The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping

The buzz on beekeeping.

The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Beekeeping has all the information a beginning beekeeper needs to know to start a hive and keep it buzzing. Expert beekeepers Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer, owners of Golden Rule Honey, take readers step by step through the entire process-from information on the inhabitants of a hive and how it works to collecting bees, keeping them healthy, raising a queen, harvesting honey and wax, and storing hives for the off- season.

Customer Reviews:

The Only Treatment-Free Beekeeping Book

By Adam Schreiber - May 11, 2010

As a relatively new beekeeper interested in natural beekeeping methods I have been searching for a book like this for 2 years. The book is easy to read, very well written and best of all, it contains information that no other book on beekeeping contains. The concise information on small-cell beekeeping, unlimited broodnest, the importance of the microbial environment of the hive, and the general approach of treatment free management methods is all a breath of fresh air in a genre of books that usually advocates for unnecessarily micro-managing our hives and also dumping all kinds of unhealthy chemicals into our hives.

I congratulate the authors on writing a book that I will undoubtedly refer to over and over again as I continue to learn more about bees and beekeeping. I highly recommend this book - especially if you are just getting started with bees.

Essential guide for non-chemical beekeeping ...

By Robert MacKimmie - August 20, 2010

In an age of Roundup resistant weeds that are out of control in 13 states, staph infections from bacteria which are immune from any treatment and considered *killer* infections which breed in hospitals, and beef/chicken/swine production so dependent on anti-bacterial drugs that the animals are artificially surviving ----- this book offers beekeeping methods FREE OF CHEMICAL TREATMENTS. Bravo!

One chapter in the book, "Managing for long-term success," sums up why this book is different. For those of us who know that putting apistan and terramyacin in hives is just wrong and no longer effective, this book provides an entire management program (many different methods) for keeping bees naturally.

With so many ecosystems, (fisheries, forests, pollinators), crashing or becoming extinct, it's time that we start saving our planet's natural systems so that we might survive as a species. A school child asked a biologist when on a field trip, "What is your favorite... read more

Excellent Introduction to Beekeeping

By Erik H. Knutzen - May 5, 2010

What's great about this book is that it explains small cell, foundationless, no treatment beekeeping for beginners. It's the first book, that I'm aware of, to do so. I know from experience that these methods work well. I've also found these natural methods to be a lot less labor intensive than conventional beekeeping. A great book for beginners or for beekeepers thinking of switching over to natural methods.