Bee Keeping Pathfinder

Conrad, R. (2007). Natural beekeeping: Organic approaches to modern apiculture. White River Junction, VT: Chelse Green Publishing.

Rationale
This book is both for the experienced and beginning bee keeper looking for ways to practice integrated pest management or organic bee keeping. Detailed plans for various mite controls are shared with pictures and diagrams. Information of how to repair and improve premade bee keeping equipment is given.

Chapter topics include: Why organic beekeeping; working with the hive; hive management; genetics and breeding; parasitic mites; other insect pests; four legged and feathered pests; environmental and human threats; hive diseases; the honey harvest; organics and the evolution of bee keeping; afterward (which discusses colony collapse disorder).

Features include:
· Photographs
· Diagrams
· Glossary
· Resources
· Index

Posted in: books on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at at 1:02 PM 0 comments  

Stelley, D. G. (1983). Beekeeping: An illustrated handbook. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: TAB Books.

Rationale
This book covers getting started with beekeeping through commercial opportunities. It also details how to build much of the equipment yourself, with detailed instructions and drawings.

Chapter topics include: Historical highlights; getting to know bees; finding a place for your hive; getting your gear; obtaining bees and establishing a colony; seasonal management; diseases, pests and pesticides; honey harvesting; honey; marketing your honey; cooking with honey; other honeybee products; do-it-yourself equipment.

Features include:
Photographs
Illustrations, graphs and diagrams
References
Index
Glossary
Appendix
State Universities, Extension Services and Inspectors
Organizations and Service Groups
Government Agencies
Bee Literature Collections
First Aid for Bee Stings

Posted in: books on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at at 5:33 PM 0 comments  

Hubbell, S. (1988). A book of bees. New York: Random House.

Rationale
This book takes the reader through a year of keeping bees by season. This book will be most helpful for a beginning bee keeper. It is written in narrative format.

Features include:
Illustrations
Glossary
Index

Posted in: books on at at 5:33 PM 0 comments  

Flottum, K. (2005). The backyard beekeeper: An absolute beginner’s guide to keeping bees in your yard and garden. Gloucester, MA: Quarry Books.

Rationale
This full-color book is geared towards the beginner or small-scale beekeeper. The photographs help beekeepers know what to look for or what certain issues look like. Recipes for cooking and body products are included. The book has side bar tips throughout.

Chapter topics include: In the beginning; about bees; about beekeeping; about bees wax; about honey

Features include:
Full-color photographs
Glossary
Resources
Index

Posted in: books on at at 5:32 PM 0 comments  

Watson, B. (2004). The hive: The story of the honeybee and us. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.

Rationale
This book examines the roles of bees and honey has had in the lives of humans throughout history, in nearly all aspects of human life. A brief explanation of bees and bee characteristics will help get a non-beekeeper enough biological background information.

Chapter topics include: Work; sex; politics; food and drink; life and death; the beekeeper.

Features include:
Index
Bibliography

Posted in: books on at at 5:31 PM 0 comments  

Morse, R. A. (1994). The new complete guide to beekeeping. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press.

Rationale
This book is well suited for a beginning beekeeper. The first several chapters run through a typical year of beekeeping by season, including harvest time. Photographs throughout the text help to show issues a beekeeper may encounter.

Chapter topics include: Bees and beekeeping; how to get started in beekeeping; spring management; summer management; removing the honey crop; fall management; wintering honey bees; pests predators, diseases and pesticides; major and minor honey plants; pollination; special practices; honey bee biology; Africanized honey bees: history and prospects; sources of information.

Features include:
Photographs
Glossary
Index

Posted in: books on at at 5:31 PM 0 comments  

Graham, J.M. (Ed.). (1992). The hive and the honey bee. Hamilton, Illinois: Dadant and Sons.

Rationale
This comprehensive book gives detailed information about all aspects of bees, beekeeping and honey production. This book is well suited for beekeepers at all levels. While written by experts in the field, this text is readable even for a beginning bee keeper. Each chapter has extensive references, photographs, graphs and diagrams.

Chapters include: The worlds beekeeping: past and present; honey bees of the world; the honey bee colony: life history; the anatomy of the honey bee; the physiology and social physiology of the honey bee; honey bee nutrition; honey bee genetics and breeding; activities and behavior of honey bees; honey bee pheromones; the production of nectar and pollen; bee forage of North America and the potential for planting for bees; bee keeping equipment; for the beginner; management for honey production; honey and wax: a consideration of production, processing and packaging techniques; the production of comb and bulk comb honey; business practices and profitability; surplus honey and the small beekeeper; marketing the crop of a commercial bee keeper; wintering productive hives; honey; other products of the hive; production of queens and package bees; crop pollination; diseases and pests of honey bees; injury to honey bees by poisoning; allergy to venomous insects.

Features include
Photographs
Diagrams and graphs
Author index
Index

Posted in: books on at at 5:30 PM 0 comments  

Buchman, S. & Repplier, B. (2005). Letters from the hive: An intimate history of bees, honey, and humankind. New York: Bantam Book.

Rationale
This book is an informative text written in a more narrative format. It details the history of humankind’s relationship with bees. This book is more historically informational rather than a how-to book.

Chapter topics include: prehistoric honey hunters; ancient rituals and modern day honey hunters; the beekeeper’s craft; a year in the life of a beekeeper; secrets of the bee; bees in myth, legend and ancient warfare; trading honey in the ancient and modern worlds; a taste of honey: sampling varieties from around the world; cooking with honey throughout the ages, mead, good for what ails you.

Features include:
Sources
Index
Appendix
· Glossary
· Bees of the world
· Other products of the hive
· Chemical composition of honey
· Resources

Posted in: books on at at 5:28 PM 0 comments  

Bonney, R.E. (1990). Hive management: A seasonal guide for beekeepers. Pownal, VT:Storey Communications.

Rationale
This book explains what to expect in a year of bee keeping, grouped by the seasons. The largest emphasize is on the spring season of getting ready for the nectar flow. There are photographs of hives in distress, which would be useful for any beekeeper trying to answer the question “What am I looking for if I think the bees are sick?”.
There is also a chapter issue related to swarming. What to look for, why it happens, what to do about it and how to capture them. Photographs are included, which may also be helpful to any beekeeper facing a swarm.

Features
· Index
· Appendix
o Disease, mites, Africanized bees
o Additional reading list

Posted in: books on Thursday, April 3, 2008 at at 6:36 PM 0 comments  

Morse, R. A. (1979). Rearing queen honey bees. Ithaca, NY:Wicwas Press.

Rationale
This book is a more specific text that examines how to raise queen bees. It gives information about queen life cycle, needed equipment, methods to generate a queen, commercial queen production, ways to re-queen colonies, control of natural mating and other considerations. This text will be more useful for a more advanced bee keeper or anyone having difficulties with their queens.
Includes an index and further reading.

Posted in: books on at at 6:35 PM 0 comments  

Vivian, J. (1986). Keeping bees. Charlotte, VT: Williamson.
Rationale
This general text offers basic how-to information with lots of photographs and illustrations to help get a beehive/beeyard started. There are many do-it-yourself plans and suggestions for equipment. Detailed cautionary information related to actual experience is shared. Chapter topics include: bee season; honey extraction; wild or feral bees; disease.

Features
Index
Photographs and illustrations througout
Several appendix
Bee keeping supplies and equipment
International sources for equipment
Periodicals (US and International)
Book lists and information sources

Posted in: books on at at 6:34 PM 0 comments  

Morse, R. A. (1983). A year in the beeyard. New York: Charles Scribner’s & Sons.

Rationale
This book is a month by month of what to do, what to be concerned about, what to be on the lookout for related to bee keeping. The dates are based on a New York State beeyard, so the dates may need to be adjusted for particular local conditions.
Includes a selected bibliography and index.

Posted in: books on at at 6:34 PM 0 comments  

Winston, M. L. (1992). Killer bees: The Africanized honey bee in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Rationale
This book explains the history and biology of the Africanized bees, tropical and temperate honey bees and how the bees arrived in South America. It fully explains the process of Africanization. It also explains what the experience in South America has been like, what coping strategies have worked and what America might expect. Some of the details may be dated, but the overall historical information remains helpful.
Each chapter has a list of recommended readings.

Posted in: books on at at 6:33 PM 0 comments  

Weiss, E. A. (1978). The queen and I. New York: Harper and Row.

Rationale
This how-to guide, written in first person narrative format, brings the reader through a typical year of bee keeping. The first five chapters are dedicated to getting started and the first six weeks of hive development. Chapters cover history, tools and common mistakes. Side bars include helpful tips throughout the book. The tone of this book is one of a master bee keeper sharing with an apprentice.

Posted in: books on at at 6:33 PM 0 comments  

Taylor, R. (1974). The joys of bee keeping. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Rationale
This narrative guide is written by an experienced bee keeper. It is part “how to” and part bee philosophy. It would be most helpful to someone who has some of the basics but would enjoy a more philosophical perspective.

Posted in: books on at at 6:32 PM 0 comments  

Morse, R. A. (1978). Honey bee pests, predators and diseases. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Rationale
This book will be helpful for some of the more classic honey bee pests, like skunks and toads. The book has a world-wide focus, so it may be useful for bee keepers in a variety of locations, not just in the US. It has many practical suggestions and gives detailed directions on how to do much of the work yourself (i.e.: fence building). If someone is facing an issue related to mites or colony collapse disorder, you should refer to a more current publication.

Features

16 authors from universities and USDA
Photographs and illustrations of the various pests or evidence one should look for in the hive
Chapters include: bacteria; protozoa; fungi; nematodes; moths; flies; ants; wasps & bees; spiders; mites & ticks; frogs/toads; birds; mammals; abnormalities and non-infectious disease; plant poisoning; antibiotic systems in honey, nectar & pollen; control methods.
Extensive references
Index of scientific names
General index
Several appendix
1. Overview of species Apis and it’s various characteristics worldwide.
2. Synonymy of bee disease, description of foul brood
3. United States Federal and State laws related to bee transport and disease as of 1978.
4. Canadian laws relating to transport of bees and bee disease.

Posted in: books on at at 6:31 PM 0 comments