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GUIDE TO Beekeeping"
i finished reading dean's book this afternoon.
it's one of the better primer's i've read, nice job dean and laurie.
of course, the author's biases are well represented throughout the book,
(as would mine too if i were doing the writing :) ).
have any of you had the chance to read it?
I lent it to someone before I read it and it never returned... The little I had seen of the book was enough for me to recommend it over the "Dummies" book (either edition).
So there it is... having to choose, I'm with the Idiots!
I like it. A very good introduction to beekeeping. Mine is also loaned out at the moment.
I have the Dummies, I have not yet seen the Idiots. At least the Dummies version was what I expected from such a book. good overall starter material but nothing to dig deeper into. I will say during this first year it has been constantly at my elbow as I set here at the computer. This winter I am starting to put together my own guide so by spring I may be able to give it away and never miss it.
My personal guide is going to be much more complex. it will not just include what a hive is it will have detailed info on every type of hive I can find and the pros and cons of each. Nobody woudl want my guide it will be way to much. For example it already contains just one 20 page Journal Artical comparing Inseminated queens to naturally mated queens. It also has files on 6 different queen breeders and every detail I can find on how they manager their apiaries. It has a file just on breeding nucs different types and the pros and cons of each.
I don't plan on being a Dummy or an Idiot for long. I am going to join the Collasal Boobs.
I want to find a copy of the idiots guide just so I know what it contains.
I think it contains a lot of research, references, etc. Much like yours will. It's a book of facts designed to suit a particular philosophy, more so than the authors experience.
I say "I think", because I have only read snippets of it, I am still awaiting the arrival of my promised copy.
There both for beginners either will tech you how to start . Good starter books.
My favorite book to date is THE PRACTICAL BEEKEEPER lots of good stuff.
If Idiot's guide is a good look into Deans principals on beekeeping then I have a secondary reason to read it. To include his ideas in my guide.
It's been quite a while. It must be on the sloooooww boat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldtimer
I think he lost that on a technicality, according to Dean.
not many references cited, other than a handful of nods to the likes of lusby, bush, palmer, ect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldtimer
pm me your address oldtimer, and i'll gift order you one.
merry christmas from this side of the pond! :)
I would encourage anyone serious about learning beekeeeping to go to the books like Langstroths The hive and the honeybee or Roots ABC and XYZ of beekeeping. Reading is nothing to be afraid of. The best of life, like meat, needs to be chewed to be enjoyed.
thanks for the tip vance. mike bush has a good bibliography on his site as well.
can't do it in a nutshell, but i will offer my personal take away from 'idiots',
with the disclaimor that what i am writing is only my view of what i received as dean's and laurie's views as presented in the book.
dean, please forgive me in advance, and correct me if anything i post is not a fair representation of what is in the book
on balance, i liked what i read, and i agree with most of the ideas put forward.
common themes presented are: treatment free, small cell, emergency feeding only, unlimited broodnest.
if i would have read this prior to getting bees, it would have taught me several things that i ended up figuring out the hard way.
and, i was able to glean a new pearl or two, or at least refine my thinking about things here and there.
there were a few things i came across, that i would like to throw out here for discussion, second opinions, real life experiences, ect.
beginning with my next post:
the first subject of interest is starting with one's first bees.
the book describes an approach that i had not previously heard about,
and that approach is going for small cell bees right out of the chute, by taking a package of bees and putting them on hsc (honey super cell), drawn plastic comb.
the advice given is to find bees already treatment free and regressed to small cell, but since that is hard to do, find the best bees you can, buy them in package form with a queen, and put them directly onto the hsc.
for the new packages not already regressed, it puts the bees into a forced regression into small cell.
my question is, has anyone here tried that? if so, what were the results?
Haven't tried exactly that Squarepeg, but I've dumped normal bees onto drawn small cell comb on wax foundation, which works fine, long as the comb has had brood in it at some time so the cocoons stop the bees re-working the cell size
Hey Squarepeg you are a generous soul, but wow I can't let you do that, LOL! I may get carried away & actually buy myself a copy some time. (Under a false name, perhaps! :D)Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
And a Merry Christmas to you! :)
And Beemandan and Barry, Wow you guys got amazing memories, whew! That was some thread wasn't it! Yikes kinda thought I'd left that behind in the ether somewhere, cringe thinking about it! :eek:
Yes, I have put a 3# package in a 5 frame medium with hsc. It works well. My hsc is all dipped in wax and I filled some of it with syrup for the package. About a week later I added another box of hsc.Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
I have some hsc in service now, but haven't bought a package of bees in several years.
very cool bc. was it just this one package you did that way? have you tried the hsc with a package and not have it work?
I actually only forced bees on the HSC the one time. A neighbor wanted a beehive so to make the bees uniform with my others they went onto the HSC. The Mann Lake "pf" frames are more practical. The acceptance of the HSC isn't a sure thing... But the wax coating of the HSC is surely a pain.Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
Some have claimed successful acceptance by using only syrup... Some confine the bees for several days hoping that the queen will have laid, and that the bees won't abscond.
understood. 'idiots' points out it may not be a sure thing. i was trying to get a feel for what a newbee might expect his/her chances of success to be with the forced regression. many thanks bc.
any others who have tried this?
no one? dean, can you help me out? (don't have to if you are busy as heck)Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
you have probably mentored many first-timers. what percentage of packages regress when forced onto the hsc?
hmm, dean may be unable to answer.
mike bush has a good section on regression on his site, but doesn't mention dean's particular approach.
looks like bush advocates a more gradual regression.
(interestingly, bush thought lusby's shake out method may have been 'stressful' on the bees, and possibly the reason for so many early losses).