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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4938 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

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.

From the Publisher
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 bee-commerce.com.

From the Back Cover
"The information a beginner needs to keep bees with confidence." Kim Flottum, Bee Culture Magazine "A reader-friendly guide to beekeeping for novices or beginners." Dewey M. Caron, Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware

A honey of a book on an increasingly popular hobby

For both enjoyment and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. In this easy-to-follow guide, author Howland Blackiston removes the mystery from this pastime, offering inventive solutions to many common — and uncommon dilemmas. Realize the benefits of keeping bees, from aiding the environment to enjoying homemade honey and wax products. For more plain-English advice, see:

The Dummies Way^® Explanations in plain English "Get in , get out" information Icons and other navigational aids Tear-out cheat sheet Top ten lists A dash of humor and fun

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Customer Reviews

It's the best!
This is the best for those interested in backyard beekeeping. Written with humor and a great deal of information about bees and beekeeping. You can't go wrong here. It's a real gripper; couldn't put it down. If you weren't interested in beekeeping before, you will be after reading this book. Also, you will certainly get a better understanding of this most important pollinator. This book has everything you may need to know to give you a really good start with the most captivating hobby ever. Also included are great resources to help you get started.

this is a good for beginners and some older beekeepers
there is no right way to keep bees you just get them and try
to keep them.if you are a beginner. YOU must have this book if you need to
find something fast no problem its in here.everybody keeps bees different
even me iv'e been around beekeeping all my life heard alot of different
ways.but if you follow mr Howland's book YOU will have NO problems keeping
bees.even me i'll forget something and before i can remeber it i've found
it in his book.thanks mr Blackiston p.s. he has a good web site too.stan

Good basics
This book gives the basics and gives enough information for the reader to be able to start his own backyard colony of bees. It is hard to beat this book for the basics of bee keeping.