Attend some of their meetings to make new friends and learn what you need to keep bees.

sorry to say but if you cant afford the cost of a hive body plus - several extracting supers with frames - wax - covers and bottom boards, your never gonna afford an extractor - bee blower - smoker - or vehicle to haul such. My first year i purchased my first three colonies - second year i added several more - third year i borrowed money from a farm organization and purchased five hundred colonies which i maintained for over ten years, making sufficient income to meet all expenses - plus.. Meet other bee keepers and discuss there wisdom - its a great hobby and venture. State bee inspectors are a good source of many thoughts, seek there names and question... Good luck and enjoy.

It does take some money to keep bee's but you don't need to start super big a small start with one or two hive is always best and if you can expand do so, thats what i am doing. just started out this year made the investment to get two hives build from scratch. then ordered some bee's i am trying to catch a swarm as well setting out traps for them around my town.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2rcUDHm64nbp6kDUpDeiTw

There are thousands of native varieties of bees that are also important pollinators, and are even more efficient than honey bees. The native bees are also able to fly in colder weather, so earlier in the season and earlier in the morning. You can encourage them by having a garden that contains as diverse a collection of flowering plants as you can manage. What pollinators need is a pesticide-free area with something blooming continuously throughout the growing season. Fall-blooming plants are especially important as they are getting ready to hide away for the winter and need to build up stores of pollen to survive the long winter. Maintaining these bees is much less expensive and you can benefit multiple species, including honeybees, with much less financial investment. In fact, just planting some white clover in your lawn in the spring and then being a little lazy when it comes to your mowing schedule is a great start.

martha