| | |  | | Home » Beekeeping For Dummies | | | | | | | Description: | | Now updated — your guide to becoming a successful backyard beekeeper Interested in raising honey bees? This friendly, practical guide presents a step-by-step approach to starting your own beehive, along with expert tips for maintaining a healthy colony. You get the latest on honey bee medication and treatments, harvesting and marketing your honey, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honey bee has on our environment and economy. To bee or not to bee? — understand the benefits of beekeeping and whether it's right for you Build your first hive — gather the right equipment, obtain your bees, and transfer them safely to their new home Get up-close and personal — see how to open and close the hive, inspect your bees at the right times, and know what to look for Handle common problems — from swarming to robbing to pesticide poisoning, find simple solutions Understand Colony Collapse Syndrome — learn what you can do to help save the honey bees Gear up for the golden harvest — use the tools of the trade to extract honey, store it, and sell it Praise for Beekeeping For Dummies "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 Open the book and find: The various types of honey bees and the role each plays in a colony Hands-on instruction in building a hive How to keep bees healthier and more productive Guidelines for all phases of honey production New information on raising your own queens Plenty of helpful, illustrative pictures to guide you The safest ways to inspect and enjoy your bees A Beekeeper's Calendar organized by climate zones | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Howland Blackiston | | Paperback:
| 392 pages | | Publisher:
| For Dummies | | Publication Date:
| March 16, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0470430656 | | Product Length:
| 9.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.3 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.9 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.2 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 106 reviews |
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- VeryGood | | | $21.22 | New | | | $21.79 | New | | | $21.82 | New | | | $22.70 | New | | | $24.05 | New | | | $24.25 | New | | | $24.67 | New | | | $24.67 | Used
- Mint | | | $26.74 | Used
- Good | | | $34.54 | New | | | $37.58 | New | | | $38.82 | New | | | $47.41 | New | | | $47.41 | New | | | $199.90 | Used
- Good | |
| New | |
| $10.92 | New | | | $10.93 | New | | | $10.95 | New | | | $11.29 | New | | | $11.50 | New | | | $12.99 | New | | | $13.27 | New | | | $13.31 This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $13.52 | New | | | $14.42 | New | | | $14.52 | New | | | $14.96 | New | | | $15.07 | New | | | $15.26 | New | | | $15.53 | New | | | $15.82 | New | | | $15.83 | New | | | $15.86 | New | | | $16.06 | New | | | $16.45 | New | | | $16.45 | New | | | $16.52 | New | | | $16.72 | New | | | $17.58 | New | | | $17.79 | New | | | $18.01 | New | | | $18.15 | New | | | $19.03 | New | | | $19.11 | New | | | $19.18 | New | | | $19.23 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $19.99 | New | | | $20.23 | New | | | $21.22 | New | | | $21.79 | New | | | $21.82 | New | | | $22.70 | New | | | $24.05 | New | | | $24.25 | New | | | $24.67 | New | | | $34.54 | New | | | $37.58 | New | | | $38.82 | New | | | $47.41 | New | | | $47.41 | New | |
| Used | |
| $12.59 | Used
- Mint | | | $12.60 | Used
- Mint | | | $12.67 | Used
- Mint | | | $12.79 | Used
- Mint | | | $12.88 | Used
- Mint | | | $13.50 | Used
- Mint | | | $14.75 | Used
- Mint | | | $14.76 | Used
- Mint | | | $15.06 | Used
- Mint | | | $15.53 | Used
- Mint | | | $15.60 | Used
- Mint | | | $15.86 | Used
- Mint | | | $16.15 | Used
- Mint | | | $16.23 | Used
- Mint | | | $17.23 | Used
- Good | | | $17.79 | Used
- Mint | | | $21.02 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $24.67 | Used
- Mint | | | $26.74 | Used
- Good | | | $199.90 | Used
- Good | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 106 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
191 of 193 found the following review helpful:
 Good for DummiesJun 21, 2003
By Paul Bridges
Keep in mind this book has a "dummies" slant. It's a great beginner book and I own a copy. I recommend it. Lots of conversational plain english, funny cartoons, photographs, etc. But, buy another book as well to round out your knowledge. For example, Howland doesn't explain *why* you need an inner cover... just says it's part of the hive. He only provides *one* technique for queen introduction (albeit a good one), when there are several others. Then he perpetuates the myth that you should scrape a bee's stinger away rather than pinch it away (Discover magazine, et. al., now dispute this), and when discussing *moving* a hive, he leaves out the "3 mile rule" and the "1 foot per day" approach, etc. He suggests using motor oil moats to prevent ants (works great), but doesn't mention that vegetable oil and Tanglefoot work great also. Like I say, great book, buy it, but get some others too.
125 of 128 found the following review helpful:
Beekeeping for Dummies...Jan 29, 2005
By Charles Andrew Wingard
... is a good spring board into the world of beekeeping. He explains the set up of the hive, insect and disease problems, tools you may or may not need, etc. But there is little explanation as to why these things are necessary. Also, if you are familiar with the state of the honey bee, you will know that colonies are dying at a rapid rate. Howland's book is slanted toward exploiting bees, and not just keeping them. Miticides, ordering of new queens each year, honey substitutes, and fungicides are the law in this book, and the beekeeping industry are not questioning these practices that are compounding a very serious problem, because they make money off of selling these products. I reccommend reading this book so you can understand hive setup, maintence, tools, etc.. but if you are concerned about your colonies overall health, and the health of the honey bee in general, supplement this reading with Gunther Hauk's "Toward saving the Honey Bee". Amazon does not offer it but you can find it on the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Assoc. website or at Acres USA. Lots of good info, and less harmful ways to handle mites etc.. and great advice on how to improve the overall health of your colony.
54 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 from a beginner beekeeperFeb 27, 2002
By Leola L. Crosley
I've read 4 beekeeping books, I wish I would have read this one first. It's very readable and easy-to-understand, and contained information the other harder-to-understand technical books never mentioned.
36 of 36 found the following review helpful:
Pretty good resource, but not the bee all, end all...Jun 27, 2006
By R. Corey
"becwith"
I used this book as my only reference for starting my career as a backyard beekeeper. I find it very helpful and it is a good reference but it's also rather incomplete. I got my bees in Nucs not boxes and there wasn't much that a beginner needed to understand the differences. Also, when I checked my hives for the first time, I realized that this book is lacking a lot of what looks normal and what doesn't; there are only a few photos, mostly not very useful. Why doesn't the book tell you to smoke yourself and the bees to help prevent stings? Why isn't there info about using sugar water in addition to smoke to help you when in the hive? Now that I'm started I wish that there was a volume II with more detail to help me at the next level.
Still, it was a valuable tool in getting me started on this adventure and I learned a lot. a lot of the reference material out there is too technical and not practical..I still reccomend this book to anyone getting started in beekeeping.
28 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Best comprehansive guide for the beginning beekeeper!Mar 21, 2006
By Anne Crow
"Bee Happy"
This book is fantastic. I just started last spring with one beehive. I have purchase five or six other books, but none have been as helpful as this one. It assumes that you don't know anything about beekeeping (that is me) and takes you through step by step and season by season. I have confidence that with the help of this book, I can keep my "girls" healthy and happy. I spoke to someone at our local beekeepers meeting who has been a beekeeper for almost 50 years. When I told him I was reading this book. He told me that it is one of the very best. I highly recommend this book for the beginning beekeeper.
See all 106 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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