Reddit reviews Beekeeping For Dummies

My Books

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Here are the books I have:

Beekeeping

• The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum
  
• The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard A. Jones & Sharon Sweeney-Lynch
  
  

  History and Biology
  

  
  

• _Letters from the Hive_ by Stephen Buchmann
  
• _Biology of the Honey Bee_ by Mark L. Winston
  
  

  Gardening
  

  
  

• Attracting Native Pollinators by [The Xerces Society](
  https://xerces.org/mission/)
  
• Garden Plants for Honey Bees by Peter Lindtner
  
  
  

  The Wiki
  

  
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  Here is the recommended list linked to in the wiki:
  
  

• Beekeeping for Dummies, by Howland Blackiston
  
• The Beekeeper's Handbook, by Diana Sammataro
  
• The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses, by Richard Jones
  
• Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden, by Kim Flottum
  
• Better Beekeeping: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Stronger Colonies and Healthier, More Productive Bees, by Kim Flottum
  
• The Backyard Beekeeper's Honey Handbook: A Guide to Creating, Harvesting, and Baking with Natural Honeys, by Kim Flottum
  
• Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide, Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies, by the Xerces Society
  
  
  If you had to just pick one I would choose between The Backyard Beekeeper and The Beekeeper's Bible.
  
  I also highly suggest doing the following:
  
  
• look to see if beekeeping courses are offered by your state university or local community college and attend a basics beekeeping course
  
• find a local beekeeping club and regularly attend meetings (this will be important not just to learn, but also to be kept up to date about pesticide sprays, diseases to anticipate, and access to expensive machinery like honey extractors)
  
• read all your local laws about beekeeping and follow them

A foundation-less hive will allow you to collect more wax as well as honey. Most people would then tend to focus on a top bar hive or a warre hive, but you can also do foundation-less in a traditional langstroth.

We may not have a flushed out beginner's section in the sidebar, but the search feature works pretty well. Beyond that, grab a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies (it is actually a very good book to get started with.)

I'm in the same place as you are. My thought is to start with 2 hives so that if I suffer a loss, I might have a way of discerning whether or not its my fault.

I hate the title, but many people I have talked to said that Beekeeping for Dummies is a great book. I think it is great too.

For the bees..maybe this..like in a joking way? http://amzn.com/0470430656
& for the parrot I would say
http://amzn.com/B000K8V4W0 because its tasty & pretty! Hahaha
& for the chicken! http://amzn.com/B005IG2XGU

If any of these have been posted already..I'm sorry..didn't look at everyone's posts yet.

Someone already said to garden, so I'll suggest two similar (but different!) things!

Start a beehive. Not as hard as it seems, if you have enough money for the supplies (usually only a couple hundred dollars for the actual hive, maybe one hundred for the bees). Have no land? No problem! Find someone who does, maybe they'll let you set up camp there in exchange for honey and awesome pollinators for their garden. :) This book is actually really good at explaining. I have it, and I researched the hell out of all the amazon books before buying one.

If you don't want to do that (and if you have space somewhere): Plant a tree! Or a bush. Specifically, the kind that bear fruit. Think of all the fun things you can do with even one apple tree! Because I'm boring, here's another book! I have it on my wishlist, too. ;)

I hope your birthday! is excellent!! :)

I am a first year beekeeper. I became intensely interested in this back in Feb of this year. So, I got a book...this was a great start for me. I also joined a local beekeeping association. I now have two hives running marvelously...should be getting about 30-40 quarts in a few weeks.