I must be a dummy because this book fit me just fine.
Beekeeping for dummies actually comes very highly recommended by many experienced beekeepers. They all agree it's very informative and a great reference for both newbees and experienced beekeepers. It's written by Howland Blackiston, a former president of the Backyard Beekeepers Association and an international lecturer on bees and beekeeping.
Part 1
As any book having to do with caring for any living beeing should, it starts out helping you make the important decision of whether or not you ACTUALLY want bees. It goes through both the many plusses (HONEY!, save the bees) and minuses (irritated neighbors, getting stung) of keeping bees. Also discussed are things like zoning regulations, how much time it can take, and also different styles of beekeeping. From there he gives you the basics of bee biology. He shows diagrams of the different bee sexes and castes and their roles in the hive and field, and gives a fairly detailed life cycle from egg to bee.
He also includes a really cool section on the language of bees.
Part 2
After the first part, as is only right and proper, comes the second part. , he discusses all the various and sundry that you need to either get or do before you can actually refer to yourself as a beekeeper
Regardless of how docile your bees are, or how gentle you handle them, your bees at some point WILL sting you. The first thing talked about in this section is dealing with beeing stung. From overcoming fear, what to do and watch out for, to building a tolerance to stings.
Next, he helps with how to talk to possibly nervous neighbors (neighbors like free honey.. Imagine that!) and figuring out your local laws and who to get ahold of to ask.
Just like with business, he says that a very important thing with beekeeping is location, location, location! He goes over what elements make a good bee yard, what you need to think about if you are wanting to be a city beekeeper, and when you should start.
After getting familiar with all the prep and soothing nervous neighbors come the part everyone is waiting for, buying hives, equipment, and of course the bees!
First thing is selecting what hive will suit you best, he talks about the different types of hives and their advantages and disadvantages. Next he goes over the parts of the hive and what they are for. Then comes an important part to beeginers protective equipment. These to me was an important bit. You may enjoy getting stung though. You do you.
The last of this area is (I think) the most fun, figuring out what type of bees you want and installing them into your hive!
If you're like me you may be surprised at how many different types of honeybees there are. He covers several of these. Just like with variants of animals they all have their own characteristics. Some are more gentle than others. Other ones have better disease resistance or honey production.
He goes over different ways of getting your first colony and if you're going to order, when you should.
Then comes the best part, getting your new bees and introducing them to their new home. He gives you a recipe for sugar syrup so they have energy to start building up the colony and the different methods used to install them into different types of hives. He mostly talks about the Langstroth hive mainly because it's the most commonly used and it's the one he recommends for beeginers.
Part 3
After your girls are in their new home for a few days and look happy and busy as, well, bees, you may be tempted to go ahead and open up the hive and take a look to see how they are doing. Apparently, this is a bad thing. He tells you that during the first week, the bees are getting used to their new queen and if you intrude and bother them they may actually even kill her.
Firstly he advises you on the best times to do your inspections, during the daytime when most of the bees are out collecting delicious nectar is best, and also how to set up and inspection schedule. He emphasizes the importance of personal hygiene and keeping your suit clean. Bees have a very sensitive sense of smell and if you offend them they will let you know...painfully.
Next you learn how to light (and keep lit) your smoker which helps make the ladies less active. He once again covers the process of opening up the two major types of hives, the Langstroth and a top bar.
So, now you have your hive open, what now?! You will learn in this section what to look for when you have the hive open. Firstly, and probably most important is checking on your queen. If you don't have a queen or she isn't laying properly your hive will die. So he covers how to find the queen if you didn't buy a marked one (he highly advises this). Also he talks about how to check brood production and food storage.
He tells you what to expect and look for during to first eight weeks of your new hive to make sure things are proceeding how they are supposed to bee. Don't get overwhelmed, there are several things you need to keep an eye on. I would advise keeping this book with you the first several times you inspect your hive for and easy reference on what to look for.
Beekeeping is a very seasonal endeavor and the last section of this part goes over what is done during each of the seasons. He also gives you a beekeepers calendar so you can easily see at a glance what you should bee doing during any given time.
Part 4
So now you have your little gals all settled in and hopefully busy as, well, bees. You are checking weekly like you should as a new beekeeper. But what are you looking for? What are the problems that bees can have? Diseases? Pests? That's what the next section is all about, all the different problems that can crop up with your little honey makers.
The first part covers non disease/pest issues like swarming (deciding they want to move out), missing queens, robbing (other hives stealing honey), and workers laying eggs. He tells you how to anticipate these things, and what to do to remedy them and also what not to do to cause them to happen in the first place.
Then he talks about Colony Collapse Disorder. This is something that you probably have heard a little about on the news. He gives the most current ideas on what it is, what could be causing it, and what we can do to help.
Next is the dreaded disease section. There are several different diseases the poor little girls can get, from viruses, to fungals, and bacterial infections. Some are more serious than others and he covers what to keep and eye out for and different methods of treatment, both natural and medication.
Pests are the next big problem he tackles. There are a couple different types of mites that bother bees. There are flies, moths and also beetles and ants! He gives natural and synthetic methods of dealing with these also and leaves it to your preference on which to use.
But the tiny guys aren't the only problem creatures that may harass your girls. Guess what? There are other critters that love honey just as much as you do and aren't nearly as nice about getting it as you. Mice love to make nests in the winter because the bees keep the hive temperature fairly high, and of course they will also eat honey. Raccoons and skunks can cause horrible messes eating both honey and comb. The most dreaded predator of your honey and bees though is Winnie the Pooh. He will break apart your hives and eat everything inside, including the bees!
This section will go over some ways to discourage the predators and hopefully save your honey for you!
Finally he goes over several ways of raising your own queens. This can be nice because you can control different qualities that you want in your queens. Remember! The queens traits will be the hives traits!
The first part covers non disease/pest issues like swarming (deciding they want to move out), missing queens, robbing (other hives stealing honey), and workers laying eggs. He tells you how to anticipate these things, and what to do to remedy them and also what not to do to cause them to happen in the first place.
Then he talks about Colony Collapse Disorder. This is something that you probably have heard a little about on the news. He gives the most current ideas on what it is, what could be causing it, and what we can do to help.
Next is the dreaded disease section. There are several different diseases the poor little girls can get, from viruses, to fungals, and bacterial infections. Some are more serious than others and he covers what to keep and eye out for and different methods of treatment, both natural and medication.
Pests are the next big problem he tackles. There are a couple different types of mites that bother bees. There are flies, moths and also beetles and ants! He gives natural and synthetic methods of dealing with these also and leaves it to your preference on which to use.
But the tiny guys aren't the only problem creatures that may harass your girls. Guess what? There are other critters that love honey just as much as you do and aren't nearly as nice about getting it as you. Mice love to make nests in the winter because the bees keep the hive temperature fairly high, and of course they will also eat honey. Raccoons and skunks can cause horrible messes eating both honey and comb. The most dreaded predator of your honey and bees though is Winnie the Pooh. He will break apart your hives and eat everything inside, including the bees!
This section will go over some ways to discourage the predators and hopefully save your honey for you!
Finally he goes over several ways of raising your own queens. This can be nice because you can control different qualities that you want in your queens. Remember! The queens traits will be the hives traits!
Part 5
Now for the part everyone who thinks of keeping bees hungers for. Honey! This section tells you all about things such as the history and composition of honey to give you a background.
After the background material he talks about the health benefits of honey and also some of the health issues that can be caused by consumption by young children or people with diabetes.
Next comes the work part. There are choices to make here, and some of those are dictated by what type of hive you have chosen, others by how you want to market your honey. Some are what you would normally think of when you think honey. There is the regular honey that is extracted from the comb and put into jars and honey left in the comb. Also, you can choose chunked which is like a mixture of the first two. He also talks about custom labeling, and the commercialization of your honey. He covers a few other interesting topics like honey pairing, because every honey can taste different, and infusing honey with other flavors (like what we will do, lavender honey).
Then comes all the equipment you will need to get your tasty liquid from the hive to the jar. There are several items you might not think of, like a heated knife! After uncapping the comb you also need a way to get the honey out of the comb. A honey extractor is the equipment for this, it's basically a large centrifuge that holds the honeycomb in the middle and spins the honey out. I think of it kind of like a washing machine tub on spin cycle. There are many other things you can use to fully use your harvest such as solar wax melters so you can make things such as candles from your wax.
He also gives several ideas on how to brand, market, and sell your honey. You may think you can just give it to friends and family but think about this. Each hive can produce from 30-60 pounds of excess honey. That is a LOT of jars, and it will do that every year. So unless you have lots of friends and family that consume copious amounts of honey you are going to need to have ways to get rid of it.
Finally he tells you about harvest day. Getting your honey is all well and good, but when do you harvest? How do you get the bees to calm down when you are opening and taking the frames away to drain? He also goes over the different methods used for different types of hives.
After the background material he talks about the health benefits of honey and also some of the health issues that can be caused by consumption by young children or people with diabetes.
Next comes the work part. There are choices to make here, and some of those are dictated by what type of hive you have chosen, others by how you want to market your honey. Some are what you would normally think of when you think honey. There is the regular honey that is extracted from the comb and put into jars and honey left in the comb. Also, you can choose chunked which is like a mixture of the first two. He also talks about custom labeling, and the commercialization of your honey. He covers a few other interesting topics like honey pairing, because every honey can taste different, and infusing honey with other flavors (like what we will do, lavender honey).
Then comes all the equipment you will need to get your tasty liquid from the hive to the jar. There are several items you might not think of, like a heated knife! After uncapping the comb you also need a way to get the honey out of the comb. A honey extractor is the equipment for this, it's basically a large centrifuge that holds the honeycomb in the middle and spins the honey out. I think of it kind of like a washing machine tub on spin cycle. There are many other things you can use to fully use your harvest such as solar wax melters so you can make things such as candles from your wax.
He also gives several ideas on how to brand, market, and sell your honey. You may think you can just give it to friends and family but think about this. Each hive can produce from 30-60 pounds of excess honey. That is a LOT of jars, and it will do that every year. So unless you have lots of friends and family that consume copious amounts of honey you are going to need to have ways to get rid of it.
Finally he tells you about harvest day. Getting your honey is all well and good, but when do you harvest? How do you get the bees to calm down when you are opening and taking the frames away to drain? He also goes over the different methods used for different types of hives.
Part 6
The last section is a roundup of lots of interesting things to do as a beekeeper. He talks about combining hives of different types, building raised hive stands (makes it easier to inspect and harvest), and how to combine colonies.
Other things you can do are things like planting flowers specifically for your bees. There are things they like more than others and also flowers that are medicinal for them and can help deter disease.
He also gives several good ideas on products you can make such as propolis tinctures, candles, and beauty products. There is a world of things to do with your new hobby or business venture and he gives great ideas and I'm sure that you'll be able to think of more inspired from what you read.
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