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The Thinking Beekeeper #1
The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives
What's the buzz about the growing popularity of backyard beekeeping? Providing habitat for bees, pollinating your garden, and producing honey for your family are some of the compelling reasons for taking up this exciting hobby. But conventional beekeeping requires a significant investment and has a steep learning curve. The alternative? Consider beekeeping outside the box.
The Thinking Beekeeper is the definitive do-it-yourself guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives. Based on the concept of understanding and working with bees' natural systems as opposed to trying to subvert them, the advantages of this approach
Top bar hives can be located anywhere bees have access to forage, and they make ideal urban hives.
Emphasizing the intimate connection between our food systems, bees, and the well-being of the planet, The Thinking Beekeeper will appeal to the new breed of beekeeper who is less focused on maximizing honey yield, and more on ensuring the viability of the bee population now and in the coming years.
Christy Hemenway is the owner and founder of Gold Star Honeybees, a complete resource for all things related to beekeeping in top-bar hives. A passionate bee-vangelist and advocate for natural, chemical-free beekeeping, Christy is a highly sought-after speaker, helping audiences to understand the integral connection between bees, food, human health, and the future of the planet.
The Thinking Beekeeper is the definitive do-it-yourself guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives. Based on the concept of understanding and working with bees' natural systems as opposed to trying to subvert them, the advantages of this approach
Top bar hives can be located anywhere bees have access to forage, and they make ideal urban hives.
Emphasizing the intimate connection between our food systems, bees, and the well-being of the planet, The Thinking Beekeeper will appeal to the new breed of beekeeper who is less focused on maximizing honey yield, and more on ensuring the viability of the bee population now and in the coming years.
Christy Hemenway is the owner and founder of Gold Star Honeybees, a complete resource for all things related to beekeeping in top-bar hives. A passionate bee-vangelist and advocate for natural, chemical-free beekeeping, Christy is a highly sought-after speaker, helping audiences to understand the integral connection between bees, food, human health, and the future of the planet.
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2012
31 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 5, 2013
This book is useful as a reference to get started in beekeeping, but is also a pleasure to read cover to cover. Christy Hemenway covers the details of top bar hive design, installation of bees into the hive, management of the hive, as well as the details of harvesting honey and wax. But she also discusses the United States food system, what isn't working, and how beekeepers can help.
Top bar beekeeping is growing in popularity in the United States and this book will provide greater exposure to this way of beekeeping and all of its advantages. This book is an important addition to the very few resources about top bar beekeeping and is a worthy read for any beginning beekeeper.
Top bar beekeeping is growing in popularity in the United States and this book will provide greater exposure to this way of beekeeping and all of its advantages. This book is an important addition to the very few resources about top bar beekeeping and is a worthy read for any beginning beekeeper.
March 8, 2014
THIS will be my beekeeping bible. She makes so much sense! Okay, now I'm getting excited about the possibility of keeping bees.
EDIT: Since I read this book, I discovered the Warre hive, which is everything I liked about the natural beekeeping in this book, only much MUCH better. This book is no longer my beekeeping bible, and I will not have a top bar hive.
EDIT: Since I read this book, I discovered the Warre hive, which is everything I liked about the natural beekeeping in this book, only much MUCH better. This book is no longer my beekeeping bible, and I will not have a top bar hive.
July 20, 2013
This is a great book for anyone interested in beekeeping. I'd been considering top bar hives for awhile, mostly because they seem more economical than Langstroth hives, but this author made a compelling case for using them regardless of finances and did a thorough job explaining how to manage them. If I ever get a hive, it will be a top bar hive like those described in this book.
June 24, 2014
Well I don't quite feel ready to start my own hive ranking with hundreds of honey bees, but I do know a ton more than I did before. I do have until next spring to rally learn it all. On the other hand, no amount of reading can probably prepare a person for their first time opening a hive. I recommend this, but I'll read on nevertheless.
August 3, 2014
Excellent reference that I will use repeatedly. This book is well-written and much more explanatory than other top-bar beekeeping books available (of those I've read).
February 15, 2021
I am a failed beekeeper who is trying to keep bees again. When I attended "bee school" several years ago I don't think any other hive styles were taught other than traditional Langstroth hives, which is what we started with. After failing two years in a row to have any hives survive and overwinter, I started thinking about trying again a different way. I like that top bar hives are more natural and don't use foundation or frames. I also feel like it would be easier to harvest smaller (more manageable) amounts of honey and keep the wax to use too. I liked how Hemenway gives several reasons why top bar hives are better for the bees overall. There are also detailed illustrations about how to organize and move the top bars as the bees are filling out their comb. Overall, I think this is a good book about top bar beekeeping and I'm interested to try it out soon.
A quote I liked:
"The presence of the queen's pheromone in the hive is what provides the colony with a sense that all is well - beekeepers call that being queensright." (p. 34) [I had never heard that term before and just love it.]
A quote I liked:
"The presence of the queen's pheromone in the hive is what provides the colony with a sense that all is well - beekeepers call that being queensright." (p. 34) [I had never heard that term before and just love it.]
February 22, 2013
Excellent basic introduction to Top Bar Beekeeping. Really well done section on management of top bar hives as things progress through the season. You can tell that Ms. Hemenway is passionate about the top bar method of beekeeping but she does a reasonable job of not beating the reader over the head with philosophy and instead just lays out a case for the more "natural" approach to keeping bees.
July 20, 2013
I'd been interested in top bar beekeeping mostly because it seems a lot cheaper than traditional Langstroth hive beekeeping, but this book made a compelling case for it even if finances weren't an issue. I thought it was well-written, instructive, and didn't cross the line from thorough to intimidating. I hope to use it to install my own top bar hive some day.
July 22, 2013
One of the best books on beekeeping I've read. Hemenway is a proponent of top bar hives and her knowledge and experience come through in this book. Well worth the read!
December 23, 2019
Great practical info on top-bar-beekeeping, I especially liked the calendar of events and diagrams showing how to move the bars along as your hive grows.
It looses points though because of the guilt tripping and finger pointing that makes this so obviously a a book from the states. More inspiration, less fear, thank you.
Also, it puts a lot of things down as set-in-stone, but actually doesn't have the best advice around a few things. Such as observation windows... these kind of foster condensation and an unhealthy environment for your bees. Bees can tolerate just about anything, but first and foremost we are hive keepers, and it's our responsibility to make the hive the healthiest home we can!
It looses points though because of the guilt tripping and finger pointing that makes this so obviously a a book from the states. More inspiration, less fear, thank you.
Also, it puts a lot of things down as set-in-stone, but actually doesn't have the best advice around a few things. Such as observation windows... these kind of foster condensation and an unhealthy environment for your bees. Bees can tolerate just about anything, but first and foremost we are hive keepers, and it's our responsibility to make the hive the healthiest home we can!
February 21, 2023
Good general knowledge
I liked the detail of top bar keeping. I do wish there was more information on pests, but after reading another book I am wondering if there is more to tell.
Interesting information overall, and I recommend to anyone looking into beekeeping in a different way.
I liked the detail of top bar keeping. I do wish there was more information on pests, but after reading another book I am wondering if there is more to tell.
Interesting information overall, and I recommend to anyone looking into beekeeping in a different way.
January 18, 2024
A good introduction. It's not all encompassing as a beekeeping guide, but an interesting read if you are interested in the different ways bees are kept. I also didn't feel like the author ever fully explained why Top Bar Hives are the best. They mentioned positives, but I would've liked to see more comparison between different hive styles as support for their argument for Top Bar Hive keeping.
January 20, 2018
Excellent introduction into "natural" beekeeping in general, with specifics on top bar hive startup.
November 20, 2020
Good resource
January 5, 2016
If you are curious about beekeeping in top bar hives, Christy Hemenway (owner of Gold Star Honeybees, a beekeeping supply company and advocate for natural beekeeping practices) has written an excellent primer on the topic. She makes some good arguments for using top bar hives, not using preformed foundation, and natural treatments/preventatives for pests and illnesses. Beginning beekeepers would still benefit from taking a beekeeping class and some additional experience observing more experienced beekeepers working their hives. Equipment options for top bar hives are likely just as numerous and confusing as they are for those who use Langstroth-type hives, and Hemenway is quick to point that there are many ways to keep bees and every beekeeper has a different method.
“This book does its best to ease the bewilderment that I remember feeling when I decided I wanted to start beekeeping – and then discovered that if you asked 10 beekeepers a question, you were sure to receive 11 answers, many of them expressed vehemently, and in ‘no uncertain terms.’ As a novice, you hope for just one answer…the right answer – only to discover that there are a hundred ways to keep bees. (p. xi)
Coming to this as a beekeeper who has been using natural methods whenever possible with Langstroth-type hives, I found some of Hemenway’s observations very interesting – while I knew that bees made different sized cells for different kinds of brood, I didn’t know that the size mattered so much in terms of how long it takes for brood to develop. If it’s true that size matters and that smaller cells can mean brood that develops more quickly and gives the Varroa mite less opportunity to breed and wreak havoc on hives, then Hemenway raises a very important argument for allowing bees to design their own comb – from the top down – as in top bar hives – and not using any sort of foundation.
More seasoned beekeepers could also benefit from reading this, as it raises some good issues and may cause them to reexamine their beekeeping practices. We could all benefit from a less chemical-dependent and more bee-friendly world.
“This book does its best to ease the bewilderment that I remember feeling when I decided I wanted to start beekeeping – and then discovered that if you asked 10 beekeepers a question, you were sure to receive 11 answers, many of them expressed vehemently, and in ‘no uncertain terms.’ As a novice, you hope for just one answer…the right answer – only to discover that there are a hundred ways to keep bees. (p. xi)
Coming to this as a beekeeper who has been using natural methods whenever possible with Langstroth-type hives, I found some of Hemenway’s observations very interesting – while I knew that bees made different sized cells for different kinds of brood, I didn’t know that the size mattered so much in terms of how long it takes for brood to develop. If it’s true that size matters and that smaller cells can mean brood that develops more quickly and gives the Varroa mite less opportunity to breed and wreak havoc on hives, then Hemenway raises a very important argument for allowing bees to design their own comb – from the top down – as in top bar hives – and not using any sort of foundation.
More seasoned beekeepers could also benefit from reading this, as it raises some good issues and may cause them to reexamine their beekeeping practices. We could all benefit from a less chemical-dependent and more bee-friendly world.
February 20, 2016
Anybody thinking of raising bees using top bar hives should read this book. It walks you through all the steps you need to be a top bar hive beekeeper and has some well-summarized bee biology included as well that is helpful to know when raising bees. This book is a bit short on hive construction details but does include some. Christy Hemenway is the owner of Gold Star Honeybees and sells copies of plans for her version of top bar hives for $25 so she wouldn't want to give away all the secrets she has worked so hard to understand. There are very similar plans available online for free (e.g., The Barefoot Beekeeper) so that is not really an issue, but after reviewing a lot of those, I think Christy's have some unique features that likely make them worth purchasing. All and all an excellent book on beekeeping - just enough material so you can get out and get your own hive set up and running but not so much detail that you are overwhelmed.
February 14, 2013
The book is a nice introduction to top bar beekeeping and nice for beginners, however, it feels like too much of an advertisement for Gold Star Hives (the author's company(. It does have great info on what to do throughout the season and I would say this is the best part of the book, except you will have to adapt the info if you use an end entrance since the author encourages a center entrance. Still, nice read but I wouldn't rush out to buy it (I read a library copy).
July 12, 2025
As a third-year beekeeper who works with Langstroth hives, this was a great book to refresh my knowledge and learn about topbar beekeeping. There were some things Hemenway mentioned that should be emphasized as anecdotal (ie. local honey helping seasonal allergies, apitherapy helping medical conditions), but I really resonate with her minimally invasive beekeeping approach.
February 14, 2016
This book focuses first on the bees and what is more natural / healthful for them. The explanation of top bar beekeeping and the overview of what to expect from day one of installing a package of bees was well done and very clear.
April 24, 2016
Great resource with comprehensive assistance for those taking on a top bar hive.
August 16, 2016
This is a fantastic book for anyone who is looking into top bar hives. This was so helpful I want to buy it, and that's saying a lot for a librarian!!
December 23, 2016
A great resource for top bar hives.
March 29, 2017
Helpful to see the mechanics of a top-bar hive. Would be interested in information on horizontal hives that use foundation instead of foundation-less.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews