Customer Reviews

The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If a picture is worth a thousand words then this book is an encyclopedia of bee keeping. This book is full of wonderful color photos. Other like books have photos but nothing like "The Backyard Beekeeper". The author certainly has his point of view on sizes of hives and pushes it strongly, almost to the exclusion of other ideas. Still this book is packed full of information and an excellent reference. I would recommend reading a few other books in order to get a wider view of how to be a beekeeper. The only negative I found with the book is that it has very small print that is often printed over other design features on the pages. I found it very difficult to read some of the print due to this fault.

This book is very good at extracting basic and intermediate information from a large selection of beekeeping manuals. Once I entered this world of beekeeping, I soon found an overwealming amount of information available on this subject. I enjoyed this book's ability to bridge the gap between the usual vague coverage of a begining beekeeping book and the thick manuals I am now pouring through. The illustrations and quick reference characteristics make this book a great addition to any home library.

My bees are coming in less than 2 months, and this book is the first and only one I have bought. I am glad that I did!

He starts with a brief explanation of the history of bees and beekeeping as well as bee biology and basic behavior (which is important to understand in order to know what the heck they are doing at any given time).

Then he clearly explains what types of bees you can order and in what "packaging" and the equipment that you need as a beginner and what its use is.

He provides good pictures and diagrams that detail out what he is talking about, so you know what a queen looks like, what the entire stack of equipment looks like and where each goes in the hive.

Then he gives a detailed analysis of the current state of diseases, mites, and other bee enemies and how to treat them, not taking sides on the ecological/chemical approaches.

There are also two sections that cover step-by-step what you do when you get your bees (how do you get them into your hive without having a mutiny) and what you need to do for your bees throughout the different seasons of the year, culminating in how to harvest honey and how to extract it.

The end of the book has some beeswax and honey recipes for food and products that you can make, and was useful but not necessary.

The only complaint I have about the book is that he doesn't cover the foundation that you put in the frames in enough detail. Foundation is an important and yet very confusing part of the hive for a new-bee like me.

This book is exactly what you need as a beginning beekeeper.

I found this book very informative and the pictures really tell the story. We just recently found a hive in a tree and when it split we took the new colony. This book gives a lot of information for the beginner. I would highly recommend it.

This book has fantastic pictures of everything from lighting a smoker to waggle dances to frames of capped brood. I've read many beekeeping books, and none compare. The text, however, leaves much to be desired. As mentioned by others, the type is very small and is often printed over other items and hard to read. The subjects don't seem to be logically organized, and the index is insufficient. When I noticed many bees fanning on the front entrance of my new hive, I couldn't find any mention of "heat" or "temperature" in either the table of contents or the index. I stumbled across a mention of fanning being common behavior in queenless colonies, and panicked until the afternoon shadows cooled the hive and the fanning stopped! Enjoy and learn from the pictures, but don't count on this as a comprehensive reference.

Kim writes an excellent book on the joys of beekeeping. It is engaging for those who are seriously considering keeping bees and for those who think the idea of keeping bees is merely interesting.

There are many topics covered in the book. Fundamentals in bee biology, honey plants and even hive products such as candles and balms are discussed.

This is an excellent book with useful information, quality photos and is a great all-around pleasureable read. Highly recommended.

Visit www.[...] to learn more about bees after reading this book!

This book seems like an excellent beginners book- it's not intimidating and seems to cover the basics well. It seems like a good prep book to read before going to the beekeeping classes to become a real beekeeper. It has a lot of info about what to do with the wax- other products beyond honey.
This is just what I wanted! It's pretty enough to be a coffee table book, but full of all the info I wanted to know to start seriously thinking about beekeeping.

I use this book for my beekeeping classes. It is simply one of, if not the best beginner books out there covering a little of everything from start to finish. I highly recommend it.
Rich Waite
Owner Black Cat Honey

This title explains in step-by-step detail the many technical challenges and exciting rewards of amateur beekeeping. It is easy to understand and a joy to read! I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering starting their own bee colonies.

This was an easy to read book for beginner beekeepers. This book had great pictures and was helpful for any level beekeeper.