My introduction to beekeeping was a 2 day course run by Beverley Beekeepers Association in 2010, they recommended we read Bees At the Bottom Of The Garden by Alan Campion. I'd already started reading Get Starting In Beekeeping though so decided to finish that first. Bees At The Bottom Of The Garden (which I'm now going to call BATBOTG because in these RSI concious times I'm not going to type that lot anymore than I need to) seems to be pitched at a slightly simpler level than Get Started In Beekeeping (GSIB!) and so may be an easier read or it may be that it was less new to me having read the other book first.
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| The start of many a journey |
BATBOTG certainly has more images than GSIB with a large number of illustrations and black and white photographs for those who like to look at pictures, although not all of them do say a thousand words and many are there for aesthetic rather than instructional reasons. The book starts with a little information on bee biology then goes onto explaining the components of a hive, then it takes you through the beekeeping year including extracting the honey, before going into a bit more detail about oil seed rape, managing swarming and bee diseases. It probably does tell you enough to keep your own bees but a bit more reading and internet research would be an idea -that said I don't imagine anyone's likely to read a single book then run out to buy some bees.
Originally published in 1984 and reissued in 1990 the copy I got hold of was revised in 2000, published in 2001 and seems to be the latest version. Just like other books I've read it has a year planner for beekeepers telling you more or less what you should be doing in any given month -which in January is not a lot. Worth a read, definitely a good starting point for anyone wanting bees in their garden and if you want to learn more afterwards you can go to something more in depth like Ted Hooper's Guide to Bees & Honey which seems to be something of a beekeeper's bible at the moment.
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