Beekeeping - A Seasonal Guide
Description
A charming and practical guide for anyone wishing to keep bees, accompanying the would-be beekeeper through every season of the bee-keeping year. From spring awakening and summer swarms to the autumn honey harvest and providing winter protection, this essential resource guides you each step of the way.
There is extensive advice for beekeeping beginners, from siting and smoking your hives to rearing a queen and controlling your swarm. There is also in-depth information for improvers and more experienced apiarists who wish to experiment with different hive-management and queen-rearing techniques. Troubleshooting tips on protecting your hives and keeping your bees healthy are also covered. The book is also packed with practical advice on using beeswax, and of course, extracting and making the tastiest honey.
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Content
- Cover
- Title
- Contents
- Beginning With Bees
- Why keep them?
- Bees and neighbours
- What to buy
- Drones, workers and queens
- Spring: The Great Awakening
- Spring management
- Beginners, second year (March)
- Beginners (April)
- Beginners, second year (April)
- Beginners (May)
- Early Summer: Much Ado
- Beginners (May and June)
- Improvers and experienced beekeepers
- Working for spring honey (improvers)
- Finding the queen
- Queen-rearing
- Making nuclei and raising queens (improvers)
- A mini-nuc system
- A simple two-queen system (not for beginners)
- Banking queens (not for beginners)
- Early Summer: Swarming
- What is swarming?
- Swarm control
- Making the most of a swarm
- Making an artificial swarm
- Taranov's swarm board
- High Summer: Long Days and Busy Bees
- Drones
- Working for honey in the comb
- Reading a comb
- First year beginners
- Supersedure
- Heather honey
- Autumn: The Annual Harvest
- Harvesting the crop (beginners)
- Harvesting the crop (improvers)
- Queen introduction
- Mead from cappings
- Ivy honey in October
- Bee driving
- Bees: final preparation for winter
- Autumn: Honey and Other Hive Products
- Honey
- Beeswax
- Pollen
- Propolis
- Bee venom
- Royal jelly
- Winter: The Cosy Cluster
- The bees in winter
- Beekeeping thoughts in winter
- Stockpiling materials
- Work for beekeepers in winter
- Making your own equipment
- Queen excluders
- Making products for sale
- Attending beekeepers' meetings
- The New Year: Health Checks and Bee Care
- Beginners (January)
- Experienced beekeepers (January)
- Emergency feeding (February)
- Liquefying honey
- Healthy honeybees
- On the horizon
- Apocalypse Now: Fighting Back
- Appendix
- Beekeeping advisory services
- Bees and the law
- Equipment and book suppliers
- Useful organizations
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Publications
- Index
- Copyright
