JOG,
You don't necessarily need a lot of expensive equipment, especially with the Top Bar HIve. With the tbh, I've been using a butter-knife to get by, if that tells you how easy it can be. Combs get attached, and bees glue things together, so you need some tools to cut and pry with, but there doesn't seem to be quite as much heavy prying in a TBH. Of course, I don't have the experience to really tell yet.
You should have a smoker. Essentially how it works is this... You have a canister with a cone to point the smoke. Then you have a bellows and a hole in the bottom of the canister for the air to be blown in from the bottom. The burning media (ideally cotton or other non-toxic-smoke-producing stuff) is raised off the bottom by a little bit by a holey plate thingy. once I get the fire going good, I cool it off by putting some green grass on top of the burning stuff. Smoke tends to be produced naturally by not pushing the bellows so much. You could possibly build a smoker yourself from scratch if you feel like it. Mine is stainless steel. I think I bought mine from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm many years ago. I think they are still around. Look up their website. Their phone number was 1-800-beeswax. Mann Lake is another good supplier.
The important thing is the delivery of cool smoke to calm the bees and make them gorge on honey instead of getting angry and stinging. I have noticed that when they get upset, it is hard not to squish them as they start boiling out of the hive and constantly get in the way.
If you want, you can get gentle bees. Carniolan bees are really gentle. I remember inspecting my Carnies many years ago without any protection during good conditions. I was stung once in the finger, but only because I squished one.
Note that carnies are known for one major aggravating trait... They SWARM.... alot! No it doesn't mean scary bee attack... It means reproduction. Think of a large fraction of your nice bustling hive-- young bees with your old queen that you might have even paid big bucks for-- flying away to a new home--of their choosing-- not yours!
You should also have a suit as a beginner, especially if you don't have sweet-tempered bees but some experienced beekeepers out there don't really wear one. I remember one on Youtube that mentioned using only a cheap mosquito veil or something over a baseball cap.
I'll tell you one thing... Those thick gloves ruin your dexterity and will squish bees and make them rather unhappy.
The tradeoff is that
you don't get stung...unless you make them so mad they find a hole in your suit and sting the snot out of you.
I got one sting I think through my suit the last time I worked them. I got more than one inside my veil. Now that will make you nervous. Especially when the bees are attacking you hot and heavy. I suggest buying a purpose-made suit-- a good one. Mine is pretty crappy. Got 'em from Drapers Super Bee Apiaries many years ago. They are essentially generic white coveralls with a zipper sewed on for the veil.
All the crevices I have to tape up!
Elastic around the ankles and wrists is a good thing to look for. We got a much better suit from Brushy Mountain, but I don't think it's suitable for my veil. Don't go overboard though.. Unless you're badly allergic to stings, there's no sense in paying big bucks for something made for Africanized "killer" bees. If you are allergic, you should probably carry around and Epi-Pen or Benadryl anyway.
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