We have been keeping bees on the farm since last spring but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot to learn. The hubby was very happy to be able to read The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum. It’s the next book in the Get Ready for Summer Homestead Projects Week fun and I thank Quarto Knows for sending it along at no charge.
About The Backyard Beekeeper:
The Backyard Beekeeper, now in its 4th edition, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to urban and rural beekeepers of all skill levels.
More than a guide to beekeeping, this handbook features expert advice for:
– Setting up and caring for your own colonies
– She best location to place your new bee colonies for their safety and yours
– The most practical and nontoxic ways to care for your bees
– Swarm control
– Using top bar hives
– Harvesting the products of a beehive and collecting and using honey
– Bee problems and treatments
What’s New?
– Information for Urban Bees and Beekeepers
– Using Your Smoker the Right Way
– Better Pest Management
– Providing Consistent and Abundant Good Food
– Keeping Your Hives Healthy
With this complete resource and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor Kim Flottum, your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.
About the Author:
Mr. Flottum brings a background of more than a decade of plant science, honey bee research, and basic farming to his thirty years as the editor of Bee Culturemagazine where his main occupation is finding the answers to the multitude of questions that beginning, intermediate, and even advanced and experienced beekeepers bring to the table. He teaches beginning and advanced beekeeping courses, travels extensively to educate and lecture, and contributes to a variety of other publications on the basics of honey bees and beekeeping biology, the business of bees and pollination, producing and using varietal honeys, and a host of other subjects. His books, magazine articles, interviews, and blogs are widely read for both their fundamental and advanced contribution to beekeeping knowledge. His magazine platform gives voice to his social commentary on topics ranging from genetically modified foods to pesticide abuse to both good and bad government regulations in the industry. He is beekeeping’s leading advocate for fundamental honey bee safety including insuring excellent honey bee health, providing extraordinary forage, and minimizing the use of agricultural pesticides.
ALL AMAZON PURCHASE LINKS ARE AFFILIATE LINKS WHICH MEANS IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION (AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU)
Our Opinion:
This is not the first beekeeping book the hubby has read as we have entered into this new addition to the farm. He did tell me that it is the best book he has read so far. The book is written for the beginning beekeeper and truth be told even though we have had bees for a year we still have so many questions.
Mr. Flottum lays everything out in a very straightforward manner starting with the basics. He helps the hopeful beekeeper by providing a step by step plan of attack.
The hubby found it very helpful for bucking up his basic knowledge and for answering several questions that arose over the a cold snap that we had. Our winter has been quite odd this year with it never really getting and staying cold but rather being cold for two days then warmer and rainy. He thought it was messing with the bees but he found his answer in the book – they were just hivecleaning.
He is very glad to have this book in his beekeeping library and he says it will be his go/to book when he has questions. It’s written in an easy to understand manner for people who are just starting up with bees or whom are interested in reading on what is required to give bees a home whether you live in a rural or urban environment.
Rating:
5
Keeping Bees on the Farm:
Every year we try to add something new to the farm. Last year we added honey bees. Besides ultimately providing us with honey one day they are also excellent pollinators for the garden and for the fruit trees we hope to add this year.
Both of us took a couple of courses through the adult education system so we had a basic knowledge to start. Then the hubby took over – he ordered what we needed to put in two hives. When spring rolled around he went down to Missoula to pick up the bees. Then he got himself all geared up and he was ready to move the bees.
There are 3,000 bees in each package! That is a lot of bees. I will tell you that we were both out there with all of those bees for close to an hour setting up the two hives and neither one of us suffered a single sting.
There were bees everywhere! There were landing here and there and everywhere. The hubby got them into the their hive body and they settled down to do their bee thing.
Then he put the queen in. She is packaged separately in the bee package. The queen is larger than the other bees.
I am personally convinced that bees are The Borg. But that is me.
They are a collective, doing what is best for the whole, for the hive.
Since he got them into the hive he added solar powered electric fencing to keep them safe from predators. Also they grew so there are now two boxes on each hive.
