# Newbee book?



## jennifertullis (Apr 24, 2016)

Can anyone recommend a good book for beginners. I have The Thinking Beekeeper by Christy Hemenway . It was fine but I need lots more detail. I have so many questions!!


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## WillH (Jun 25, 2010)

The dummies book


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## johnmcda (Aug 10, 2015)

"A Year in the Life of an Apiary" - Dr. Keith DeLaplane


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## MartinW (Feb 28, 2015)

Top Bar Hive Beekeeping: Wisdom & Pleasure Combined by Wyatt A. Mangum (Ph.D.)


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

yes, Wyatt's book is good but it wouldn't be my second book choice for the newbee. I teach a monthly class on TBH's and I recommend Christy's book for the beginner. Les Crowder has a good one and so does Phil Chandler that I would pick up as the secondary text. I also like Michael Bush's practical beekeeping, although it is not exclusive to the TBH. Wyatt's book is full of photos and lots of info so it's definitely one to add to the bee book library.


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## MartinW (Feb 28, 2015)

I differ from Ruthiesbees. I've read and enjoyed the Hemenway and Crowder books, but the Mangum book is the only option of the three that approaches the level of operational guide for a topbar apiary. So, if you need lots of detail, and pictures for topbar beekeeping, you won't be disappointed.


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## Imker Ingo (May 15, 2016)

Phil Chandler has published a follow up to his first book: Balanced Beekeeping II, Managing the Topbar Hive. It has some very usefull information for more basic and more advanced topbar beekeepers. It can be purchased via Lulu.com or on Biobees.com. I found it very helpful and reasonably priced.


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## jennifertullis (Apr 24, 2016)

Thanks everyone for your input. I value it so much. I have so much to learn! And I thought I was ready to be a beekeeper!! Well, I will take all of these comments into consideration as I research the materials that you have mentioned! Happy beekeeping


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## AvatarDad (Mar 31, 2016)

"The Thinking Beekeeper" was about the only bee book I've read and hated. The edition I read only had one good chapter teaching beekeeping in it (a hive management chapter). the rest of the book was a non-stop screed about how top bar hives and top bar beekeepers are superior to lang hives and beekeepers in every way. By the end of the book, I was struggling not to yell and fling. I have both types of hive, and love my TBHs and dislike the lang, but as a new beekeeper, 95% of my mentors operate Langs. Understanding what they do and why they do it is important. Thinking they are contemptible because they don't love their bees enough to put them in a log is just stupid. I *really* hated that book... it was arrogant and condescending and rude.

Les's original "top bar beekeeping" is the most useful one for me as a beginner. If the book only contained the 10 pages of charts showing how to move bars around in the hive as the year progresses, that alone would be worth the full price of the book. so the other 90 pages are like bonus material.  I enjoyed Magnum's book as well, but it is more a memoir than a step-by-step guide. (That being said, it has good advice. "When pollinating, get paid on delivery of the hives, not later" followed by a story of a farmer ripping him off, is something you don't get in every bee book. When he tells you "bear proof your out yards" he has the pictures to show you exactly why!)

Les, yes. Magnum, maybe. "Thinking Beekeeper" no.

Good luck!
Mike


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## crmauch (Mar 3, 2016)

I don't have bees yet, but I have read a number of bee books so far. And I of course have opinions...

1) I don't like any book that recommends a center side entrance (multiple reasons)

So I wasn't particularly fond of either Chandler's or Hemenway's book. She has a center entrance and then has you shifting the whole brood nest to one end?? Doesn't make sense to me. 

I might have liked Chandler's book if it had been my first, but I read it after I had read more detailed books.

2) Go to your local library. Get the books through them (In my county all the county libraries are tied together in one system, so you can get any book from any of those libraries), and if your local system doesn't have a book see if they have an interlibrary loan process. You may have to wait, or you may have to pay a small fee, but some of these are expensive and I recommend you look them over before committing money. If your local library sucks, possibly check out nearby University libraries.

Like Crowder's book. Those charts of his are great. I also very much like Mangum's book, but it is written more 'memoir'-like. Also recommend Bush's 'Practical Beekeeping' Those 3 will eventually be parts of my permanent library.

3) If you're as cheap as I am and at least currently determined to get wild bees, I recommend both 'Honeybee Democracy' by Thomas Seeley and "Swarm Traps and Bait Hives" by McCartney Taylor. Taylor's has all the basic information you would need, is cheaper, but more 'light-weight' (but some practical considerations that 'HD' does not). 'Honeybee Democracy' has similar information but explains *WHY*.

I am also looking forward to Seeley's new book about bee-lining.

4) I have trouble with the 'Dummy" book (and the Dummy books in general). I can't read any of them from beginning to end. The Beekeeping one is very chemically oriented.


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

The Hive and the Honey Bee.............you can find it on Dadant's website.


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I like Les Crowder's book as well. I have pretty much all of the books mentioned above, and I think that Les's book is pretty good for Top Bars. Wyatt's book has great photos, but it is too long and too expensive for most people.


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## crmauch (Mar 3, 2016)

I also liked Mangum's book for the reason that he was doing top bars in a climate closest to being what mine is like (originally NC and now VA) while the others are significantly different (Crowder - NM, Bush - NE, Hemenway - ME, Chandler - UK)


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I'm in VA as well. Wyatt's story is interesting in that when he started he had seen some photos of TBHs, but there wasn't much info on them. I don't think his design is any better or worse than others. It was the way he built his first hive and has stuck with it all these years. It really didn't have anything to do with the climate at all.


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## crmauch (Mar 3, 2016)

shannonswyatt said:


> I'm in VA as well. Wyatt's story is interesting in that when he started he had seen some photos of TBHs, but there wasn't much info on them. I don't think his design is any better or worse than others. It was the way he built his first hive and has stuck with it all these years. It really didn't have anything to do with the climate at all.


I was only stating that he was toing TBH in a similar climate to mine, not that intrinsically that his design was better. My thought process was along these lines:
UK: Maritime climate. milder winters and summers, damp
ME: Long winters, quite cold. Short summers.
NE: Continental climate (harsher climate, hot summers, cold winters, generally dryer).
NM: desert SW - very hot summers, dry
Mid Atlantic (VA & PA): Humid, fluctuating winter temperatures, moderate length winters. Warm humid summers. 

I do like that Mangum's top bars are 19" long so that in "theory" they could go in a Langstroth Deep. I also like that when built out the comb is deeper than Crowder's (but those are mostly personal opinion).


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

Beesource and a hive or two.


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I also run 19 inch bars. I'm not crazy about deeper bars. The deeper the bar, the greater the risk of comb collapse. The overall of my hives is similar to Les's hives, but I use a 1x12 for the sides and a 1x10 for the bottom. Les's design saves is simple since it uses one size board for the entire hive.


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## AvatarDad (Mar 31, 2016)

crmauch said:


> I do like that Mangum's top bars are 19" long so that in "theory" they could go in a Langstroth Deep. I also like that when built out the comb is deeper than Crowder's (but those are mostly personal opinion).


My plan was to have two TBH for this, my first year of beekeeping. Then, all the folks at the bee club were raving about this guy's nucs and I had to buy one, and ended up with a lang hive in the process. When I put the nuc frames into the lang, I had an empty nuc. 5 19" top bars filled it perfectly; that worked out great! I don't know how good a bait hive it will make, but if I catch anything they will be easy to move to a new TBH.

Oddly, TBH 1 doesn't cross comb... TBH 2 doesn't cross comb. In both TBH I have never had to touch a comb to straighten it. the bees in the lang build everywhere but on the frames. Their hive looks worse than any teenager's room I've seen. I'm about to sell them on Craig's list.


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## crmauch (Mar 3, 2016)

I've recently come across another beginner book that I like quite a bit. It's not a TBH book, but has interesting detail and clear description: "Get Started in Beekeeping" by Adrian and Claire Waring


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## bentonkb (May 24, 2016)

Just wanted to vote on the nth books: Les Crowder is the real deal and his book is excellent. Michael Bush and Wyatt Magnum both have very good websites and lots of experience; I haven't read their books, but I'll bet they are good. Christy Hemenway seems like a fraud. Her book is crap. The section on mites says that you won't have any mite problems in a tbh because of the natural comb! Phil Chandler is similar. He doesn't know nearly enough to be writing a book.


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## Rww930 (Mar 14, 2016)

Wow, tough crowd. I think I'll hold off on writing a book!


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