# Best beekeeping books?



## 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


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## jbmanno

Laurence Hope said:


> 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


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## nmallardi

*books..*

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!


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## Fred Bee

*Dr. Keith Delaplane*

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.


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## Hobie

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.


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## txgunnut

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!


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## stoweski

*My list*

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


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## hankdog1

Fred Bee said:


> 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.


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## crazytranes

*Best Beekeeping Books*

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. :doh:

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.


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## RayMarler

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.


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## Michael Palmer

_Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey_ by Brother Adam


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## KvasirApiaries

Hello everyone, new to this site. Wondering If anyone knows knows of any highly educational reads on bee entomology. The study of Bees in Canada has been left solely to the beekeepers themselves it seems. I feel obligated to educate myself on everything to do with bees and their behaviors regarding environmental conditions and any disease's and illness that may befall our beloved bee. Long post, but any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and I hope you all have a fantastic spring!


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## Steven Tervort

I enjoy some of the older books that I have read. "The Hive and The Honey Bee" is a good one. I actually found my copy in one of the only used bookstores in the area. Another book I enjoyed reading, and it is available for free online, is "A Year's Work in an Out Apiary" by Doolittle. On my list to get this year is "Following the Wild Bees" by Thomas Seeley.


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## Michael Bush

> The study of Bees in Canada has been left solely to the beekeepers themselves it seems.

Wintering Bees in Canada by F.W.L. Sladen:
https://archive.org/details/cu31924000962666


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## John Davis

Not books but the University of Guelph has a very good series of you tube videos (try UofG), seems someone is studying bees in Canada.


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## dudelt

So far, all really good books. The very first beekeeping book I ever read was The Practical Beekeeper by Michael Bush (see post # 15 above). To this day, it is still the book I refer to most. This book has loads of useful information all in one place. However, I must warn beginning beekeepers that there are so many good ideas in this book that it can be overwhelming. This is not a book that explains how to be a cut and paste beekeeper. It shows you choices. As soon as I read it I had to try top bar hives and long Langstroth hives. I also had to try using only medium boxes on some hives and I also had to try foundationless beekeeping. The book got me to learn and experience a whole lot about beekeeping really quickly.


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## aunt betty

Might be a good time to mention that a beekeeping author from say... Florida isn't going to be very helpful to a reader in Canada.
Beekeeping is area sensitive and you should try to find books written by someone in your area. 
For me a good book was Beekeeping in the Midwest which is hard to find and out of print.


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## dlbrightjr

For whatever reason one of my favorites to look at is Dr Mangums book.

http://www.tbhsbywam.com/


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## gww

I am into what I can read for free. I really like michael Bush's site and I have made a very small dent in reading some of the books here that came up in a simular thread and I believe was posted there by michael palmer.
http://bees.library.cornell.edu/b/bees/browse/a.html
Good luck
gww


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## KvasirApiaries

this paper was written in november of 1920 in ontario.across the country with winters half the length of where i live. seem like my point is still quite valid. now a days in british columbia like i said it left to the beekeepers. looking for the most up to date scientific literature based around beekeeping. thanks for all input thus far.i'm looking for the heavy read publications.backyard beekeeping books are fine and well. But fall rather short. and when looking for books on bee entomology the only thing that i can find is honey bee democracy. I need either text books or papers that where such a big break through they where published as books. everything and anything that has made a serious impact.


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## KvasirApiaries

this seem fantastic! thank you very much


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## Andrew Dewey

There are tidbits of great information in most bee books. On my desk right now are both The Hive and the Honey Bee and the ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture. Both are great references; ABC & XYZ contains more beekeeper biographies. On the shelf above my desk are Winston's The Biology of the Honey Bee, Xerces Society, 100 Plants to feed the Bees; Sanford & Bonney's Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees; Koeniger et al Mating biology of honey bees; Lovell's Honey Plants of North America; Hemenway, Advanced Top Bar Beekeeping and Heaf's translation of Natural Beekeeping with the Warre Hive. The to read pile includes: de Layens' Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives, Chandler's The Barefoot Beekeeper, and Jamoke's Dr Jamoke's Little Book... My intro class uses Bee-Sentials as the text, My intermediate class uses The Beekeepers Handbook.

You get what you pay for with books. In preparing for class tonight I looked at The History of American Beekeeping, Beekeeping in America and Eva Crane's The Archaeology of Beekeeping & Honey Hunting, along with the The Hive and The Honey Bee.

I don't even want to think about what is upstairs, or what was taken to class to let people see.

For magazines ABJ (of course) and Bee Culture, also Bee Craft and Bee World.

I love the fact that much of the first 40 years of ABJs have been digitized and are available on-line for free. See the Phillips Library at Cornell.


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## Riverderwent

_New observations on the natural history of bees_ by François Huber.


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## Michael Bush

One of my bookshelves full of bee books:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/BeeCamp2016/Library3.jpg


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## Spur9

Michael Bush said:


> One of my bookshelves full of bee books:
> http://www.bushfarms.com/images/BeeCamp2016/Library3.jpg


Michael - have you considered offering The Practical Beekeeper as an electronic format for sale on Amazon?


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## Michael Bush

You can buy it as an ebook on my site. Click on "books for sale". Amazon wants too much of a markup for ebooks. They want more than they get for a physical book...


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## samjimenez

The Beekeeper's Bible is a good one. It includes history as well as practical information on just about everything bee related.


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