If you'd like to have hundreds of honey-producing, flying venom machines in your back yard, you're going to need equipment and tools. Hundreds of online vendors sell bee supplies, and many sell complete kits.
A beginner's hive with 10 honey-collecting frames and two boxes will run you roughly $250. Some of them come with gloves, fume boards (which drive the bees out while you collect the honey), nuc boxes (a smaller box) and crimp wire foundation.
You'll need various sizes of hive tools, which are pretty inexpensive and look like something a movie serial killer would use. They run about $5-$12 each. You'll also need a smoker ($25) and a nuc feeder ($10).
Then there's the dashing beekeeper suit. Just the suit and helmet will cost you $80-$100. The gloves, if you didn't get them with your beginner's hive, cost $10-$30.
A starter colony of bees, with a queen and the feeds, will cost $135.
All totaled, that's about $550 for your new hobby. You don't need a permit to keep bees in Fort Worth, unless you have more than 15 hives -- in which case, you are either not a beginner or are too ambitious.
