Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 November 2008 20:20
A note from the Librarian
This month we have purchased our first new book for the Library (as opposed to donations of books which happens most months). Also added to the library this month is the highly rated teach yourself beekeeping book by Adrian Waring. The library book list is available on our web site. Please contact me should you wish to borrow any book.
| Title | Author |
| For the love of Bees (Brother Adam) | Bill, Lesley |
| For the love of Bees (Brother Adam) | Bill, Lesley |
| Beekeeping - a seasonal guide | Brown, Ron |
| Beekeepers Garden | Hooper, T & Taylor, M |
| Practical Bee Guide, The - (revised 1949!) | Digges, J |
| Philosophy and Practice of Beekeeping, The | Gregg, A |
| Bee-Keepers Guide, The | Herrod-Hempsall, W |
| Swarm, The | Herzog, Arthur |
| Health From Honey | Calder, Margaret |
| At the Hive Entrance | Storch, H |
| Guide to Bees and Honey | Hooper, Ted |
| Guide to Bees and Honey | Hooper, Ted |
| Plants and Beekeeping | Howes, F.N. |
| Plants and Beekeeping | Howes, F.N. |
| Bees | Korsholm, Pia |
| Practical Bee-keeping | Mace, Herbert |
| Practical Beekeeping | Mace, Herbert |
| Oilseed Rape and Bees | Calder, Alan |
| Bee Community, The | Metcalf, F |
| Basic Beekeeping | Meyer, Owen |
| Swarming of Bees ( Min of Ag Bulletin 206) | Min of Ag |
| Bees and Beekeeping | Pavord, A.V. |
| Queen and I, The | Weiss, Edward |
| Ants and Bees, How and why book of (childrens) | Rood, Ronald |
| Introduction to Bees and Beekeeping, An | Scottish Beekeepers Assoc |
| Introduction to Bees and Beekeeping, An | Scottish Beekeepers Assoc |
| Apiculture for Schools (childrens) | Stevens, Ken |
| Swarming, Its Control and Prevention | Snelgrove, L |
| Swarming, Its Control and Prevention | Snelgrove, L |
| Queen rearing | Snelgrove |
| Keeping Honeybees | Urquhart, J |
| The complete guide to Beekeeping | Morse, Roger |
| All About a Jar of Honey (childrens book) | Worthy, W |
| Living with Varroa Jacobsoni | Devon Apicultural Research Gp |
| Candle-making | Strose, Susanne |
| Teach Yourself Bee-keeping | Schofield, A |
| Background to Beekeeping | Waine, Allan |
| Royal Jelley | Stein, Irene |
| Starting Right with Bees | Root Company, Ohio |
| Practical Beekeeping and Honey Production | MacFie, D. T. |
| Garden Plants Valuable to Bees | I.B.R.A. |
| Beekeeping and the Law - Swarms and Neighbours | Frimston, D - Smith, D |
| Bees, Wasps and Ants - a field guide | Zahradnik, J |
| Bees of the World | O'Toole, C and Raw, A |
| Beekeeping, Penguin Handbook | Clark, Kenneth |
| Honey ( National Trust) | Norman, Jill |
| Red Sky at Night - weather sayings for all seasons | Currie, Ian |
| Candlemaking and decorations - step by step guide | Janitch, Valerie |
| Bees: vision, chemical senses and language | von Frisch, Karl |
| Profitable Beekeeping | Croft, Dr Laurie |
| Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey | Brother Adam |
| Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey | Brother Adam |
| Legend of the Hive | Owsianka, Maria |
| A Manual of beekeping | Wedmore, E.B. |
| Art of Beekeeping, The | Hamilton, William |
| Art of Beekeeping, The | Hamilton, William |
| Teach Yourself Beekeeping | Vernon, Frank |
| Recipies Using Beeswax | Calder, Margaret |
| Keeping Bees | Beckley, Peter |
| The Golden Throng | Teale, Edwin way |
| Queen rearing | Laidlaw and Eckert |
| Beekeeping up-to-date | Tinsley, Joseph |
| Beekeeping for beginners and others | James, E.L.B. |
| A Bee Melody | Brown, Herbert |
| Bees at the bottom of the garden | Campion, Alan |
| Beekeeping up to date | Flower, A.B. |
| Beekeeping The Nevis Way | Henderson, Quentin |
| A Case of Hives | Heath, L. |
| The Honey Bee around & about | Davis, Celia F |
| The Honey Bee around & about | Davis, Celia F |
| Beekeeping Study notes for the BBKA cert in Bee Husbandry | Yates, D.D. & B.D. |
| Bees | Dawson, Robert |
| Breeding Better Bees | Dews, John & Milner, Eric |
| The Dark European Honey Bee | Ruttner, Milner, Dews |
| Breeding techniques & selection for breeding of the honeybee | Ruttner, Friedrich |
| Honeybees of the British Isles | Cooper, Beowulf |
| Sweetness and Light | Hattie Ellis |
| Hive, The | Bee Wilson |
| Beekeeping Study notes for the BBKA cert modules 1-4 | Yates, D.D. & B.D. |
| Beekeeping Study notes for the BBKA cert modules 5-8 | Yates, D.D. & B.D. |
| Beekeeping | Andrew Davies |
| Beekeeping | Andrew Davies |
| Bees at the bottom of the garden | Campion, Alan |
| Aspects of sociality in insects | Carreck & Johnson |
| Varroa The serial Bee killer mite | Fernandez & Coineau |
| Swarming of Bees ( Min of Ag Bulletin 206) | Min of Ag |
| World of a Beehive, The | Powell, John |
| Honey Identification | Sawyer Rex |
| Anatomy of the Honey Bee | Snodgrass R.E. |
| Dictionary of Biology | Thain & Hickman |
| Teach yourself beekeeping | Waring, Adrian |
| Bee World | |
| Beekeeping Study notes for the BBKA basic certificate | Yates, D.D. & B.D. |
Book review
Swarming of Bees - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
With May just around the corner the perennial challenge of swarm control is about to come around again. For me this will be the first time! Consequently I have been reading up on swarming to try and make sure that I am as prepared as possible for the inevitable! I feel that this slim M.A.F.F. leaflet provides both interesting background and helpful information on swarming.
First published in 1970 the leaflet still has much relevance today. It covers all aspects of swarming from interesting theories on the origin of swarming behaviour through to very practical advice on prevention, detection and control.
Swarming theories are examined and conditions such as hive or brood nest congestion, surplus of wax making bees, drone numbers and queen substance are considered as triggers of swarming. The season, the district, bee strain, shade, ventilation, queen age, bee keeper 'manipulations', colony size, the state of the 'flow' and the weather are all discussed as predisposing influences on the swarming urge.
The leaflet provides very comprehensive coverage of the theory, science and management practicalities of swarming, whilst being interesting, clear and concise in its presentation of the issues. The whole publication is only 38 pages long so it is relatively easy to read providing a profitable return for the limited effort required.
April 2006
Legend of the Hive - Maria Owsianka
I noticed that our Chairman chose this book as his raffle prize at the Surrey Bee day so thought I would give it a go and was not disappointed. It is not typical of books about bees; being less 'bookish' than any other book you could pick up on the subject. It is a fictional tale of the life of an individual bee through the early part of the summer. It accurately covers many of the aspects of the bee's life cycle but in a uniquely interesting way, from the other side of the mirror! The book is a highly entertaining way of learning about bees and their lives. It is also beautifully presented and easily read in an evening. It would be an ideal book to introduce someone to bee keeping. I have just passed it on to my 18 year old daughter to read. I think that she'll enjoy it and in the process understand a little more about the things at the bottom of the garden that I am spending so much time with.
May 2006
The Golden Throng - Edwin Way Teale
"Most of the beekeepers I have known have found that hours spent among their hives were calming hours. The pacific, steady murmur of the well-ordered hive, like rustling leaves or lapping water, like looking at the stars or distant mountains or the sea, brings a sense of peace." Edwin Way Teale.
There is a significant element of poetry in the Golden Throng by Edwin Teale. Teale has taken a scientific approach but has applied a romantic style that makes this book a pleasure to read. Teale makes his own observations backed up by copious references to various studies made on bees by notables such as Von Frisch (Bee communication) and Huber (Swarming, Queen mating) all of which are highly enlightening both from a practical and historical perspective. The book was first published in 1942 and is illustrated by the author's own photographs which despite being over 60 years old and in black and white are often excellent; the section on the queen from page 90 provides good examples. He includes a photographic postscript which I am sure will be fascinating for the aficionados amongst us. Despite the informative content in my opinion it is the poetic style of the writing that made this book particularly enjoyable. The book has quotes worth sharing on almost every page that inspire your imagination and make you glad to be a beekeeper.
If you have read a book about bees or beekeeping recently and want to share your views then please let me have a brief written review and I will make sure that it is shared with the division.
June 2006
Advice for Beekeepers - The British Beekeepers' Association
A couple of months ago Bob Maurer gave me a number of BBKA leaflet compilations containing advice for Beekeepers, called unsurprisingly 'Advice for Beekeepers'. It has taken me a couple of months to read it but once I got around to it I wasn't disappointed. It contains 11 advisory leaflets all previously published by the BBKA and now brought together in one collection. I found nearly all of the leaflets of direct benefit to me and a number that would have improved my Beekeeping this year had I have read them earlier. The leaflet on bees and neighbours for example would certainly have helped me when my bees took a liking to a piece of matting on a neighbour's decking that collected water. In addition there are excellent leaflets on keeping beekeeping records, on bee stings, preserving Beehives, selling honey as well as the expected information on swarm control and collection. This is not a large publication but it is very well directed and contains a lot of very useful and up to date information on key aspects of the hobby. The whole set of leaflets can easily be read in an evening and is interesting as well as very useful. We have a number available for loan if anyone is interested.
December 2006
A Case of Hives - Adrian Waring
A case of Hives is edited by Len Heath and contains contributions from a host of respected beekeepers including the editor. Each beekeeper makes the case for a particular hive design from the popular national and WBC through all the other Hives available, including the use of long hives and Skeps! For the new beekeeper it is an invaluable source of information on the different hive designs that should help with the key first decision of which hive to go for. For both beginners and the more experienced the book gives an interesting insight into the factors that should be considered when deciding what hive to use and the importance of particular choices for particular situations. For example the WBC has a distinct advantage in an exposed site where its double wall provides extra protection from driven rain and summer heat, the further north ones goes the requirement for a larger brood area declines with the weather, thus the preference for the Smith hive in Scotland. I was surprised that such reasonable cases could be made for most of the hive designs but always in the contact of particular circumstances. Effort necessary, climate, Queen strain, cost are all key factors when making the decision on a particular design. There are a couple of very interesting charts detailing the relative costs of hives and more interestingly the cost index per square inch of brood and super comb which reveal contrasting results on the cost of setting up an apiary with the different designs.
March 2007
The Honey Bee around & about - Celia David
The Celia Davis book is beautifully produced and is positioned so that I think it will appeal to Bee keepers of all levels. It is clearly presented, quite technical when it needs to be, but presented in a very digestible way and very much focused on those aspects of beekeeping that matter to us. Over one third of the book focuses on the health of honey bees, probably a reflection of the times. There are also very interesting chapters on aspects of Honey, flowers and evolution. It is also full of beautiful photographs on virtually every page.
Study notes for the BBKA Certificate in Beekeeping Husbandry - BD & DD Yates
This book should be of interest to everyone who has taken their Basic exam and is thinking of taking it further. Bee Husbandry is the logical next step up. The notes are available in the library so that anyone contemplating taking the exam can review the syllabus and get an idea of what will be required to pass the exam.
May 2007
Paul Cleaver May 2007
"Books and Videos" are available for loan. Please contact our Librarian
The Library will be available at our Apiary meetings periodically.