Books for beginners

[rolande]

Morning, Whats the best book for beginner? thanks

Hard question in the sense that it's easy to assume that a beginner beekeeper is a beginner person where, in fact, a lot of beginning beekeepers are actually caple of understanding a lot more than some of the dross that gets pedalled for beginners.

Only the individual knows their own reading level. Assuming that a definite decision to keep bees has been made I'd be inclined to start with the best I could find and, if necessary, work backwards till I found what I needed. No more expensive than working the other way through the books -and it short circuits the possible temptation not to progress further than x book because that seems to be ok.

 

[rolande]

JG Digges (still considered the definitive beekeeper's bible after numerous reprints from it's first publication in 1904 to the centenary edition in 2004)

The only book I can think of that describes the old/original way to try and pull off the business of shaking out laying workers. The missing step that never gets mentioned now.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The missing step that never gets mentioned now.

What’s the missing step?

 

[rolande]

What’s the missing step?

As I remember, it's a long time since I've read Digges, it was to relocate the hive for a while before shaking -on the assumption that laying workers wouldn't be flying while laying, so wouldn't have a clue where their new location was once shook. Whether there's any credence to the theory or not I can't say but at least it demonstrates that someone had given the mechanics of the idea a bit of consideration!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

He may have given it some thought, but unfortunately I don't think he had full knowledge of the mechanics of laying workers in general - believing the 'observations' of Huber that they were some kind of hybrid 'half queen' caused by worker eggs laid near a queen cell thus getting a whiff of royal jelly, and that in a queenright colony they were swiftly killed by the other workers.
He doesn't explain how the laying workers had suddenly forgotten how to find the hive, although by implication (the 'missing step') they must have orientated to the previous position just before this move.
And nowhere does he say that LW's can't fly, but instead strongly implies they can

 

[JamezF]

I'll add another vote for Haynes. There are one or two places where I'd consider it wrong, but mostly I think it's an engaging and informative introduction. I started with Hooper and de Bruyn, but no way would I recommend them to a beginner these days. They're just too dense and unrewarding. Perhaps after the new beekeeper had got their feet a bit wet...

James

 

[SteveG]

Thanks to all.

 

[rolande]

Digges, perfect example of why I removed most of the older books from my once large collection, may still be a few half forgotten in boxes but in general I now reserve my bee reading for biographical type books or those aimed at very specific subjects -which tend to be written by specialists, but not exclusively so!

Three books in this thread, Hooper, Sims and Bruyn stand out in my mind although none are totally up to date, I find it hard to imagine that at least one of these can't capture a beginner's enthusiasm while imparting some practical knowledge.

 

[peterbees]

Make sure you get the UK edition though, as the American version has a chapter about protecting your hives from Racoons.

Another book to add to the list would be Green Guides to Keeping Bees by Pam Gregory and Claire Waring.

Green Guide is a good introduction. The late Pam Gregory was a former Regional Bee Inspector for Wales, much-missed.