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Since varroa arrived in Europe and America in the 1980's, most beekeepers have found it necessary to treat their colonies with chemicals in order to avoid heavy colony losses. But a minority of beekeepers have managed to care for their colonies without the use of chemicals and have done so with not just tolerable colony losses, but with losses that…
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Native stingless bees are one of nature's most wonderful gifts. Our passion is native beekeeping, and we enjoy making it easy for others to gain the knowledge and confidence to look after and be enriched by these fabulous little creatures. This is the sole purpose for preparing this guide. Based on my own years of experience and those of my…
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ZEST (Zero Energy SusTainable) "Beekeepers require a user friendly hive that helps the bees keep warm in Winter, stops them ver heating in the Summer and reduces the risk of varroa and bee related diseases. It must be economical to buy, easy to construct, have minimal maintenance and storage issues, be a hive that is sustainable, that gives the bees…
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"I commend this book to not only experienced beekeepers who would like to transition to a more bee-friendly approach, but also beginners who, while having access in some form to instruction about basic beekeeping, do not want to be steered into the conventional, mechanistic apiculture that new generations of beekeepers are increasingly finding unsatisfactory." David Heaf - Author of The…
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A basic introduction to alternative forms of beekeeping practiced by some apiarists in the Lune Valley, Cumbria, UK. www.lunevalleybeekeepers.co.uk The notes in this booklet are intended for beekeepers who have some knowledge of conventional beekeeping but wish to explore less intensive and more bee friendly approaches. I have been keeping bees for 20 years and was initially trained as a…
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A topbar hive is both ancient technology and newfangled trend. The main reason this "back-to-basics" hive is finding new supporters is its more natural approach to keeping bees and the novel concept of stepping back and allowing honeybees to make more of the hive decisions themselves. A topbar hive is, in itself, "thinking outside the box", not only because of…
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These lectures were given by Rudolf Steiner to the workmen employed on the building of the Goetheanum. For some years Rudolf Steiner had almost every week devoted an hour to the spiritual welfare of those who laboured, whether as masons, smiths, plasterers or joiners, etc., in the erection of the building he had planned. They were an expression of the…
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1 Years Subscription – Print Edition, 4 Issues mailed to your door. Current issue No.3 Summer 2020. Northern Bee Books has been appointed the UK agents for this new American 100 page quarterly magazine. The magazine deals with all aspects of pollination and pollinators, of vital interest to this world. Subscribe today and learn more about our diverse pollinators and…
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This book is the first general overview of beekeeping and the honey trade in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Adamaoua Region of Central Cameroon. In the book you will find a detailed ethnographic account of the manifold connections between humans, bees and honey. The book is aimed at the academic community, as well as at beekeepers…
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In five decades entomologist Dr. Larry Connor has been a university professor, run a bee-breeding program and become established as a key voice in the beekeeping world. He has written dozens of articles for bee journals and a number of books, including Increase Essentials, Bee Sex Essentials, Queen Rearing Essentials, Bee-sentials: A Field Guide, Swarm Essentials (with Steve Repasky), and…
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Paolo Fontana's book was first published in Italian in 2017. It has, I understand, sold several thousand copies which is quite remarkable for a specialist book on bees. I have had a career spanning academia, education and publishing. It is not surprising, therefore, that I have done a lot of reading and I love books. Indeed I still add to…
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Solitary bees and other beneficial insects need our help, not just on an international level but in every domestic garden, courtyard and balcony. Creating little homes for insects to lay their eggs in is a really easy way to help the insect population, and at the same time bring wildlife diversity and plant propagation to your outdoor spaces. This book…
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1 Years Subscription - 4 Issues mailed to your door. Issue No. 18 (2021) Inside this issue: • Tree Hollows, or the Creation of Natural Honeybee Habitats, Kaspar Klenet • Restoration of Old Apiaries in Spain, Norr • An Appreciation of Günther Manke, Gareth John • Arboreal Apiculture - a Phase Shift, Michael Thiele • Refuge Hives for Autonomous Honey…
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From building a hive to harvesting honey, a top urban beekeepers shows how to keep bees the simple way. Global bee populations have been rapidly declining for years, and it's not just our honey supply that's at stake: the contribution of bees to the pollination of various crops is essential to human survival. But even in industrial apiaries, bees are…
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With spectacularly beautiful colour photographs and an easily understandable text The Buzz about Bees tells the story of honeybees in a new perspective. Based on the latest data, notably from his own research group, Jürgen Tautz provides a wonderful insight into the realms of bees. “Whereas bee colonies were once seen as perfect societies of selfless workers and drones ruled…
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Jim Slade suggests a system of beekeeping, based on years of experience, which is natural, sustainable and economical. There are also constructional details for those who wish to make their own hives.
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This book is about the inner workings of one of nature's most complex animal societies: the honey bee colony. It describes and illustrates the results of more than fifteen years of elegant experimental studies conducted by the author. In his investigations, Thomas Seeley suggests the answer to the question of how a colony of bees is organised to gather its…
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Originally published in 1985 this book presents honeybees as a model system for investigating advanced social life among insects from an evolutionary perspective.
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"Honeybee Democracy is a wonderful book, beautifully written and illustrated, about humanity's greatest friend among the insects. The honeybee is important not only for its role in agriculture but for what it has taught us concerning the fundamental nature of complex social organisation. Seeley, its leading authority, here presents it to a broad readership, with scientific exactitude written in lyrical…
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Following the Wild Bees is a delightful foray into the pastime of bee hunting, an exhilarating outdoor activity that used to be practiced widely but which few people know about today. Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind this lost pastime and how anyone can do it.
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In recent years, beekeepers on several continents have been suffering heavy losses of colonies. If we, systematically investigate factors causing the losses, we can justifiably ask whether the way in which honey bees are kept is part of the problem. Could hive design, frames, foundation, intrusion, artificial queen breeding, drone suppression, queen excluders, artificial feeding, medication, transhumance and overstocking -…
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This inspiring, practical, clearly laid out book contains everything you need in order to build and run a Warré hive, Topics include tools, siting, obtaining and hiving bees, monitoring, feeding, wintering, enlarging the hive, harvesting and extracting honey with simple kitchen equipment. An ideal book for the aspiring natural beekeeper.
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"This is the most apicentric book on natural beekeeping that I have read .. Throughout the book she lets the bees speak for themselves as they tell us about things hitherto hidden from us, things which could provide a source of inspiration for research far into the future." David Heath (Author The Bee-Friendly Beekeeper & Natural Beekeeping with the Warré…
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In this work, the author explains his own use of a particular pattern of long hives which he has made to his own design, but which is derived from standard lines. The hives have been in use for ten years, which some bee keepers will say is not long enough to prove its efficiency. However, many different systems have been…
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'This is an excellent guide for hobby beekeepers who wish to keep bees using top-bar hives. Drawing on his more than thirty years of beekeeping experience in New Mexico, author Les Crowder describes in detail the special comb-management techniques that this low-cost, but relatively intense, form of beekeeping requires. Top- Bar Beekeeping also provides an eloquent appeal for beekeepers to…
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"Natural Beekeeping is a wonderful book, beautifully written and illustrated, about how one can have healthy hives of bees without using synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, or artificial diets. Ross Conrad explains in fine detail that the key ingredients of organic beekeeping are disease- resistant stock, favourable apiary sites, and good colony management, plus a reverence and respect for the bees." -…
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The Feminine Monarchie is an early and remarkable work of English natural history, first published in 1609, and written by a scholarly country parson of wide ranging interests. Like the later Gilbert White of Selborne, a distant relation, Charles Butler had a deep curiosity about the natural world and recorded his discoveries methodically, in keeping with the growing scientific mood…
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A hard back facsimile of Butler 1623. Charles Butler (1560-1647), sometimes called the Father of English Beekeeping, was a logician, grammarist, author, minister (Vicar of Wootton St Lawrence, near Basingstoke, England), and an influential beekeeper. He was also an early proponent of English spelling reform. He observed that bees produce wax combs from scales of wax produced in their own…
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Sensitive Beekeeping means many things: beekeeping without fear and without veil, beekeeping for the sake of the bee rather than for profit, learning to answer your own question about beekeeping. The further you go with it, the more it means. It's completely transformative: physically, mentally, spiritually. You can start beekeeping this way from the very beginning, and you will improve…
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One of the great books of the last 50 years. An update on the works of Ribbans and Free, this title should be on the bookshelf of all beekeepers. A very readable volume. From ancient cave paintings of honey bee nests to modern science’s richly diversified investigation of honey bee biology and its applications, the human imagination has long been…
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Best Book Award National Agricultural Society, France Learn natural beekeeping from Europe's foremost beekeeping authority. Georges de Layens, inventor of the world's most popular horizontal hive, shares a lifetime of experience on how to: • get started in simplified beekeeping • choose the best hive model for you & your bees • manage your hives with just two visits per…
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Are you a beginner curious about bees, or a practicing beekeeper looking for natural alternatives that work? This book is for you! Fedor Lazutin, one of Europe's most successful natural beekeepers; shares an approach that is fun, healthful, rewarding, and accessible to all. Discover his unique insights on how to: • keep bees naturally without interfering in their lives; •…