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Beekeeping

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Philip Chandler“Be warned: if you start keeping bees and develop a real interest in them, it will be with you for life. And I doubt very much that you will regret it for a moment.” – Philip Chandler, author of The Barefoot Beekeeper

For thousands of years (possibly tens of thousands) man has plundered the hives of wild bees for their precious honey and beeswax.

9,000 years ago man started keeping bees in pottery vessels in North Africa. 4,500 years ago bees were domesticated in Egypt. On the walls of the sun temple of Nyuserre Ini from the Fifth Dynasty, before 2422 BCE, workers are depicted blowing smoke into hives as they are removing honeycombs.

And beekeeping continues to this day, where we now have developed hives that allow us to harvest honey without destroying the entire colony.

But bees are in decline. Since 2006 colony losses from Colony Collapse Disorder have been increasing across the world although the causes of the syndrome are, as yet, unknown. Could be all the pesticides and poison that mankind is releasing into nature, or it could be something else, either way the bees are dying at a disturbing rate. But we need them for our very survival because of their role in pollinating our crops.

It’s my hope that this list of resources can help you get started with beekeeping. The world needs more beekeepers. Why not you?

Here are some of the best resources I’ve found for learning more about beekeeping and how to get started.

General

How-to & Beehives

Books

Magazines

  • American Bee Journal – Established in 1861 by Samuel Wagner and has been published continuously since that time, except for a brief period during the Civil War.
  • Bee Culture Magazine – “The Magazine of American Beekeeping”

Beekeeping Supplies

Videos

A Short Overview of Beekeeping

More videos:


Taccuino Sanitatis

Beekeeping, tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (14th century)


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