Now updated — your guide to becoming a successful backyard beekeeper

Interested in raising honey bees? This friendly, practical guide presents a step-by-step approach to starting your own beehive, along with expert tips for maintaining a healthy colony. You get the latest on honey bee medication and treatments, harvesting and marketing your honey, and the impact the sudden disappearance of the honey bee has on our environment and economy.

To bee or not to bee? — understand the benefits of beekeeping and whether it's right for you

Build your first hive — gather the right equipment, obtain your bees, and transfer them safely to their new home

Get up-close and personal — see how to open and close the hive, inspect your bees at the right times, and know what to look for

Handle common problems — from swarming to robbing to pesticide poisoning, find simple solutions

Understand Colony Collapse Syndrome — learn what you can do to help save the honey bees

Gear up for the golden harvest — use the tools of the trade to extract honey, store it, and sell it

Praise for Beekeeping For Dummies

"The information a beginner needs to keep bees with confidence."
— Kim Flottum, Bee Culture Magazine

"A reader-friendly guide to beekeeping for novices or beginners."
— Dewey M. Caron, Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware

Open the book and find:

The various types of honey bees and the role each plays in a colony

Hands-on instruction in building a hive

How to keep bees healthier and more productive

Guidelines for all phases of honey production

New information on raising your own queens

Plenty of helpful, illustrative pictures to guide you

The safest ways to inspect and enjoy your bees

A Beekeeper's Calendar organized by climate zones

ISBN: 978-0-470-43065-1
Paperback
384 pages
March 2009