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In this easy-to-follow guide, Howland Blackiston, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on the subject, takes the mystery (and the sting) out of beekeeping. Taking a step-by-step approach to successful backyard beekeeping, he gets you up and running with all the information you need to:

• Build a hive
• Establish your first colony
• Inspect your hives with confidence
• Maintain healthy colonies
• Deal with pests and fix common problems
• Harvest and enjoy fresh homemade honey
• Bottle and market your honey

Howland Blackiston covers all the bases, from bee anatomy, society, and behavior, to identifying and healing common illnesses afflicting bees. He also offers inventive solutions to most common and many uncommon problems you’re likely to run into. Among other things, you’ll discover:

• Where to put your hive, basic equipment you’ll need, and how to assemble a hive
• The best and safest way to inspect and enjoy your bees
• Year-round tasks a beekeeper must perform to maintain a healthy colony
• How to recognize and deal with common problems with brood production and the precious queen
• How to harvest honey and decide what kind of honey you’d like to make
• Making products from beeswax and propolis

For both fun and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. A real honey of a book, Beekeeping For Dummies gets you on the road to enjoying this ancient, highly-rewarding, and oh-so-tasty hobby.

Average Customer Rating:

A Great Place To Start	Customer Rating:
This is an excellent resource for the aspiring beekeeper. No prior knowledge of the subject of beekeeping is necessary. This book is jam packed with great information, and does a great job of recommending other books if you are interested in learning about specific topics such as queen rearing, and observation hive building.

great beginners book	Customer Rating:
This book was very easy to understand, straight forward, great pictures! It took a lot of guess work out of beginning bee keeping. It is a must for anyone interested in apiculture! Great reference for years to come.

Detailed, Easy to Understand, Hopeful

Customer Rating:

If you're thinking of raising bees, this is the book to get. I had purchased three other "recommended" books, but this one leaves them in the dust. EVERYTHING is included: a little bit of bee biology, the parts of the hive, advantages and disadvantages of equipment materials and types, techniques for caring for the bees, and reassurances that your fears are experienced by all new beekeepers. I had already decided what equipment to get and have now revised my purchase order based on the information in the book. I suspect the quality of the book is a tribute to the author and not the publisher. The author's web site is full of useful information also.

Great learners guide.

Customer Rating:

This book is probably the most important book for anyone new to the hobby. Lots of great information on the entire aspect of beekeeping. It isn't for the person who already knows the general idea of beekeeping though. It was the first book I read about beekeeping and have found that the only other beekeeping books I would need would be books on detailed information on either medicating or raising queens or something of that nature.

Beekeeping fo dummies	Customer Rating:
This book has been very helpful, inasmuch as I am a new beekeeper. It is very thorough and easy to read.