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Books & Resources

The Laddingford and District Beekeepers has put together a collection of some great books to read, useful links and documents which are freely available.

Guide to Bees & Honey: The World's Best Selling Guide to Beekeeping
by Ted Hooper

This is the ideal guide for anyone wanting to start beekeeping and a revered reference book for experienced beekeepers. It includes information on all you need to know, including how to avoid swarms, plan requeening, or provide the colony with winter stores. It features key information on Varroa. It is copiously illustrated throughout. Fully revised and updated, this new edition of 'Guide to Bees and Honey' also presents expert advice for readers who plan to maintain a few hives for personal recreational use, as well as those who want to expand an existing colony into a commercial venture.

Keeping Bees (Green Guides)
by Claire Waring and Pam Gregory

Beekeeping is a fascinating and rewarding activity and is hugely important to the survival of our declining bee population, as much covered recently by the media. This attractive book offers practical and informative advice on how to get started, how to achieve and collect good harvests, beekeeping through the seasons, troubleshooting, queen rearing and more. It even suggests ways of encouraging bees for 'non-beekeepers'. Written by well respected experts Pam Gregory and Claire Waring, it provides accurate and reliable information on this increasingly popular pastime and is the ideal giftbook for the budding beekeeper.

Keeping Bees
by Vivian Head

Bees are an integral part of our environment, and by keeping your own you can contribute to their survival as well as ensuring a constant supply of tasty, nutritious honey. Packed with practical and professional advice, this book is an invaluable companion for anyone wanting to try their hand at keeping bees. It tells you all you need to know about this richly rewarding hobby, from choosing a breed and positioning your hive, to extracting honey and keeping disease at bay. Topics include: . Understanding bees . Beekeeping equipment . Getting your bees . Pests and diseases . Harvesting honey . Rearing queens

Beekeeping: A Seasonal Guide
by Ron Brown

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, as well as, of course, extracting and making the tastiest honey.

Practical Beekeeping
by Clive De Bruyn

Practical Beekeeping is the complete guide to the bee and its management. Topics covered include the bee and its environment; hives and other equipment; management of the apiary; and control of pests and diseases. Profusely illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned line illustrations, this book will be an invaluable addition to the bookshelf of anyone involved in beekeeping.

BBKA Guide to Beekeeping
by BBKA

Aimed at beginner beekeepers, and the only one to be endorsed by the BBKA, provides an authoritative text supported with clear photographs and illustrations. The BBKA Guide to Beekeeping introduces the reader to beekeeping, including topics on the workings of the colony, the structure of a hive, how to acquire bees and keep them healthy and what happens in each month in a beekeeping year. Each chapter is accompanied by anecdotes, answers to frequently asked questions and fascinating facts about bees and honey. The new edition includes new step-by-step sequences to illustrate procedures such as containing a swarm, identifying the queen, using a smoker and cleaning a hive as well as more information on different kinds of hives, disease management and many other key areas.

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