jainabee's review
5.0
Of the many beekeeping books I've perused, this is one of the most useful to me. It's attractively designed and easy to follow, for a complete beginner like me.
breckman's review
4.0
Good primer for an intro to the beekeeping world. Not in depth enough to immediately start beekeeping but certainly enough to give you enough knowledge to start reading and researching more in depth. It gives a rudimentary overview of nearly everything with a good deep dive into Varroa. There's definitely some chapters that I will be re-reading later on.
onecrab's review
2.0
Felt the organization of the book was a bit odd - that if this had been my only beekeeping book I'd still be a bit out of sorts with beekeeping. There are many gorgeous photos in the book, but some were not well explained - why this photo or that photo? I wondered.
I'm not wild about a system that encourages killing the queen bee each year, or medicating with no cause. Just don't think that Kim Flottum is the kind of beekeeper that I aim to be.
The ways to use beeswax and honey in the back had a couple of recipes that look pretty good.
I'm not wild about a system that encourages killing the queen bee each year, or medicating with no cause. Just don't think that Kim Flottum is the kind of beekeeper that I aim to be.
The ways to use beeswax and honey in the back had a couple of recipes that look pretty good.
gidgettm's review
3.0
There was a lot of information in this guide. However, the author's smug tone and general doomsday version of beekeeping was very off putting. I got the impression that she had to deal with many of these pests and maladies and it left a bad taste.
lieslindi's review
Every other beekeeping book I have read suggests having two deep (9"), ten-frame hive bodies (the bees' permanent home) and adding supers above those for honey (theirs and possibly some for you). Flottum suggests having three medium (6"), eight-frame bodies, not because of any advantage to the bees but because deeps are too heavy. I might as well install a scooter path from backdoor to hives so I don't have to walk all that distance either. That and a stairlift down the back steps.
He did suggest one interesting thing: one frame of specifically drone-sized foundation keep against one wall of a hive body so that wax moths (which prefer drones since their larvae are bigger and meatier than worker larvae) will concentrate there. He didn't suggest how the queen knows to lay only unfertilized eggs in that foundation, though. But queens know a whole lot; maybe they can sense different depths of cells.
At the end of the book are recipes for crafts, cosmetics, and food to be made with wax or honey. Most are sane. At least one is not: "Take selected large red or white currants. One by one, carefully make an incision in the skin 1/4" (.6cm) deep with tiny embroidery scissors. Through this slit remove the seeds with the aid of a sharp needle, preserving the shape of the fruit. [Preserve in honey.:]" (154)
Who am I, Danny the Champion of the World? Also there's a scene in the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in which Cassie's half-white-thus-alien cousin helps her dig chiggers out of her foot with a needle. I don't know which is less appetizing, currants full of sleeping pills or full of maggots.
He did suggest one interesting thing: one frame of specifically drone-sized foundation keep against one wall of a hive body so that wax moths (which prefer drones since their larvae are bigger and meatier than worker larvae) will concentrate there. He didn't suggest how the queen knows to lay only unfertilized eggs in that foundation, though. But queens know a whole lot; maybe they can sense different depths of cells.
At the end of the book are recipes for crafts, cosmetics, and food to be made with wax or honey. Most are sane. At least one is not: "Take selected large red or white currants. One by one, carefully make an incision in the skin 1/4" (.6cm) deep with tiny embroidery scissors. Through this slit remove the seeds with the aid of a sharp needle, preserving the shape of the fruit. [Preserve in honey.:]" (154)
Who am I, Danny the Champion of the World? Also there's a scene in the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in which Cassie's half-white-thus-alien cousin helps her dig chiggers out of her foot with a needle. I don't know which is less appetizing, currants full of sleeping pills or full of maggots.
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