I want to start beekeeping. Where should I start first? What is the best brand to use? I thought id start with an 8 frame box vs. 10. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

my bees are not branded...

trap feral bees if you can, if not get a split from someone close, start a nuc, feed them and split in August and feed more

beesource.com - will give you a lifetime of learning - you just need to start, read, read some more and get a mentor who can speed up your learning and then just do it. Realize you can manipulate them yourself easily and raise your own queens etc....

There's a lot of variables to your questions!
How are you going to get bee's, your a little late for this year if purchasing bees. Your option is catching swarms which means feeding them this summer, no harvest until next year.
I assume your thinking of using 8 frame deeps. They are a little lighter. I use 10 frame mediums, 3 boxes for the colony.
Italians or Carolyn's are the two varieties most purchase.
My advise would be to find a local bee keeper and a bee club in your area and learn as much as possible before making decisions on your set up.
I spent a year with a beekeeper before I purchased mine. He got free labor and I got a wealth of knowledge. I feel I came out ahead.

B

I recommend buy two packages so you can learn with your bees.
get all the same equipment, I use ten frame deeps.

Join you local bee keeping club and read on fourums Beesource, and Worldwidebeekeeping, and watch youtube videos. especially Canadian beekeeper blog.
remember all beekeeping is local,what works in the south is diffearnt than your northern climate.

Treat your bees so they don't die

Its addicting just like trapping.

Good luck

don't treat your bees - ask 10 beekeepers and get 20 answers

If you plan on being treatment free don't buy just any package you better get it from a treatment free bee keeper. I can promise you if you get a package and don't treat or monitor for mites 85% chance come next spring that hive will be dead. If treatment free is what you want it takes time. I am not a treat or treatment free bee keeper I am a do what I have to to keep my hive alive beekeeper. If I have to treat in some way I will, if I can let them be i will. Worst trouble I have had have been with packages. The most important thing in the start is feed feed feed.

Or..... learn to be able to keep treatment free bees after you learn how to keep them alive first.

That's a thought but what would I gain from letting 3 or 4 hives die a year from not wanting to treat. Only to think that I will pay more money come spring to try a diffent source. When I could treat then come spring re queen with better genetics for mite resistance

why would you wait for spring to re-queen if you knew you had an issue? I raised up queens until October last year well beyond when most people subject their bees to chemicals.....

brood breaks, a young strong queen will fend off mites if you work with them

Excellent advice^^^

If you decide to not treat here's a short cut.

Pull four or five C notes from your wallet. Reach into your pocket and pull out your zippo. Set them worthless bills on fire.
Repeat annually until you learn to treat.

Lots of good info on YouTube regarding bee keeping, actually. I'd suggest taking a few classes first if you can, but not always available. The local college offered them here. Even after a 20 hour class, it was just barely enough to get you started, IMO. But then you can start relating to videos or what other bee keepers are trying to tell you.

Not treating your bees will also make you real popular with your neighbors who have clean bees. Mites are no joke. Always bacteria based disease related to mites. Last winter the U of W Stout reported 80- 100% loss in that county due to bacteria related to mites. I'll dig up the video of anyone is interested. It was a rough winter up here. Mite load makes a difference between living or dying up here for sure.

If you can find a couple of mentors one who treats and one who does not treat with “harsh” chemicals and learn from both.
I am biased about treating bees with “harsh” chemicals. I feel God created bees and man and both lived in harmony with each other and will as long as both are on this earth. Man has poisoned this earth with chemicals and pesticides and and now pumping the stuff directly into our food chain. Antibiotics, steroids. Miticides the list is long and several feral colonies survive in spite of our constant barrage against the environment. Bush hogs and round up and millions of acre of monoculture crops has stressed the honey bee and now we say oh it’s ok just treat the bees.
Weak colonies grown from southern package bees that I have purchased will not survive without treatment and may not with treatment. If you can find someone who will sell you some stock from your area your bee hive survival will be much better.
I am not beating on those who must treat to survive in this industry but it is practical for small scale bee keeper to implement best management practices and monitor his hives for mites and manage stronger treatment free bees.
Keep the mite loads down and keep strong colonies. Queen breaks or brood breaks and drone comb removal, powder sugar, hygienic bees, rotate out old combs are a few things that can help.
Natural selection would work on this mite issue if it had played out naturally.
Not very popular with large bee keepers who livelyhoods depend on bees and I will admit if I had 1000’s of hives I would be on the other side of the argument I am sure.

Lol -made my morning. I meant brand/type of equipment.

Lots of info here. Thank you everyone for your advice. I will continue watching videos and ill check out beesource and world wide beekeeping.

Bee healthy. Eat your honey!

If I were able to get a package of bees vs attempting to catch feral bees. (Local beekeeper is doing A late season deliver that I'm gonna try to get A package) A typical brood box stack set up would be better vs a nuc because the number of bees?