Beekeeping for Dummies (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Why has mankind been so interested in beekeeping over the centuries?..." (more)
Key Phrases: ten fun things, total fat, africanized honey bees, Common Problems, Starting Your Adventure Figure, Life Inside the Honey Bee Hive (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Beekeeping For Dummies is a honey of a book on an increasingly popular hobby. For both enjoyment and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. This easy-to-follow guide removes the mystery from this pastime. Realize the benefits of keeping bees, from aiding the environment to enjoying homemade honey and wax products.

Beekeeping For Dummies includes detailed, full-color photographs that show how to install a package of bees in your hive, what to expect from your bees (they are incredibly well-tempered during swarming!), and how to spot-and solve-common beekeeping problems.

Beekeeping For Dummies was written by Howland Blackiston, expert beekeeper and the president and co-owner of www.bee-commerce.com.

Product Description

Believe it or not, bees are one of the oldest species of domesticated animals. Archeologists have found evidence of beekeeping, or apiculture, in the Middle East dating back more than five thousand years. If you’ve ever tasted good clover honey, it’s not hard to understand why. But it’s not just for the honey that more than 125,000 people (and growing) in the United States, alone, keep hives. Anyone interested in nature can’t help but be fascinated by those buzzing yellow bundles of energy and the exotic world they inhabit, with all its weird rituals and incredible efficiency. Also, dedicated gardeners appreciate the extra bounty that pollinating bees bring to their fruits, flowers, and vegetable gardens.

In this easy-to-follow guide, Howland Blackiston, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on the subject, takes the mystery (and the sting) out of beekeeping. Taking a step-by-step approach to successful backyard beekeeping, he gets you up and running with all the information you need to:

• Build a hive
• Establish your first colony
• Inspect your hives with confidence
• Maintain healthy colonies
• Deal with pests and fix common problems
• Harvest and enjoy fresh homemade honey
• Bottle and market your honey

Howland Blackiston covers all the bases, from bee anatomy, society, and behavior, to identifying and healing common illnesses afflicting bees. He also offers inventive solutions to most common and many uncommon problems you’re likely to run into. Among other things, you’ll discover:

• Where to put your hive, basic equipment you’ll need, and how to assemble a hive
• The best and safest way to inspect and enjoy your bees
• Year-round tasks a beekeeper must perform to maintain a healthy colony
• How to recognize and deal with common problems with brood production and the precious queen
• How to harvest honey and decide what kind of honey you’d like to make
• Making products from beeswax and propolis

For both fun and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. A real honey of a book, Beekeeping For Dummies gets you on the road to enjoying this ancient, highly-rewarding, and oh-so-tasty hobby.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764554190
• ISBN-13: 978-0764554193
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,025 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #6 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry > Bees
  #9 in	Books > Science > Agricultural Sciences > Entomology
  #9 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Entomology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for Dummies, June 21, 2003

By	Paul Bridges (California) - See all my reviews

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.

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beekeeping for Dummies..., January 29, 2005

By	Charles A. Wingard (Latrobe, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

... 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.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from a beginner beekeeper, February 27, 2002

By	Leola L. Crosley (Brockport, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.