Customer Reviews

Beekeeping for Dummies

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Keep in mind this book has a "dummies" slant. It's a great beginner book and I own a copy. I recommend it. Lots of conversational plain english, funny cartoons, photographs, etc. But, buy another book as well to round out your knowledge. For example, Howland doesn't explain *why* you need an inner cover... just says it's part of the hive. He only provides *one* technique for queen introduction (albeit a good one), when there are several others. Then he perpetuates the myth that you should scrape a bee's stinger away rather than pinch it away (Discover magazine, et. al., now dispute this), and when discussing *moving* a hive, he leaves out the "3 mile rule" and the "1 foot per day" approach, etc. He suggests using motor oil moats to prevent ants (works great), but doesn't mention that vegetable oil and Tanglefoot work great also. Like I say, great book, buy it, but get some others too.

... is a good spring board into the world of beekeeping. He explains the set up of the hive, insect and disease problems, tools you may or may not need, etc. But there is little explanation as to why these things are necessary. Also, if you are familiar with the state of the honey bee, you will know that colonies are dying at a rapid rate. Howland's book is slanted toward exploiting bees, and not just keeping them. Miticides, ordering of new queens each year, honey substitutes, and fungicides are the law in this book, and the beekeeping industry are not questioning these practices that are compounding a very serious problem, because they make money off of selling these products. I reccommend reading this book so you can understand hive setup, maintence, tools, etc.. but if you are concerned about your colonies overall health, and the health of the honey bee in general, supplement this reading with Gunther Hauk's "Toward saving the Honey Bee". Amazon does not offer it but you can find it on the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Assoc. website or at Acres USA. Lots of good info, and less harmful ways to handle mites etc.. and great advice on how to improve the overall health of your colony.

I've read 4 beekeeping books, I wish I would have read this one first. It's very readable and easy-to-understand, and contained information the other harder-to-understand technical books never mentioned.

I used this book as my only reference for starting my career as a backyard beekeeper. I find it very helpful and it is a good reference but it's also rather incomplete. I got my bees in Nucs not boxes and there wasn't much that a beginner needed to understand the differences. Also, when I checked my hives for the first time, I realized that this book is lacking a lot of what looks normal and what doesn't; there are only a few photos, mostly not very useful. Why doesn't the book tell you to smoke yourself and the bees to help prevent stings? Why isn't there info about using sugar water in addition to smoke to help you when in the hive? Now that I'm started I wish that there was a volume II with more detail to help me at the next level.

Still, it was a valuable tool in getting me started on this adventure and I learned a lot. a lot of the reference material out there is too technical and not practical..I still reccomend this book to anyone getting started in beekeeping.

This book is fantastic. I just started last spring with one beehive. I have purchase five or six other books, but none have been as helpful as this one. It assumes that you don't know anything about beekeeping (that is me) and takes you through step by step and season by season. I have confidence that with the help of this book, I can keep my "girls" healthy and happy. I spoke to someone at our local beekeepers meeting who has been a beekeeper for almost 50 years. When I told him I was reading this book. He told me that it is one of the very best. I highly recommend this book for the beginning beekeeper.

Being a complete dummie about Bees I was looking for the basics in a how-to book. I have not always been pleased with previous "For Dummies" books but this one is good. It is complete with advice for what you need to start, what is really necessary and what is optional, and how to decide. I am up and running with my bees and owe a lot to this book. When I went to the supplier I knew enough to make educated decisions on what to buy. I bought two other books and they were a waste of time.

This is a good book for the beginner. The text is entertaining and thorough, and the pictures are wonderful.

My only dislike is that the instructions are somewhat dogmatic in parts. RE medicating hives, for instance, we're told that feeding bees antibiotics etc. is no different from innoculations. Actually, they are, and overuse of antibiotics is creating resistant strains of disease.

Of the many "how to" beekeeping books I have seen, this is absolutely the best. It is organized in a logical, easy to understand format. The information is current. I recommend this book highly for the novice or even the experienced beekeeper.

This is a great "first" book. It is excellent for explaining the parts of a hive, terminology, etc., in a very readable manner, and I love the cartoons. But you must also read other books as well. The more you read, the more you'll be able to separate "opinion" from "hard fact." "The New Starting Right with Bees" etc. are excellent first-year companions to "Beekeeping for Dummies." If you start with this book, you'll be on your way; if you stop with it, you will be in a sorry state.

Author Mr. Howland Blackiston does a GREAT job introducing the fascinating hobby of bee keeping. The book is broad and generalized and touches on just about everything, including some well-written in depth detail. Bravo! A "must have" for the begginer! It even has a COLOR inset! Mr. Blackiston promotes his website in his book on several occassions. That is okay though, it is a decent web site even thought the supplies are a bit over priced, sometimes more than a bit. I emailed Mr. Blackiston about this observation and, in his defense, he noted that you CAN get a few "hard-to-find" items there, so I'm sure they would be worth it. The book is a MUST have but shop around a bit before you buy dang near anything online from any site. I have just ordered my first hive kit and I am looking forward to putting Mr. Blackistons good advice to work!