>>513156686
First thing is look up your state's apiary rules and regs. The big ones are in my state are 1)No Foulbrood fungus, if discovered by an inspector you have two weeks to remove the infection or they burn the hive. Highly contagious. 2)No mites. There's a mite species that crawls inside their ventral tubes they use to breathe and slowly suffocates them. Very contagious, 2 weeks to fix it or they burn the hive. 3) No Africanized honeybees. Felony offense, instant burn hive order.
Otherwise just decide how many hives you want, pick a spot that doesn't get too hot and has freshwater nearby, and clear it with your neighbors as a courtesy.
There's two species that are popular; Italian honeybees and Russian honeybees. Italian honeybees are very productive, but fussy about climate, overcast weather, and temperature. Russian bees aren't as productive, but will go out on overcast days and colder days. There's also some new hybrid I don't know much about.
The gear is needed, don't go out there without a smoker and a face net, wear thicker clothes. If they sting you they die and that REALLY sucks when they're yours. The smoke makes em sleepy so don't hurt their productivity by smoking the shit out of them.
I lost my hives :(. I had two, the first colony was just gone one day, popped the top and there was nobody home. No capped honey, no larva, all gone. The second one died to a snap freeze, they just couldn't get their numbers back.