Three months into beekeeping I found myself staring at a growing tower of bee boxes and equipment in my tiny office space. Next to that tower, a large opened armoire exposed another large stack of beekeeping equipment, taking up nearly half the armoire space. My husband began to bemoan the fact that his guitars and amps were unreachable behind my piles of bee stuff. My cat, Obi, began abusing the supplies believing, I was bringing him more cat toys and scratching posts. And to be frank, it was an unsightly disaster for all to see when they came to my front door (if the door was left open, which was usually the case since this was also Obi’s room).
I realized I had misjudged the amount of storage space beekeeping would require. Each avocation takes up space, and some organized people make space by “switching” hobbies and eliminating previous hobby clutter. Others build or buy more storage spaces. My thinking was, “Beekeeping has been done for thousands of years in times when people didn’t have garages for storage. I see bee boxes in the yard, a beekeeper in a suit with a smoker- what other equipment could be needed?” WRONG! In our modern times, have you noticed how each hobby comes with dozens of types of equipment, manuals, books, upgrades, styles, etc? Beekeeping included.
After pondering where I could keep more equipment, I asked my husband if he could convert a space under our tall porch into an enclosed “closet” for my bee stuff. He quickly agreed, happy to make space in the office catch-all room, and got to work measuring and taking inventory of construction supplies. A couple weeks later, I had a 4x6x4 space complete with shelves, a rainproof roof, a wide swinging door, and an astroturf floor. I moved most of my belongings into the space and it is now completely full of bee stuff.
Perfect, right? ?♀️Noooo, we live in “America’s temperate jungle”, which promotes mold and fungus growth in every shaded corner of the region. I have grown up and lived most of my life in dry climates, so mold was only a small issue, mainly found on old, manky food in the back of one’s refrigerator. Dealing with mold, even inside my home here in the southeastern USA, has been a learning curve. I can literally dump 1 to 2 gallons of water/day from my dehumidifier. (For some reason, when I complain to my neighbors, I get the feeling that I’m “preaching to the choir” and I get no empathy!) Why is the humidity factor important to know? Glad you asked.
Generally, an active bee colony can remove mold from the hive and isn’t too affected by it, even here in a wet climate. However, mold can readily grow on all the equipment you store and cause issues. In the off-season, a beekeeper needs to store bee boxes, foundation frames, foundation, clothing and gloves, and even frames full of capped honey, in a dry area with lots of airflow. This helps keep wintering bugs out of your equipment, as well as mold. If one goes online, you can find all different types of methods for storing the equipment, but it always includes well-ventilated spacing.
Long story short, beekeeping requires at least a large dry closet (or corner) for equipment. I have read that some who live in apartments with an outdoor patio or a tiny yard space ask if it’s possible to keep bees. The answer would be yes, IF you have a large space for storing equipment.
Also, a chest freezer is an important tool for beekeeping. One of the best ways to store honey-filled frames, or kill moth worms and small hive beetles, is to freeze the frames. My kitchen freezer doesn’t fit hive frames, but I do have a small chest freezer on the back porch. However, I can only freeze one or two frames at a time because I use the freezer for food storage. I need to upgrade to a larger freezer, or find a space on my property to add another freezer. So as you see, beekeeping takes up much more space than building model cars, lol (not including a model display for the obsessed).
–A note to beginners using a freezer for frames: be sure to wrap the frames in plastic or large bags so the freezer doesn’t end up a terrible sticky mess.
However, the need for storage space, as well as a “sticky room” for processing honey and wax, has led me to another fantastic idea: building a honey house! (As my husband shakes his head, I know that ain’t gonna happen any time soon, haha!) But one can dream!
In my dream honey house, one wall would have 2-5 beehives, with the front entrances on the outside. The back side of the hives would actually be inside the honey house, so I could open them for inspections and collect honey without being invaded by robber bees. I would have a space for hanging frames and boxes, and at least 2 screened windows for ventilation. I would build a workbench and the floor out of plastic or aluminum for easy cleaning after collecting honey or working with wax. One could even build it onto a trailer to make it mobile. Oh, the possibilities. What do you think? Should we go into business together? Give me a call, haha! I’m good at having IDEAS.?
However, the essence of this blog is for new beekeepers who hadn’t thought about all the required space this hobby needs. The points I brought out are for simple beekeeping. None the less, there are many branches to this beekeeping tree. Maybe you decide you want to raise queens. Maybe you want to specialize in collecting royal jelly or propolis. Maybe you want to build and sell bee boxes, frames, or other equipment. Maybe you want to sell rendered wax in bulk, or focus on making beeswax candles and soap. Or, or, or. You never know what doors may be opened, but at least plan for the initial phase of beekeeping. And make sure you have a large empty corner in your space for this new messy hobby. Had I thought about the storage space, I might have waited to get started in beekeeping until I had that extra room. But there is always something to delay reaching our goals, so feel free to charge on in and work out the other issues as they come up. ??
Did this article spark questions or ideas? Next time, let’s talk about rendering wax!
