Before you bring home your first colony of honeybees you need to be ready. You must first have chosen a good site to put your bee yard (Topic 4). You must have cleared the brush, built your hive stand, built or bought a base, box lid and frames, bought and put wax foundation into the frames, bought a smoker and veil, and found a place to get some bees. 

There are a few different ways to get bees for starting your first beehive. Perhaps the hardest way is to try and move a wild colony from the bush to your hive. The bees are free but even experienced beekeepers find this is hard to do. Beginner or novice beekeepers should not try this. 

Catching a wild swarm of bees is much easier and just as cheap. It will be discussed in Topic 12. 

The usual way to get your first colony of bees is to buy a complete hive of bees from a local beekeeper. The hive will be heavy and hard to move.  Buying a hive is expensive, but the hive should start making honey quickly. 

The best way to start beekeeping is to buy a small nucleus hive (nuc) from a local beekeeper.  A nuc is cheaper and easier to move than a hive. You can learn beekeeping as the colony grows. One important advantage to buying your nuc from a local beekeeper is that you can learn some things from him or her. When you visit to ask if he or she has a nuc to sell you, ask the beekeeper to show you the hives.  Ask lots of questions.  Ask if there is anything they need help with. Or ask if you can watch while your nuc is made. An experienced beekeeper can be very helpful. Once he or she realises how interested you are, the beekeeper might be willing to share some of their knowledge and experience.  Then later, if you have any problems or questions with your hive, you will have someone you can ask.