will be an area for the bees to be shaken into. Then give the box a good spray of either water or sugar water to keep the bees from becoming airborne too quickly. First jar the box on the ground, to get the bees clinging to the top to drop down. Next, with your left hand holding the cardboard covering the opening and your right hand holding the box, turn the box over, slide the cardboard off the opening and firmly shake the bees out of the box and into the hive.

New beekeepers often tentatively tap the box trying to loosen the bees hold on the sides to get them out. The best way to get all the bees out, is to sharply hit one side of the box and dump loose bees out the opening, then hit the other side of the box and shake the bees to the opening so they drop into the hive. The more quickly this is done, the fewer bees will be in the air or outside the hive.

Finally, gently place the three center frames back into the hive body letting them settle slowly so the bees below can move out of the way. The bees can be sprayed once more before closing the hive, and the hive should be left undisturbed for 2 to 4 days. Then check to see that the queen has gotten out of her cage and remove it if empty, or release her into the hive if she has not made it out of the cage. After a week, check to make sure that the queen is laying and that the workers are building comb.

Obtaining complete hives is also a good way to start beekeeping. As beekeepers retire or need to relocate, fully functioning hives may become available. The most important thing to do if full hive are obtained, is to make sure of the health and condition of the bees and equipment. New beekeepers might want to take an experienced beekeeper along to check the hive before it is purchased.

Splitting from an existing beekeepers hive or capturing a swarm are other ways to obtain bees.

Watch here for information about starting a hive from a swarm.