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The Backyard Beekeeper, 5th Edition: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden – Natural beekeeping techniques – New Varroa ... for recordkeeping and maintenance
Enjoy the time-honored tradition of beekeeping in your own backyard or urban rooftop with this accessible resource for beekeepers of all skill levels, now in its 5th edition.
More than a guide to beekeeping, The Backyard Beekeeper features expert advice
New in this
In addition to content updates to reflect the most recent research and technology in beekeeping, the book features a new design with larger, easier-to-read text, many new photos, and a more easily navigable structure.
With this complete reference and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor emeritus Kim Flottum , your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.
More than a guide to beekeeping, The Backyard Beekeeper features expert advice
New in this
In addition to content updates to reflect the most recent research and technology in beekeeping, the book features a new design with larger, easier-to-read text, many new photos, and a more easily navigable structure.
With this complete reference and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor emeritus Kim Flottum , your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.
256 pages, Paperback
Published February 27, 2024
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20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 29, 2025
Fantastic introduction for new keepers. Especially liked the section on IPM for varroa and plan to add some of the non-chemical prevention techniques in to my second year repertoire along with my OAV.
February 25, 2024
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Backyard Beekeeper, 5th Edition is a well written easy to understand reference for beekeeping by (sadly recently departed) Kim Flottum. Due out 27th Feb 2024 from Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 256 pages (paperback) and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. Material originally published in 2005, this is an updated and reformatted re-release.
The author is an experienced beekeeper and USDA researcher and this book is full of well thought out and sensible advice for sustainable and successful beekeeping from starting to more advanced techniques. The book is divided into chapters: an introduction with the main concepts and anatomical features of honeybees, along with the tools & supplies in the apiarist's toolbox, detailed housing needs, lots of info on honey, troubleshooting and problems, beeswax, and a lot of good info on best practice.
The photography throughout is in color and is very clear and professionally rendered. The photo captions are easy to understand and relevant. The information here -could- be used to get started with beekeeping in the absence of a tutor or more experienced beekeeper friend, however, it's always recommended to cultivate resources and friends in the beekeeping community (we *love* bees and "newbees") and beekeepers are generally the most helpful people to be found and love sharing the hobby with others.
The author/publisher have also included a short resources and links lists aimed mostly at readers located in North America, as well as a cross-referenced index.
Beekeeping is such a rewarding and fascinating hobby and improving the health of our own biodiverse environment aids everyone from locally to globally. This is an information dense and layman accessible guide. It would make a good selection for public or school library use, home/smallhold library, makers groups, allotment and community garden groups, and similar.
Four and a half stars. Very well done.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Backyard Beekeeper, 5th Edition is a well written easy to understand reference for beekeeping by (sadly recently departed) Kim Flottum. Due out 27th Feb 2024 from Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 256 pages (paperback) and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. Material originally published in 2005, this is an updated and reformatted re-release.
The author is an experienced beekeeper and USDA researcher and this book is full of well thought out and sensible advice for sustainable and successful beekeeping from starting to more advanced techniques. The book is divided into chapters: an introduction with the main concepts and anatomical features of honeybees, along with the tools & supplies in the apiarist's toolbox, detailed housing needs, lots of info on honey, troubleshooting and problems, beeswax, and a lot of good info on best practice.
The photography throughout is in color and is very clear and professionally rendered. The photo captions are easy to understand and relevant. The information here -could- be used to get started with beekeeping in the absence of a tutor or more experienced beekeeper friend, however, it's always recommended to cultivate resources and friends in the beekeeping community (we *love* bees and "newbees") and beekeepers are generally the most helpful people to be found and love sharing the hobby with others.
The author/publisher have also included a short resources and links lists aimed mostly at readers located in North America, as well as a cross-referenced index.
Beekeeping is such a rewarding and fascinating hobby and improving the health of our own biodiverse environment aids everyone from locally to globally. This is an information dense and layman accessible guide. It would make a good selection for public or school library use, home/smallhold library, makers groups, allotment and community garden groups, and similar.
Four and a half stars. Very well done.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
December 27, 2023
As expected, when you get to the 5th edition of a book, you get close to perfection. This book is full of information, easy to understand, logical and with great illustrations. If you have any interest in beekeeping, this book is a must-have.
February 13, 2024
A good book with great information on how to keep books. I will be referring to this one often when we decide to start our journey into beekeeping. The photos are very helpful as well.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC
March 22, 2024
Amazing beginner handbook. This answered so many questions as we look to set up our first beehive. We're feeling more confident and like we have a great tool on our side with this book on our shelf.
June 20, 2024
I don’t normally review the textbooks I read but this is extremely helpful if you’re interested in having your own hives in your home/backyard
February 23, 2025
Good read, great detailed info, didn’t have as many easy digestible quick reference guides as I wanted.
July 26, 2025
Comprehensive book on beekeeping, super in depth on threats and risk to the hive and touches on the subjects of history, hive structures, bee activity, and tools.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews