Beekeeping Buzz: The Beginning Beekeepers Guide to Their First Hive

When I first got into beekeeping I went to Amazon and tried to pick out the books with the best reviews and most stars.This was one of them.I looked at it when it arrived and then put it aside. I took a five week course in beekeeping which uses Beekeeper's Handbook (4th edition) by Diane Sammatario, et al, got a mentor who guided me each step of the way ( contact your local or state beekeeper's society ), bought my equipment and two nucs.I also bought most of the classics in the field because when I get into something new I try to learn as much as I can from various sources.It has now been a little over one month that I have been working my bees.Recently, I picked up this book again and began to read through it. After five minutes I tossed it on the floor, vowing to never waste another moment on it again.The writing is poor, the organization and flighty commentary of the author incredibly self-serving. I now understand why I just couldn't get into this book. It had the air of a book that had been written on the fly solely for the purpose of producing yet another book on beekeeping.Since then I have found another book which just came out. It is Simple, smart beekeeping by Kirsten Traynor, PhD. Kristen and her husband, Michael, spent many years studying beekeeping, taking several courses, traveling the world over to learn from the best beekeepers. She actually went on to receive a PhD in bee biology and works at the University of Maryland.The purpose of this book is to help people like me who need to cut through all the BS and overly technical stuff and just get down to keeping bees.So I recommend that you skip Beekeeping buzz and go with the above book.

I am really lucky to purchase this book that has vast information and techniques to be a successful beekeeper. After reading this book I could identify my fault as a beekeeper. Thanks to the author who design this book with effective information where the young beekeepers easily understood and working this way. By this anyone can learn as a student and can be applied as a perfect worker. This book described details about how quickly getting started? Right equipments for starting, learning about keeping bees in an urban environment, the power of the queen bee, discover how to harvest your honey and much more. I think this one perfect for the teacher to be learned their students about this subject. Before starting your profession as a beekeeper you must read this book. You should not see this book price. You just think about your project value. Highly recommend to my honey friends!

This is a very informative book. There is a lot of good information. Not just a broad overview. If the author had included some diagrams or pictures, I would give it 5 stars. There were links to Web pages at the end of the book where you can see pictures but it would have been a lot easier to absorb/understand if there were diagrams/pictures accompanying the descriptions and instructions. However, don't let that stop you from checking out this book. You can learn a lot from it.

This is a good book if you are thinking of getting into beekeeping. I started my first hive last year and during a brief vacation my hive was destroyed when the wind lifted the lid and the entire hive was pillaged by who knows what. Preparing for a new start this year, the books I bought last year are in a box somewhere so I decided to buy a couple more books for my bee library. There is some great basic information here, enough to make me want more. There is a suggested reading list at the end of this book that will keep me busy for awhile.

I have read several beekeeping books. This is a great first read book. It gave me the confidence and know how to get started on my first hive, from selecting a breed, assembling the hive, colony dynamics, and diseases to be on the look out for. Highly recommended, and will keep for future reference.

This is little more than an essay on beekeeping. It mentions all the terminology, goes into some shallow depth of hives and their management, diseases, and verbal instructions on how to start your hive from a bee package. This a good start, but Ms. Wrinn needs to triple the information and add illustrations, and then she'll have a fine book on beekeeping.

While not all inclusive ( no beginners book should be ) this book is a good primer to get you going in the wonderful world of beekeeping. It also lists a number of good references for you to continue expanding your knowledge base.

Great primer that heavily shaped by author's direct experience. Friendly, encouraging tone, is conversational and straightforward. This was great "first round" of reading on the subject. The book provides a foundation for conversations with local practitioners to learn more about the specific regional considerations for beginning practice.

Informative

Great beginners book

Good information for anyone interested in having bees for a hobby or business. Libraries are a good source for information as well.

Very interesting book

It was very informative with lots of useful information; however, there should have been more pictures and illustrations. this would have greatly improve the quality of this book.