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Beginning Beekeeping: Everything You Need to Make Your Hive Thrive!
Learn everything you need to know to start your colony with this straightforward, highly visual guide for beginning beekeepers.
Featuring more than 120 color photos, Beginning Beekeeping will teach any beginner how to foster and maintain healthy, vibrant colonies. You’ll learn how to set up a colony and attract bees, how to incorporate best practices and techniques for keeping colonies strong, and how to troubleshoot and treat a broad range of common hive issues. Along the way, you’ll learn how to harvest your honey and keep your bees healthy and happy.
Included in Beginning
· Practical information on how a hive works, how and where to set up hives for maximum success, buying and installing bees, feeding bees, and more, with recommendations for both urban and rural settings
· Effective treatment recommendations for dealing with common hive pests and diseases including mites, foulbrood, and colony collapse disorder (CCD), with recommendations for both conventional and organic treatments
· Tips for dealing with common hive issues such as swarming, robbing, absconding, as well as guidance for managing aggressive hives and tips for keeping a queenright colony
· Instructions for enjoying rich, bountiful honey harvests, and instructions for processing and storing the honey and wax from your hives, as well how to make products from your harvest
· Seasonal guidance to ensure your hives return healthy and strong each and every year
If you’re new to beekeeping, Beginning Beekeeping is the perfect companion to get you started!
- GenresNonfictionScience
192 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2017
67 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 18, 2019
A great introduction to beekeeping!
December 22, 2019
Very useful guide. I will go back and re-read sections as I go through the seasons with my bees.
July 31, 2018
Not Particularly Helpful To This Newbie
I'm pretty disappointed with this book. It should be geared to me. I want to start raising bees in the next few years on my small organic farm. A friend gave me a book (he wants the honey we eventually hope to have) 'Beekeeping For Dummies' that I have yet to read (so many books, so little time). Prior to that I purchased a book by Storey Publishing 'Homegrown Honeybees'. Now I have this book by Tanya Phillips.
What I don't like, is that as a total newbie, who is pretty much clueless regarding raising bees, I was more often than not confused by this book. The main reason was the author discusses certain aspects of bee keeping & on the page is lots of colorful photos regarding bee keeping. While reading I often wondered like, "Is this picture of the frame being discussed or the other kind?", Is this a picture of what is being discussed on this page or is it just for looks?" In all fairness some of the photos are clearly identified, but far too many left me scratching my head. I found this book mostly confusing. It feels more like a big fat magazine filled with glossy pages & photos, but not enough info.
I did learn a few things, but not anywhere near enough. I found it odd that powdered sugar is considered a chemical treatment. I don't know if this is the authors opinion or if it is considered so by the bee keeping community in general.
Also, the books literally stinks. I don't know what type of ink was used, but it is very unpleasant.
As a newbie to another newbie, I suggest you give this a pass if you are seriously considering raising bees. If on the other hand, you just want to dream about raising bees & want to read about it, then, you may enjoy this book. To the newbie who is planning raising bees, I highly recommend 'Homegrown Honey Bees' by Alethea Morrison. The photos in the book are clearly labeled & it is very easy to understand.
With all the books available on beekeeping, I really don't see any reason to get this book... unless you want to look at pictures of beekeeping that is.
I'm pretty disappointed with this book. It should be geared to me. I want to start raising bees in the next few years on my small organic farm. A friend gave me a book (he wants the honey we eventually hope to have) 'Beekeeping For Dummies' that I have yet to read (so many books, so little time). Prior to that I purchased a book by Storey Publishing 'Homegrown Honeybees'. Now I have this book by Tanya Phillips.
What I don't like, is that as a total newbie, who is pretty much clueless regarding raising bees, I was more often than not confused by this book. The main reason was the author discusses certain aspects of bee keeping & on the page is lots of colorful photos regarding bee keeping. While reading I often wondered like, "Is this picture of the frame being discussed or the other kind?", Is this a picture of what is being discussed on this page or is it just for looks?" In all fairness some of the photos are clearly identified, but far too many left me scratching my head. I found this book mostly confusing. It feels more like a big fat magazine filled with glossy pages & photos, but not enough info.
I did learn a few things, but not anywhere near enough. I found it odd that powdered sugar is considered a chemical treatment. I don't know if this is the authors opinion or if it is considered so by the bee keeping community in general.
Also, the books literally stinks. I don't know what type of ink was used, but it is very unpleasant.
As a newbie to another newbie, I suggest you give this a pass if you are seriously considering raising bees. If on the other hand, you just want to dream about raising bees & want to read about it, then, you may enjoy this book. To the newbie who is planning raising bees, I highly recommend 'Homegrown Honey Bees' by Alethea Morrison. The photos in the book are clearly labeled & it is very easy to understand.
With all the books available on beekeeping, I really don't see any reason to get this book... unless you want to look at pictures of beekeeping that is.
March 29, 2018
Some of the info was very good, but as a beekeeper of 14 years and a beekeeping instructor, I found some serious problems with it.
My main problem with the book is that the author does not state clearly that this is beekeeping for Texas. I read her bio to discover that. The book assumes you will be keeping bees in Texas or a location with a similar climate, but doesn't state that explicitly. If a prospective beekeeper in a northern climate were to rely on this book, they would have problems, since many beekeeping management items are very tied to climate.
The info was very organized, and easy to read, yet a bit simplistic to the point of leaving out what I consider to be a fair amount of critical information for a new beekeeper.
The photos were mostly very good, with the exception of the laying workers picture which gives the reader absolutely no idea of what to look for to identify laying workers in a colony. There were also a few spots where the photo did not match what the photo was intended to illustrate.
The book includes a very good description of IPM, but it was towards the end of the book, after many descriptions of solutions to problems that did not follow IPM. I also question the author's categorization of some of the IPM treatments. For example, using powdered sugar to dislodge varroa mites sounds more to me like a mechanical intervention, but the author classified it as a chemical treatment.
I had many more concerns than this, but these are a representative sample. My advice? If you want to learn beekeeping, take a local class and read local books on how to keep bees.
My main problem with the book is that the author does not state clearly that this is beekeeping for Texas. I read her bio to discover that. The book assumes you will be keeping bees in Texas or a location with a similar climate, but doesn't state that explicitly. If a prospective beekeeper in a northern climate were to rely on this book, they would have problems, since many beekeeping management items are very tied to climate.
The info was very organized, and easy to read, yet a bit simplistic to the point of leaving out what I consider to be a fair amount of critical information for a new beekeeper.
The photos were mostly very good, with the exception of the laying workers picture which gives the reader absolutely no idea of what to look for to identify laying workers in a colony. There were also a few spots where the photo did not match what the photo was intended to illustrate.
The book includes a very good description of IPM, but it was towards the end of the book, after many descriptions of solutions to problems that did not follow IPM. I also question the author's categorization of some of the IPM treatments. For example, using powdered sugar to dislodge varroa mites sounds more to me like a mechanical intervention, but the author classified it as a chemical treatment.
I had many more concerns than this, but these are a representative sample. My advice? If you want to learn beekeeping, take a local class and read local books on how to keep bees.
June 8, 2018
My husband and I both would love to own a beehive or two when we finally get our own property, so I thought I’d look into what all it would take. I must say, reading this book has made me very excited to take on such a task. While I can’t weigh in on how good Tanya Phillip’s “tricks of the trade” are, the general knowledge she offers is thorough and presented in a very engaging way. I feel like I really learned a lot about bees and what it generally takes to be a beekeeper. Probably the bit of information I found most intriguing was that about the different types of man-made hives and their pros and cons. Through this new knowledge I realized the hive we had picked out to purchase wasn’t a good fit for us. We were originally planning to get a standard Flow Hive, however, reading this book made me realize we would not be able to collect beeswax from this hive. We have now decided the the Flow Hive Hybrid would best suit our needs as this combines a Flow hive and a Langstroth hive. Another great take-away from this book was “Bee Clubs” are a thing and something we’ll need to look into when we’re more serious about becoming beekeepers. Having area-specific experts and mentors will be priceless to keeping a thriving hive.
October 10, 2018
This was a decent book, for a non-beekeeeper like myself, but it had some serious flaws that could have been easily remedied with an extensive glossary. The author assumes the reader has some knowledge of beekeeping and so her vocabulary can be very confusing as seemingly basic things are not defined. Honey flow? Nectar flow? Foundation? Drawing a comb? Lots of photos and sidebars make the reading easier - but there aren't captions on all the photos and somethings are unclear. I don't think this book necessarily delivers on its subtitle, but it's a good start.
April 25, 2019
I picked this up at the library out of casual interest. I completely enjoyed the first few chapters that explained beekeeping and the life stages of bees in a palatable format. I felt I learned a lot about bees in a short time frame and was inspired to revisit the subject at a future date. I would give this 5 starts because I enjoyed reading it so much, but I would seek other resources if I were seriously endeavoring to keep bees. This seemed to provide a surface-level primer on the more technical aspects of beekeeping.
September 16, 2023
This book is a good basics to beekeeping. The first few chapters of bee history and all about the bees themselves was extremely interesting.
I originally wanted to explore beekeeping, but after reading this book it seems intimidating. It was educational but I still feel like I would need some first hand experience being able to help and learn on an experienced keepers hives. I wouldn't want to jump into beekeeping and not have that first hand experience.
It was a good starting point. The next will be to find a bee club and talk to the professionals.
I originally wanted to explore beekeeping, but after reading this book it seems intimidating. It was educational but I still feel like I would need some first hand experience being able to help and learn on an experienced keepers hives. I wouldn't want to jump into beekeeping and not have that first hand experience.
It was a good starting point. The next will be to find a bee club and talk to the professionals.
July 12, 2020
Really enjoyed this book! It's the first one I've ever read on beekeeping and I loved the easy to read layout with pictures and call outs. This is not a boring textbook.
The reason I didn't mark it as a five star is because sometimes the author switches from big picture to detailed abruptly, and it wasn't always easy to follow. Also, I was hoping for some details about production - how many hives do you need to make x pounds of honey or wax.
The reason I didn't mark it as a five star is because sometimes the author switches from big picture to detailed abruptly, and it wasn't always easy to follow. Also, I was hoping for some details about production - how many hives do you need to make x pounds of honey or wax.
March 7, 2024
Of All the Beekeeping books I checked out from library and have been given, this….by a landslide…is the BEEST!! I am actually going to purchase as it is a very specific guideline that covers so many topics that I wonder if there are situations I cannot find in practice that this book cannot solve. Most books begin with history and briefly brush over details and are rewrites of same generic info…but Tanya! I mean Tanya Phillips is one I would love to have as a mentor!!
April 9, 2018
Excellent book, packed with information. I needed to do some basic research on bees for an upcoming book, and this did the trick. I also too a beekeeping class at the local library. The most helpful parts of this book for me were the illustrations, which showed the different sections of beehives, and the thorough explanation of the bee life cycle. Great help!
July 25, 2019
I got this at the library. The pictures are gorgeous. I was hoping to try beekeeping as a hobby, but boy oh boy, it looks much more difficult than I thought. I shall have to be happy having a bee and butterfly garden for now
July 20, 2017
An excellent starter book! I'm seriously tempted. It's remarkable how such an intricate species' system works...a delightful excursion into something quite foreign.
May 17, 2018
Concise and basic. Beautiful pictures. Great for beginning beekeepers.
June 22, 2019
Even as a moderately experienced beekeeper this book proved somewhat helpful. I thought it was well done, organized, and concise as a simple accessible book about beginning beekeeping.
July 3, 2021
Great book with good and easy-to-read information about getting started with beekeeping! Love the recipes for making fondant and sugar boards for winter feeding.
March 23, 2022
Overall good beginner bee book. Last chapter really useful, broken down by season. Good information to go back to.
May 4, 2022
It was a decent intro to beekeeping, but needs more terminology explained. Still have a ton of unanswered questions.
April 13, 2023
Very well done introduction to beekeeping. Will need to read this one again!
August 24, 2025
The prophecy is beeing fulfilled
July 1, 2020
For someone who doesn't know anything about Bees, I was astounded by the amount of information this book contained... And for such a relatively small book compared to some others, the amount of information was massive.
It contains information on different types of Hives that are available, how to garden for your Bees (in that you're building a garden to help sustain them), how to buy Bees or attract local swarms to your hives, record keeping, maintenance, and... Well... Pretty much any of the basics that you need to know. What I think is most interesting, though, is that the beginning of the book starts out by simply educating the reader about Honeybees, what they are, their stages of development, what they eat, and more.
Really, there is so much information in this book- all accented by gorgeous full color images- that it's hard to put down even from a recreational reading standpoint.
It contains information on different types of Hives that are available, how to garden for your Bees (in that you're building a garden to help sustain them), how to buy Bees or attract local swarms to your hives, record keeping, maintenance, and... Well... Pretty much any of the basics that you need to know. What I think is most interesting, though, is that the beginning of the book starts out by simply educating the reader about Honeybees, what they are, their stages of development, what they eat, and more.
Really, there is so much information in this book- all accented by gorgeous full color images- that it's hard to put down even from a recreational reading standpoint.
November 8, 2022
Great information that is presented well, but it is a bit overwhelming. Probably better as a reference book than something to read in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews