Bad Beekeeping

Bad Beekeeping PDF Author: Ron Miksha
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 9781412006279
Category : Bee culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A million pounds of honey. Produced by a billion bees! This memoir reconstructs the life of a young man from Pennsylvania as he drops into the bald prairie badlands of southern Saskatchewan. He buys a honey ranch and keeps the bees that make the honey. But he also spends winters in Florida swamps, nurse-maid to ten thousand dainty queen bees. From the dusty Canadian prairie to the thick palmetto swamps of the American south, the reader meets with simple folks who shape the protagonist's character - including a Cree rancher with three sons playing NHL hockey, a Hutterite preacher who yearns to roam the globe, a reclusive bee-eating homesteader, and a grey-headed widow who grows grapefruit, plays a nasty game of scrabble, and lives with four vicious dogs. Encompassing a ten-year period, this true story evolves from the earnest inexperience of the young man as he learns an art and builds a business. Carefully researched natural biology runs counterpoint to human social activities. Bee craft serves as the setting for expositions that contrast American and Canadian lifestyles, while exemplifying the harsh reality of a man working with and against the physical environment.

Bad Beekeeping

Bad Beekeeping PDF Author: Ron Miksha
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 9781412006279
Category : Bee culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
A million pounds of honey. Produced by a billion bees! This memoir reconstructs the life of a young man from Pennsylvania as he drops into the bald prairie badlands of southern Saskatchewan. He buys a honey ranch and keeps the bees that make the honey. But he also spends winters in Florida swamps, nurse-maid to ten thousand dainty queen bees. From the dusty Canadian prairie to the thick palmetto swamps of the American south, the reader meets with simple folks who shape the protagonist's character - including a Cree rancher with three sons playing NHL hockey, a Hutterite preacher who yearns to roam the globe, a reclusive bee-eating homesteader, and a grey-headed widow who grows grapefruit, plays a nasty game of scrabble, and lives with four vicious dogs. Encompassing a ten-year period, this true story evolves from the earnest inexperience of the young man as he learns an art and builds a business. Carefully researched natural biology runs counterpoint to human social activities. Bee craft serves as the setting for expositions that contrast American and Canadian lifestyles, while exemplifying the harsh reality of a man working with and against the physical environment.

The Quest for the Perfect Hive

The Quest for the Perfect Hive PDF Author: Gene Kritsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199798958
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Beekeeping is a sixteen-billion-dollar-a-year business. But the invaluable honey bee now faces severe threats from diseases, mites, pesticides, and overwork, not to mention the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes seemingly healthy bees to abandon their hives en masse, never to return. In The Quest for the Perfect Hive, entomologist Gene Kritsky offers a concise, beautifully illustrated history of beekeeping, tracing the evolution of hive design from ancient Egypt to the present. Not simply a descriptive account, the book suggests that beekeeping's long history may in fact contain clues to help beekeepers fight the decline in honey bee numbers. Kritsky guides us through the progression from early mud-based horizontal hives to the ascent of the simple straw skep (the inverted basket which has been in use for over 1,500 years), from hive design's Golden Age in Victorian England up through the present. He discusses what worked, what did not, and what we have forgotten about past hives that might help counter the menace to beekeeping today. Indeed, while we have sequenced the honey bee genome and advanced our knowledge of the insects themselves, we still keep our bees in hives that have changed little during the past century. If beekeeping is to survive, Kritsky argues, we must start inventing again. We must find the perfect hive for our times. For thousands of years, the honey bee has been a vital part of human culture. The Quest for the Perfect Hive not only offers a colorful account of this long history, but also provides a guide for ensuring its continuation into the future.

Encyclopedia of Entomology

Encyclopedia of Entomology PDF Author: John L. Capinera
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402062421
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 4346

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Book Description
This text brings together fundamental information on insect taxa, morphology, ecology, behavior, physiology, and genetics. Close relatives of insects, such as spiders and mites, are included.

Top-Bar Beekeeping

Top-Bar Beekeeping PDF Author: Les Crowder
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584625
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Top-Bar Beekeeping is an offering designed to encourage beekeepers around the world to keep bees naturally by providing beekeeping basics, hive management and the utilization of top-bar hives. In recent years, beekeepers have had to face tremendous challenges, from pests, such as varroa and tracheal mites, to the mysterious but even more devastating phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Yet in backyards and on rooftops all over the world, bees are being raised successfully, even without antibiotics, miticides, or other chemical inputs. More and more organically-minded beekeepers are now using top-bar hives, in which the shape of the interior resembles a hollow log. Long lasting and completely biodegradable, a top-bar hive made of untreated wood allows bees to build comb naturally rather than simply filling prefabricated foundation frames in a typical box hive with added supers. Top-bar hives yield slightly less honey but produce more beeswax than a typical Langstroth box hive. Regular hive inspection and the removal of old combs helps to keep bees healthier and naturally disease-free. Top-Bar Beekeeping provides complete information on hive management and other aspects of using these innovative hives. All home and hobbyist beekeepers who have the time and interest in keeping bees intensively should consider the natural, low-stress methods outlined in this book. It will also appeal to home orchardists, gardeners, and permaculture practitioners who look to bees for pollination as well as honey or beeswax.

The Golden Age of Homespun

The Golden Age of Homespun PDF Author: Jared Van Wagenen, Jr.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801475986
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The Golden Age of Homespun chronicles the occupations, handicrafts, and traditions that defined rural life in upstate New York--and throughout much of America--in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The Tears of Re

The Tears of Re PDF Author: Gene Kritsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199361401
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
According to Egyptian mythology, when the ancient Egyptian sun god Re cried, his tears turned into honey bees upon touching the ground. For this reason, the honey bee was sacrosanct in ancient Egyptian culture. From the art depicting bees on temple walls to the usage of beeswax as a healing ointment, the honey bee was a pervasive cultural motif in ancient Egypt because of its connection to the sun god Re. Gene Kritsky delivers a concise introduction of the relationship between the honey bee and ancient Egyptian culture, through the lenses of linguistics, archeology, religion, health, and economics. Kritsky delves into ancient Egypt's multifaceted society, and traces the importance of the honey bee in everything from death rituals to trade. In doing so, Kritsky brings new evidence to light of how advanced and fascinating the ancient Egyptians were. This richly illustrated work appeals to a broad range of interests. For archeology lovers, Kritsky delves into the archeological evidence of Egyptian beekeeping and discusses newly discovered tombs, as well as evidence of manmade hives. Linguists will be fascinated by Kritsky's discussion of the first documented written evidence of the honeybee hieroglyph. And anyone interested in ancient Egypt or ancient cultures in general will be intrigued by Kritsky's treatment of the first documented beekeepers. This book provides a unique social commentary of a community so far removed from modern humans chronologically speaking, and yet so fascinating because of the stunning advances their society made. Beekeeping is the latest evidence of how ahead of their times the Egyptians were, and the ensuing narrative is as captivating as every other aspect of ancient Egyptian culture.

QueenSpotting

QueenSpotting PDF Author: Hilary Kearney
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1635860385
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
At the heart of every bee hive is a queen bee. Since her well-being is linked to the well-being of the entire colony, the ability to find her among the residents of the hive is an essential beekeeping skill. In QueenSpotting, experienced beekeeper and professional “swarm catcher” Hilary Kearney challenges readers to “spot the queen” with 48 fold-out visual puzzles — vivid up-close photos of the queen hidden among her many subjects. QueenSpotting celebrates the unique, fascinating life of the queen bee chronicles of royal hive happenings such as The Virgin Death Match, The Nuptual Flight — when the queen mates with a cloud of male drones high in the air — and the dramatic Exodus of the Swarm from the hive. Readers will thrill at Kearney’s adventures in capturing these swarms from the strange places they settle, including a Jet Ski, a couch, a speed boat, and an owl’s nesting box. Fascinating, fun, and instructive, backyard beekeepers and nature lovers alike will find reason to return to the pages again and again. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

The Politics of the Picturesque

The Politics of the Picturesque PDF Author: Stephen Copley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521441137
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Essays on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ways of looking at landscape, in theory and practice.

Common Sense Natural Beekeeping

Common Sense Natural Beekeeping PDF Author: Kim Flottum
Publisher:
ISBN: 1631599550
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Common Sense Natural Beekeeping teaches aspiring as well as experienced beekeepers how to keep their bees healthy and productive without depending on unnatural chemical or human intervention.

Good Nutrition - Good Bees

Good Nutrition - Good Bees PDF Author: David Aston
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781914934056
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
The importance of pollinator species to man's survival and the functioning of the world's ecosystems is recognised. Environmental and other stressors have taken their toll on many pollinator species and their abundance. The European Honey bee (Apis mellifera) and man have had a long mutually beneficial relationship and it is vital that this continues. Like all organisms, honey bees need food and shelter to ensure their survival and ability to thrive. A key factor in achieving this is the understanding of the role of good nutrition in honey bee biology. This book considers the role of good nutrition for honey bees in the British Isles and the implications of these requirements for beekeepers and their beekeeping management techniques and for those who manage land on which forage for honey bees and other pollinators might be grown. About the Authors David Aston, B.Sc., MSc., Ph.D., NDB is a biologist and a Master Beekeeper having kept bees continuously for 40 years in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB), has been Board Chairman and a current member of its Executive. He has contributed to the work of the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) for many years and has served as Chair of Trustees and is now a Past President. He is also a Trustee of the CB Dennis British Beekeepers' Research Trust. Sally Bucknall, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., CBiol. is a biologist and environmentalist. She has been a Trustee and Chair of Trustees for the charity Garden Organic (Henry Doubleday Research Association, HDRA). This husband and wife team have published two other books relating to beekeeping, namely Plants and Honey Bees - their relationships and Keeping Healthy Honey Bees.