This classic work has been greatly enhanced and extended with both photographs and images to illustrate the many facets of Beekeeping. A guide for the aspiring apiarist. All you need to know to get started in beekeeping. In this updated edition, a compilation of advice from Langstroth, Quinby, Huber, and a number of contemporary contributors, you will find everything you need to know about Honeybees, Apiculture, Honey and Pollen, the Hive, the Apiary, Breeding, Pasturage, Feeding, Swarming, Replacing the Queen, Enemies of Bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, and the mysterious Behavior of Bees. Well illustrated.
A Beekeeper's Year follows the progress of three novice beekeepers with three different types of hive, as they navigate their way through their first year of beekeeping. Follow their journey as they set up and manage their Top Bar, Warré and Flow hives - from obtaining bees to inspecting their hives, extracting honey and closing down the hive for the winter. A Beekeeper's Year is an ideal introduction to backyard beekeeping, with everything you need to know about what equipment is required, managing your hives, keeping your bees healthy and pest and disease control. It is packed with stunning yet practical photographs to help you understand these fascinating creatures that are essential to the production of our food.
According to Egyptian mythology, when the ancient Egyptian sun god Re cried, his tears turned into honey bees upon touching the ground. For this reason, the honey bee was sacrosanct in ancient Egyptian culture. From the art depicting bees on temple walls to the usage of beeswax as a healing ointment, the honey bee was a pervasive cultural motif in ancient Egypt because of its connection to the sun god Re. Gene Kritsky delivers a concise introduction of the relationship between the honey bee and ancient Egyptian culture, through the lenses of linguistics, archeology, religion, health, and economics. Kritsky delves into ancient Egypt's multifaceted society, and traces the importance of the honey bee in everything from death rituals to trade. In doing so, Kritsky brings new evidence to light of how advanced and fascinating the ancient Egyptians were. This richly illustrated work appeals to a broad range of interests. For archeology lovers, Kritsky delves into the archeological evidence of Egyptian beekeeping and discusses newly discovered tombs, as well as evidence of manmade hives. Linguists will be fascinated by Kritsky's discussion of the first documented written evidence of the honeybee hieroglyph. And anyone interested in ancient Egypt or ancient cultures in general will be intrigued by Kritsky's treatment of the first documented beekeepers. This book provides a unique social commentary of a community so far removed from modern humans chronologically speaking, and yet so fascinating because of the stunning advances their society made. Beekeeping is the latest evidence of how ahead of their times the Egyptians were, and the ensuing narrative is as captivating as every other aspect of ancient Egyptian culture.
A beginner’s complete guide to keeping bees in top bar hives, and why. What’s the buzz about the growing popularity of backyard beekeeping? Providing habitat for bees, pollinating your garden, and producing honey for your family are some of the compelling reasons for taking up this exciting hobby. But conventional beekeeping requires a significant investment and has a steep learning curve. The alternative? Consider beekeeping outside the box. The Thinking Beekeeper is the definitive do-it-yourself guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives. Based on the concept of understanding and working with bees’ natural systems as opposed to trying to subvert them, the advantages of this approach include: · Simplicity, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness · Increased safety due to less heavy lifting and hive manipulation · Chemical-free colonies and healthy hives Top bar hives can be located anywhere bees have access to forage, and they make ideal urban hives. Emphasizing the intimate connection between our food systems, bees, and the well-being of the planet, The Thinking Beekeeper will appeal to the new breed of beekeeper who is less focused on maximizing honey yield, and more on ensuring the viability of the bee population now and in the coming years. Mother Earth News Books for Wiser Living Recommendation “You’ll find information you need here that’s not available anywhere else. Both you and your bees will benefit from Christy’s approach, advice, and philosophy.” —Kim Flottum, editor, Bee Culture Magazine “A unique and exceptional resource for the beginning beekeeper.” —Marty Hardison, top bar beekeeper, educator and international developmental beekeeping consultant
A fascinating hobby; a remunerative business; or a globetrotting career? Which type of beekeeper do you want to be? It is entirely up to you: beekeeping can provide it all.Beekeeping can provide anyone with an interesting and useful hobby or a lucrative and rewarding business. It is recognised as a vital agricultural industry and can therefore also offer you a globe trotting career. The whole subject is, however, often shrouded in mystery and loaded with jargon, leaving many people unaware of its true potential or how to start. This book strips away all the mystery and explains step by step how - from day one - you can start beekeeping as a hobby; how you can progress to running a beekeeping business; or how you can start a career as a beekeeper which can quite easily take you all over the world. No other guide explains in such detail the true potential and accessibility of beekeeping or of being a beekeeper. Contents: List of illustrations; List of photographs; Introduction; Acknowledgements; 1. Honey-bees and human beings; 2. Understanding the honey-bee colony; 3. Using the products of the hive and bees; 4. Obtaining equipment and bees; 5. Starting with bees; 6. The active season: spring; 7. The active season: summer and autumn 8. Dealing with problems; 9. Overwintering your bees: autumn to spring; 10. Controlling diseases and pests; 11. Rearing queens and breeding bees; 12. Exploring products and career possibilities; Weights and measures ready-reckoner; Further reading; International beekeeping organizations; Beekeeping charities; Beekeeping journals;Beekeeping supply companies; Index.
The Barefoot Beekeeper is a book about chemical-free beekeeping, showing how it can be made accessible for all including those with disabilities. No heavy lifting is required. The author advocates small-scale, low-impact beekeeping with minimal disturbance to the bees and more time spent observing and learning from them. He shows how to make everything you need to keep bees yourself using recycled materials and simple tools.
A million pounds of honey. Produced by a billion bees! This memoir reconstructs the life of a young man from Pennsylvania as he drops into the bald prairie badlands of southern Saskatchewan. He buys a honey ranch and keeps the bees that make the honey. But he also spends winters in Florida swamps, nurse-maid to ten thousand dainty queen bees. From the dusty Canadian prairie to the thick palmetto swamps of the American south, the reader meets with simple folks who shape the protagonist's character - including a Cree rancher with three sons playing NHL hockey, a Hutterite preacher who yearns to roam the globe, a reclusive bee-eating homesteader, and a grey-headed widow who grows grapefruit, plays a nasty game of scrabble, and lives with four vicious dogs. Encompassing a ten-year period, this true story evolves from the earnest inexperience of the young man as he learns an art and builds a business. Carefully researched natural biology runs counterpoint to human social activities. Bee craft serves as the setting for expositions that contrast American and Canadian lifestyles, while exemplifying the harsh reality of a man working with and against the physical environment.
The author chronicles a year in the lives of beekeeper and bees, describing and explaining the activities of both and the rewards of having bees of one's own.
Discover the joys of harvesting honey from your own backyard. Alethea Morrison outlines what you’ll need to know to make it through the first year, while stunning macrophotography by Mars Vilaubi brings the inner workings of the hive to life. With in-depth discussions of allergies, colony hierarchy, bee behavior, and more, this approachably informative guide bursts with enthusiastic encouragement. Keep your own bees, and enjoy the sweet buzz.
Everything you need to 'bee' a successful backyard beekeeper If you've ever thought about becoming a backyard beekeeper—or have already tried a hand at it and want to be better one—then this is the book for you! In Beekeeping for Dummies, 4th Edition you'll find everything you need to know in order to start your own colony, including how to assemble and maintain beehives, handle every phase of honey production, purchase and use all the latest tools, and what to do beyond your first season. This hands-on guide provides all the tools, tips, tricks, and techniques needed to become a real backyard beekeeper. You'll learn to identify the queen from her workers and drones, properly open and close the hive, distinguish one type of honey from another, and preserve your colony if disaster should strike. Keep bees on a small urban rooftop or in a large country yard Assemble your own hive and sustain it for years to come Safely inspect and manage your colony Harvest and sell your own honey Becoming a backyard beekeeper isn't as hard as people think—and with this hands-on guide, you'll be able to create one honey of a colony that will have the neighbors buzzing.
