Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees

by Norman Gary

Bee keeping isn't just for the professional farmer—bees can be kept in any situation from the simple backyard patio and garden to large expanses of farm land. This comprehensive and attractive beekeeping guide, from Hobby Farm Press, the same people who bring you Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home magazine, Beekeeping takes readers from finding their bees, housing them, collecting honey and using their produce for pleasure and possible profit. This colorful book, including entertaining chapters on the history of bees and beekeeping, serves as an extensive introduction to help novice beekeepers fully understand this exciting hobby!

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2010

Reviews

[Emily Mellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great, but I have to say it kind of left me wanting to read beekeeping for dummies, and I hate those books, but I almost want the info simplified. This book goes into so much detail, it is the embodiment of all I don't know about beekeeping. And I know it's not a book-learning kind of thing. We are totally inexperienced and, after reading this book, now I am intimidated. Of course David said if you have a mentor it's easy. We're ready to get started, but it's a lot of work. Maybe when the biggest house projects are done...
I think this book would be more useful for someone who already is comfortable with the basics and wants to delve in deeper.

[Maisie Iven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully engaging tone and great images! As other reviewers have pointed out, maybe not the best book for beginners—maybe pairing this with other research about bee keeping is in order! But a perfect intermediate level text!

[Chris Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid information but more geared towards beginners. And doesn't dig too deep.

[Nicole Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super informative book for the beginner! I read and reread chapters trying to absorb all the information… the more I learned, the more I realize there is to learn! Bees are truly incredible!

[Dante Carlisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever been interested in beekeeping this thing is chock full of information. Great book for a beginner beekeeper.

[Nate Jenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for beginners. This book was very helpful as we started our apiation (if that's a word). It lays a solid ground work for taking care of your hives.

There are 2 things to keep in mind.
1- You can get most of this info for free online, but this book puts it concisely in one place. To me, it's worth the money.
2- The author's experience seems to be in a climate much warmer than mine (Utah). Take what he says as general rules, but recognize you'll have your own ups and downs as you have to figure out how to change the general rules to your own situation.

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norman Gary has been working bees (and studying them) for over 60 years and this book he has written for the honey bee hobbyist offers a lot of valuable tips for folks who are just getting started keeping bees. He shares both a wealth of information (without scaring readers off) and his sense of humor (there are some very quotable moments in this book). Sharp photographs and detailed illustrations enhance the text. A good overview.

[Jen Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book after reading an article in the newspaper. I'm currently getting back into keeping a few chickens and thought I might enjoy trying something new. I feel a little discouraged after reading the first couple chapters. I can see that this project will take more than I can get from a book, but I am still hopeful that I may read this book slowly over the winter and see how I feel once spring gets closer. I also plan to visit a beekeeping store.

[Laura Gilfillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always wanted to know about beekeeping, and I found this book a fascinating and entertaining read. It was really interesting to learn about the bees' life cycle, why they swarm, and how beekeeper's manage a hive in order to get honey. I'd like to see it in action sometime, but I can see that beekeeping is a lot of work, and something you have to experience in order to learn how to do well. But I already suspected that. I really loved the great pictures in this book too.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful book for a starting beekeeper. The author is a little bit corny at times in his attempt to add humor to a non-fiction book but the information is easy to understand with plenty of photos for you to review before checking your hive.

[Jason Houx · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first intro book to bee keeping - certainly a good book to get you going on the lingo to bee keeping more to follow so seeing how this is my first deep read i'm not sure how to rate it. lots of pictures to help visualize the topic and understand where to go for further reading.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has me excited for the spring! The author is clearly well educated on the topic (and you can be reassured of this by reading his profile) and the text is easy to understand with valuable photos and graphics. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in bees and beekeeping!

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great layout packs lots of information from biology to keeping. Helpful and well done.

[Cathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unable to finish this book due to e-reader issues. The first 2/3 of the book were very informative and had good illustrations and photographs. Good for a new beekeeper.