Best beekeeping books?

**vancleavehoney** · 05-27-2008, 08:54 PM

I am fairly new to beekeeping and am learning all the time. I want to expand my bee library to include classic books and any other books experienced beekeepers have found useful. Any topic related to beekeeping is fair game. I already have Beekeeping for Dummies, Abc and Xyz of beekeeping, At the Hive Entrance, and The Beekeeping Handbook. Thanks in advance for your input.

**Laurence Hope** · 05-27-2008, 09:08 PM

Vancleave, I just posted to the wrong thread an answer to yours. To save me from typing it again, please look at first reply to the thread in this forum named Beekeeping.
Sorry for the switcheroo.
Laurence

**jbmanno** · 05-27-2008, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by Laurence Hope

Vancleave, I just posted to the wrong thread an answer to yours. To save me from typing it again, please look at first reply to the thread in this forum named Beekeeping.
Sorry for the switcheroo.
Laurence

"I bought the ABC's andXYZ's of Beekeeping, The Hive and the Honeybee, Dadant's First Lessons in Beekeeping, now updated by Dr. Keith DeLaPlane, and Honey in the Comb to start with. I still read them all over and over. And with the help of the great beekeepers on this board, maybe someday I'll catch on. I read ABJ and Bee Culture cover to cover two or three times each issue. I also bought books by Lawrence Conner and others. Read as much as you can, let your mind sort out the differences, ask lots of questions of the masters here on Beesource and your method of beekeeping will filter out of it all (as I hope mine also is).
Good reading!
Laurence"

There ya go Laurence, I didn't like going between posts to read your reply.

Besides that, you mentioned some pretty good books in case someone gets this thread on a search.
Joe

**nmallardi** · 05-28-2008, 12:58 AM

Hi there - new to this myself but i really enjoyed/am enjoying - RICHARD TAYLOR The How-to-Do-It Book of Bee-Keeping - one thing covered in this book is " how to avoid giving the impression of lunacy" (as a beekeeper)... and SUE HUBBELL A Book Of Bees - more of a romantic view of beekeeping and a good read for anyone really... best of luck!

**Fred Bee** · 05-28-2008, 06:25 AM

Dr. Keith Delaplane has a wonderful resource available that comes with a DVD video series. It is called Honey Bees and Beekeeping: A Year in the Life of an Apiary. I purchased mine through the University of Georgia's Center for Continuing Education, via the Internet...however I am aware the book and dvd is available elsewhere. Building up your bee library is always a great endeavor.

**Hobie** · 05-28-2008, 07:21 AM

It's old, but I really like H. Storch's "At the Hive Entrance." It tells you what is likely going on inside by signs you observe outside.

**txgunnut** · 06-02-2008, 05:14 PM

I like backyard beekeeping, and I also like the DVD set "A year in the life of an Apiary" but the DVD is a little old but still worth it!

**stoweski** · 06-02-2008, 05:51 PM

Hi.
I'm new to beekeeping but over the course of the past few months I have collected a few that I've scanned...

The New Starting Right with Bees - Root Publishing
Good, short book that goes into pretty good depth on beekeeping.

Natural Beekeeping - Ross Conrad
Haven't looked at this one much since I got it for my b-day a few days ago. From what I gather it has a lot to do with chemical-free beekeeping.

Beekeepers Handbook - you already read this one.

My new favorite:
The Backyard Beekeeper - Kim Flottum
I believe this is a definite must-have! Pictures, pictures, pictures. Many books show sketches or drawings... some even show black & white picts. But this book is full color and has a lot of great info. I got this one for my b-day also but it's the one that caught my attention.

By the way, for my b-day I got two copies of Natural Beekeeping. If anyone is interested I'd be willing to sell it. $25 takes it... I'll even include the shipping!

Keith

**hankdog1** · 06-02-2008, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Fred Bee

Dr. Keith Delaplane has a wonderful resource available that comes with a DVD video series. It is called Honey Bees and Beekeeping: A Year in the Life of an Apiary. I purchased mine through the University of Georgia's Center for Continuing Education, via the Internet...however I am aware the book and dvd is available elsewhere. Building up your bee library is always a great endeavor.

Fred Bee,

On RFD TV you can watch that series from Dr. Keith Delaplance they play the whole series every year starting sometime in May. I liked it very interesting learned a few things i didn't know about.

A interesting book i liked that anybody can learn from is The Hive and The Honeybee. Interesting reading for the beginner to the advanced beek.

**crazytranes** · 04-09-2009, 07:59 PM

I have a copy of The Hive and the Honeybee at home. It is a really good resource for any beekeeper. Just be advised that it is larger than your average Bible. Some parts are very dry and scientific, but it is a great reference at any level. As an amusing side note, my library has a copy from the 1940's that says honey is great for newborns.

I read a borrowed copy of Beekeeping for Dummies the day before yesterday, it has been added to my "to buy" list as a good early reference. It has a pretty good hive inspection checklist and a decent calendar of the beekeeping year.

I have heard that The ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping is another good one. Does anyone have any comments on the quality of this work, or how it is different/better/worse than The Hive and the Honeybee? I'm trying to decide if it is worth buying as well. I have a gift certificate to Borders that has been burning a hole in my pocket.

I also have Dadant's First Lessons in Beekeeping, a very good step-by-step book, also very unobtrusive on a bookshelf. I have asked my wife to read this one as an introduction to what we will be doing as beekeepers.

I have not read The Backyard Beekeeper yet, but I will be reading it in the next week or so. As soon as I am able to borrow it from the person who ordered it.

**RayMarler** · 04-09-2009, 09:25 PM

I have heard that The ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping is another good one. Does anyone have any comments on the quality of this work, or how it is different/better/worse than The Hive and the Honeybee? I'm trying to decide if it is worth buying as well. I have a gift certificate to Borders that has been burning a hole in my pocket.

I have both and much prefer The Hive and the Honeybee. This book was the UCD Bee Biology labs text book when Norm Gary was the instructor. It has a logical layout, easy to read, with contents and index. The ABC XYZ of Beekeeping is more like an alphabetical layout like an encyclopedia without table of contents, you really seem to need to know what your looking for in it.

For the original poster and others... check out Google Books, many of the older out of print and out of copyright books on beekeeping are there in PDF format. Also check out Michael Bush's website where he has some great books in digital format on his site, mostly concerning different methods of queen rearing. He also has a link to Cornell? university where they have many many of the old time beekeeper's out of copyright books listed online in digital format. Some of these are true gems.