In my last article, I have discussed where and how to learn beekeeping for beginners. In that article, I mentioned beekeeping books are one of the ways to learn beekeeping. So, in this article, I will discuss with you “the 4 best beekeeping books” to learn beekeeping.
Reading books related to bees and beekeeping is one of my favorite ways to enhance my knowledge of beekeeping. I have read more than 20 books related to bees and beekeeping.
From those books, I have chosen 4 best books on beekeeping. If anyone wants to learn beekeeping by reading books, hopefully, these 4 books will be the best option.
So, if you are a beginner and looking for the best beekeeping books to learn about beekeeping, you must read these 4 books. I will give a quick overview of these books.
Also, I am giving you the books in ascending order. So, you can start from the first book. When you are done reading the first book then read the second one and so on.
4 Best Beekeeping Books
First of all, you have to learn the lifespan and basic lifestyle of honey bees. You should know basic chemistry and biology going on inside a honey bee colony. That’s why you have to learn the biology of honey bees first, then you can move on to books related to beekeeping.
1) Biology of the Honey Bee – Mark L Winston
Our first pick is Biology of the honey bee by Mark L Winston. This is what I found very informative to learn about bees. This book broadly covers the following major topics.
- Evolutionary history of honey bees.
- Honey bee anatomy.
- Different honey bee nest architectures.
- Honey bee communication mechanisms.
- Role of queen, workers, and drone bees.
- Mating flights of queens and drones.
- Honey bee defense mechanism and collection of foods.
This book will give you a complete vision of how things go inside a honey bee colony. That’s why my first recommendation is that every beginner beekeeper should read this book first.
If you are interested in purchasing the book you can get it here (Amazon affiliate link).
2) The Beekeeper’s Handbook Paperback – by Diana Sammataro, Alphonse Avitabile
After getting knowledge about honey bees and their basic biology, you can move on to a book that shares the steps of starting your first honey bee apiary. There are a lot of books available for this. The one that is most suitable for beginners is “The Beekeeper’s Handbook Paperback” written by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile.
This book covers almost everything you need to know to kick off your beekeeping journey. The following major things are covered in this book.
- Learning honey bee colony activities.
- Accumulating the necessary tools to start your apiary.
- How to get your first bee package.
- How to transfer a package of bees to a full-sized hive.
- Feeding bees and taking care of bees.
- Queen rearing and requeening queenless hive.
- Bee diseases, pests, and parasites.
- Hive management for different seasons, etc.
This book will deliver you basic guidelines for managing the overall health of the colony. Also, shares techniques on how to winterize a hive. So, this will be a great one to learn the basics of beekeeping.
Purchase the book here (Amazon affiliate link).
3) Beekeeping For Dummies – David Wiscombe
This book is suitable for both beginners and those who want to learn advanced techniques of beekeeping. This book is great for teaching you how to get the maximum out of a beehive. Because this book covers honey extraction, bottling, and selling ultimate guide.
This book is mostly suitable for United Kingdom beekeepers. You will get step by step guide to start beekeeping. Besides the effects of honey bees various diseases and what to do.
The major topics covered in this book are:
- Honey extraction to selling guideline.
- Suitable location to place your apiary.
- Setting everything rightly for a healthy colony.
- Honey bee swarming behavior in different climates, etc.
This book is my 3rd recommendation for the best beekeeping books. Because you will learn some advanced level things here. So, first read the 2 books above then read this book.
I love the way the author explained everything in this book. Easier to understand and relate to. This is why this book is my top favorite book in beekeeping. Purchase the book now (Amazon affiliate link).
4) Collins Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, honey, recipes, and other home uses – Richard A. Jones, Sharon Sweeney-Lynch
This is the book that is a real treasure for commercial beekeepers. This book covers the most important things to make the most outcome from commercial beekeeping.
The major topics covered in this book are:
- History of beekeeping from the Ancient Era to the modern era.
- Managing hives in different circumstances.
- Ideas of different bee products.
- Production of a variety of bee products guide. (e.g. honey, recipes, candle, wraps, handcrafted bee products, etc)
- The ultimate guide to getting the maximum out of a hive.
This book has specially covered all commercial beekeeping techniques for Beekeepers in America. Beekeepers in the American region must read this book. It has all the quality information to generate maximum profit through commercial beekeeping.
Get the book now (Amazon Affiliate Link).
Frequently Asked Questions
Is beekeeping an expensive hobby?
Beekeeping is not going to be an expensive hobby if you want to go with a single hive. If you want to start commercial beekeeping it might require some initial investment. Thus the expense of beekeeping depends on the purpose and scale of the production.
What is the most profitable bee business?
There are a lot of ways to earn money through bees and beekeeping. From my perspective rearing queens, and selling bee nuc is the most profitable bee business. If you have mobile apiary providing pollination service is also a good profitable bee business.
Is beekeeping a good side hustle?
Beekeeping is both a challenging and rewarding side hustle. Anyone of any age can start beekeeping as a side hustle. It is always preferred to learn the basics of beekeeping before starting your first colony.
Final Thoughts
Reading beekeeping books is an excellent way of learning beekeeping. But to learn beekeeping my recommendation is to join a local beekeeping community. They will teach you everything by hand.
Reading books is never a loss project. Reading books is an excellent way to enhance knowledge on any topic. So, whether you are in a beekeeping community or not, reading beekeeping-related books will always help to build a healthy honey bee colony.
Beekeeping is both challenging and rewarding as well. So, reading beekeeping books will help you to deal with different worst-case scenarios during beekeeping.
The 4 books discussed above are the best books that I have ever found in the literature of beekeeping. These books will guide you on how to requeen a hive, winterize a hive, queen rearing, feeding bees, bee disease, and everything you need to know to make the best outcome of beekeeping.
Following are the helpful research and articles that might be helpful for you.
- To get a cost estimation of beekeeping read this.
- Learn the benefits of beekeeping.
- A. Zacepins, V. Brusbardis, J. Meitalovs, and E. Stalidzans, “Challenges in the development of Precision Beekeeping,” Published: February 2015. Read the paper here.
- E. Crane, “The archaeology of beekeeping.” Read the book here.
- E. Crane, “Bees and beekeeping: Science, practice and world resources.” Read the book here.
- Best honey bee types for beginners.
