The Practical Beekeeper Volume I Beginning Beekeeping Naturally

by Michael Bush

This book is about how to keep bees in a natural and practical system where they do not require treatments for pests and diseases and only minimal interventions. It is also about simple practical beekeeping. It is about reducing your work. It is not a main-stream beekeeping book. Many of the concepts are contrary to "conventional" beekeeping. The techniques presented here are streamlined through decades of experimentation, adjustments and simplification. The content was written and then refined from responding to questions on bee forums over the years so it is tailored to the questions that beekeepers, new and experienced, have. It is divided into three volumes and this edition contains only Volume Beginning Beekeeping Naturally.

Genres: Nonfiction

282 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2011

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a detailed description of natural methods of raising bees. I appreciated the author's reassurance in the beginning - it is normal to be frustrated and confused when learning! And I was! I imagine that as I learn more through other sources, this book will become more helpful to me. As it was, I think this book was a bit of a difficult approach for someone with no experience. I am pretty familiar with insects, but new to bees, and the multitude of terms and casual references were quite intimidating.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Info was helpful if extremely repetitive and rambly. Grammar was terrible. Appears to have had zero editing done to it...

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of information, but it was hard to follow as this was my first bee book and I have not kept bees before. The author is obviously very knowledgeable, but I felt he rambled with incomplete sentences scattered throughout the book. The organization of the book needed some work as well. Basically, the gist I got from reading this book is that small cell or natural cell is the way to go and try to avoid intervening in most cases, letting the bee's do what they do naturally. It's best for a beginner to start with 2 to 4 hives instead of one. I may try to read another beginner bee book before going on to the second volume.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

After keeping bees for a year, and reading several natural and introductory bee keeping books, this was exactly what I was looking for. The authors ideas and topics were very much in line with my questions. I found the information extremely helpful. That said, if this had been the first beekeeping book I had read, I would have been a bit lost. Most of the book assumes some knowledge of bees and beekeeping. I would recommend this book to anyone who has or wants bees. I would first recommend they read 'First Lessons in Beekeeping' or something similar.

[Denny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good information from one experienced beekeeper's perspective especially for new beekeepers. Loved his ideas on natural bee keeping. Read all three volumes and think they were with the read!

[Bryan457 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit above my head, but interesting all the same. Short and easy to read.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of information, although not well organized. It contradicts itself in places. Still I will read Vol. 2 and 3 since they are sure to have even more useful, advanced information.