Ebook Critiques | Bee Tradition

COLOSS Beebook Quantity III
Ebook By:
Ebook Evaluation By: Kim Flottum

COLOSS BEEBOOK Quantity III: Normal Strategies for Apis mellifera Hive Product Analysis. Edited by Vincent Dietemann, Peter Neumann, Norman L. Carreck, James D. Ellis. Revealed by IBRA, Monmouth, UK and Northern Bee Books, Mythoimroyd, Hebden Bridge, UK. ISBN 978-1-913811-05-1. 8.25”x11.5”, 464 pgs., coloration and black and white, delicate cowl. $80 + UK postage if bought from IBRA or Northern Bee Books (NBB) with overseas put up, and the identical value from Amazon (no delivery prices from Amazon).

COLOSS is a bunch of scientists and researchers who’re standardizing how analysis for honey bees is being carried out. When you consider it, this makes excellent sense as a result of, merely, any scientist anyplace can now examine, primarily, apples to apples, or, maybe extra appropriately, honey bee science outcomes to honey bee science outcomes. COLOSS comes from Prevention of Honey Bee COlony LOSSes.

Quantity 1, which got here out in 2013 research and defines customary strategies for analysis protecting such sub-categories as anatomy and dissection, behavioral research, subspecies and ecotypes, synthetic insemination, pollination and statistics. Solely obtainable from IBRA or NBB.

Quantity 2 coated research of pests and pathogens of honey bees. It standardized how surveys are carried out colony losses, after which outlined how illnesses, small hive beetles, mites of every kind, viruses and all the opposite pests and pathogens honey bees must take care of ought to be examined, categorized and reported. Solely obtainable from IBRA and NBB.

Quantity 3, launched in October 2021, is now obtainable. This third quantity examines strategies and strategies to make use of when finding out and reporting on hive product analysis.

Every chapter is ready up the identical method. The product is described, after which produced in such a method that every time the product is similar, or not, to the final time it was produced. It’s then harvested, and preserved. After which, it’s taken aside and every tiny half studied, utilizing strategies and analyses described within the ebook. As an example, for Royal Jelly, there are 17 pages on manufacturing, harvesting and preserving the product. Then, there are 40 some pages the way to do all method of analysis research on the product. It’s an extended checklist and listed below are just some….protein and sugar content material, characterization of proteins and peptides, antibody purification, staining, labeling, and on and on.

The worth of this data to researchers is straightforward to see. Everyone does it the identical method, so outcomes might be in contrast and measured and utilized by everyone. It attracts these strategies from simply over six pages of references. Every little thing about royal jelly you ever wished to know is right here. Every little thing. It’s a scientists go-to ebook for sure.

The editors have reviewed all six pages of references, and have just about mentioned, by together with them right here, that is what others have performed, how they did it, and the way it is best to now do it as a result of now we’ll all be doing these sophisticated analysis research the identical method.

The topics coated are performed totally and in depth. The primary part of every product studied is principally the way to produce, course of, retailer and use every of the merchandise. I’ve talked about royal jelly (67 pgs), however there’s additionally beeswax (108 pgs), propolis (49 pgs), brood as meals (28 pgs), honey (62 pgs), venom (31 pgs), and pollen (109 pgs). Determine the primary third or so of every chapter is the easy assortment, processing, storing and utilizing every of those. Now that will be a beekeepers ebook to maintain, for certain.

Every chapter has scores of charts, graphs, diagrams and such for displaying analysis outcomes. And, every has good pictures and drawings for gathering and getting ready every, with a number of coloration pictures and drawings. Pollen particularly has glorious pollen pictures for coloration, drawings for measurement comparisons and form and extra. From a beekeeper’s perspective, that is so far as I need to go when gathering pollen for my bees, or on the market. The remainder of the knowledge within the chapter is great for analysis, nevertheless, and standardization is vital.

In case you produce, harvest, course of, retailer or promote any of those merchandise, this ebook can pay for itself your first season. Particularly if you’re producing a product that should meet the excessive requirements all of us count on. Processing and storage can also be vital for consistency in gross sales. Critically contemplate having this ebook in your shelf, even should you’ll solely ever use half of it.

The Beeing: Life Inside a Honeybee Colony
Ebook By:
Ebook Evaluation By: Kim Flottum

The Beeing: Life Inside a Honeybee Colony by Eric Tourneret, Sylla de Saint Pierre, and Jurgen Tautz. Revealed by Deep Snow Press, Ithaca, NY. ISBN 978-0-9842873-9-0. Initially revealed in French in 2017, translated to English October 30, 2021, by Mark Pettus, and edited by David Liedlich and Leo Sharashkin. Arduous cowl, 262 pages. Giant format (11-3/4” x 12-1/4”), shiny coloration all through. $49.95.

Eric Tourneret and Sylla de Saint Pierre are additionally the authors of Honey From the Earth: Beekeeping and Honey Searching on Six Continents, revealed just a few years in the past. To supply that first ebook, they spent FIFTEEN YEARS touring the world to seize the breathtaking range of bees and beekeeping traditions on six continents. Epic scenes of scaling cliffs to succeed in honeycombs of the large bees in Nepal… and the truckloads of hives of commercial beekeepers in America. Artisanal straw-basket hives in Romania… and the distinctive honeypot ants of the Australian desert. Honey traditions within the coronary heart of the African jungle… and shifting bees by boat in Argentina. Our acquainted honey bees… and probably the most unique stingless bees of the tropics. It is a most gorgeous assortment of bee pictures, full with insightful commentary from a dozen main bee specialists, together with Dr. Tom Seeley, Dr. Jurgen Tautz, and Kirk Webster. Shot in 23 nations.

Now, with further enter from Jurgen Tautz, Eric and Sylla have produced one more lovely and gorgeous assortment of pictures, accompanied with skilled biology and physiology commentary for these pictures. The Beeing covers all points of bees’ lives: physiology, colony group, foraging methods, nest structure, bee intelligence, copy, and far more. Uncover probably the most up-to-date information on the functioning of the colony, insights into beekeeping practices, and the challenges bees face as we speak – all written in an easy-to-understand non-technical language.

Chapters embody a detailed have a look at the queen, what makes a queen and mating; the hive as an excellent organism and the levels of life; bees and flowers and nectar and pollen; foragers and seeing flowers the best way bees see flowers; bees and people and pesticides and breeding and honeys; nest structure and a spot to bop; bee math and propolis. Lastly, Intelligence and communication reminiscence and languages and dancing and smells; and ending with swarming and tremendous and half sisters and genes and temperature’s assault on character.

I’ve already famous the spectacular pictures, with many, many two web page spreads, some exhibiting solely two bees filling each pages, with others exhibiting a 20 acre apiary, with hives unfold in every single place.

Fairly merely, there is no such thing as a different ebook like this. It’s been known as probably the most helpful espresso desk ebook ever produced. It’s really one of the vital helpful books on bees ever produced.

Henry Meets a Honey Bee
Ebook By:
Ebook Evaluation By: Kim Flottum

Henry Meets a Honey Bee. Written and illustrated by Justin Ruger. Revealed and distributed by Hippie Chick Apiary. ISBN 9780578995045. 30 pages, delicate cowl, coloration all through. $15.00

Henry Meets a Honey Bee is a kids’s ebook that makes use of vibrant colours, age applicable artwork, and fictional characters to coach kids on the significance and lifetime of honey bees, certainly one of nature’s favourite pollinators.

Come be part of Henry as he takes a stroll, having fun with nature, and stumbles upon the journey of a lifetime. Henry meets Honey, the queen bee of an area hive, and learns all about honey bees from an distinctive standpoint. Watch how information transforms worry to admiration for certainly one of nature’s favourite pollinators.

I suppose if you’ll study bees from a bee, a Queen is about pretty much as good because it will get. And when she turns Henry right into a honey bee, the educational is even higher. Henry learns of pollination, visits a hive, learns of the totally different sorts of bees that reside in that hive, the position of the queen within the hive, how employees are cleaners, nurses, builders, coolers, guards and foragers. And he even meets a beekeeper.

That is a simple to learn, effectively designed kids’s ebook that reveals the world of bees from the bees themselves.

The Native Irish Honey Bee
Ebook By:
Ebook Evaluation By: Thomas D. Seeley

The Native Irish Honey Bee, Apis mellifera mellifera. By the Native Irish Honey Bee Society. This ebook might be bought on-line at: https://nihbs.org/store/

Over the past interval of European glaciation, the honey bees in Europe diversified into three subspecies that survived in three refuges in southern Europe: A. m. mellifera within the Iberian peninsula, A. m. ligustica within the Apennine peninsula, and A. m. carnica within the Balkan peninsula. When this era of glaciation ended, about 12,000 years in the past, the subspecies A. m. mellifera expanded its vary far to the north. Its colonies unfold to northwest Europe (the British Isles and Scandinavia), to north central Europe (north of the Alps), and even to north central elements of Asia. Additionally they tailored to every of those areas. This produced the Irish black bee, the Dutch black bee, the Alps black, the Nordic black bee, the Welsh black bee, and nonetheless extra. Every of those types of A. m. mellifera is an ecotype, i.e., a inhabitants of honey bees which possess genetically-based traits that contribute to their capability to outlive and reproduce of their specific location. Broadly talking, the employees of A. m. mellifera differ from these of A. m. ligustica (Italian bees) and A. m. carnica (Carniolan bees), in being bigger bodied, longer haired, extra able to flying at low temperatures (5°C/41°F), extra avid collectors of propolis, and higher in a position to survive lengthy winters as small colonies which are frugal with their honey shops.

Today, the biggest inhabitants of A. m. mellifera is present in Eire, and the ebook The Native Irish Honey Bee gives us with a wonderful synthesis of current work on the biology and the retaining of this bee. Additionally it is a outstanding ebook in that it was written and produced solely by members of the Native Irish Honey Bee Society (NIHBS). Some are biologists, some are beekeepers, and lots of are each. All have love for and delight of their native honey bees, and all have shared their information in the reason for conserving these bees. The Irish, by the best way, have an extended custom of writing about their bees. The oldest Irish authorized manuscript dates to earlier than 1350 AD, and is known as Bechbretha (Bee Judgments). It covers authorized selections courting again to 700 AD relating to such issues because the rights of the neighbors of a beekeeper to obtain a share of the honey crop as a result of his/her bees trespass on their properties. Evidently, this was a sticky matter, and it wanted a authorized decision.

The ebook’s chapters are grouped into 5 sections. The primary—The Native Irish Honey Bee—delves into the essential query of defining the native Irish honey bee. It’s argued, fairly cogently, that it’s a genetically distinct inhabitants of A. m. mellifera that’s tailored to residing within the gentle, however damp, oceanic local weather of Eire. It isn’t identified whether or not this bee was launched by Celtic-speaking individuals who got here to Eire in prehistoric instances, or it reached Eire even earlier, when sea ranges have been decrease and present-day Eire and England have been a part of the European mainland. One factor that’s identified is that the native Irish honey bee is the biggest and most vital surviving inhabitants of A. m. mellifera. One chapter on this first part describes the genetic evaluation of 412 bees sampled from 80 websites throughout 24 counties (of 32 complete) in Eire, and it experiences that 97.8% of the sampled bees have been discovered to be pure A. m. mellifera. Evidently, the speed of importation of queens of non-native subspecies (e.g., Italians and Carniolans) has been low, or the colonies headed by native queens have survived and reproduced higher than these headed by imported queens, or each. This genetic evaluation additionally revealed quite a few distinctive alleles of the bees’ mitochondrial genes. This discovery tells us the Irish inhabitants of honey bees has advanced independently because the closure of Eire’s land bridge with Britain, hundreds of years in the past.

The ebook’s second part—Conservation— examines methods for the conservation of A. m. mellifera in Eire. The primary chapter explains that this can be a thorny matter, as a result of the authorized standing of honey bees in Eire is someplace between that of domesticated animals and wildlife; neither standing is kind of proper for honey bees. One conservation strategy getting used already to help the native Irish honey bee is to determine voluntary conservation areas reserved for these bees. For instance, members of the Galtee Bee Breeding Group are retaining and breeding solely native honey bees within the Galtee and Vee Valley areas. Subsequent chapters embody one by Micheál C. Mac Giolla Coda, titled “Rewilding the Irish Honey Bee” wherein he describes how beekeeping was previously, and the way already there may be proof from a “Free-Residing Bee Survey” that there are colonies surviving on their very own. The chapter “Wild Apis mellifera mellifera in Eire”, by Professor Grace McCormack, discusses an on-going examine of the genetics of untamed colonies in Eire, and experiences that the employees sampled from these colonies have a likelihood of 0.99 of coming from a lineage of A. m mellifera queens. It is a clear signal that, in Eire, the native Irish honey bees have better health than these from elsewhere in Europe. This part of the ebook ends with a considerate chapter “Bees and the Atmosphere, by Willie O’Byrne. He discusses adjustments within the farming and the floral panorama in Eire, and gives many recommendations for farming, city beekeeping, afforestation, and hedgerow administration that may enhance the lives of each honey bees and wild (non-Apis) bees.

The third part focuses on queen rearing. It contains six chapters that present how simple it’s to enhance your bees for winter hardiness, illness resistance, and honey manufacturing. The primary two chapters, by Aoife Nic Giolla Coda and Jonathan Getty cowl the biology of queens and drones, and the logistics of establishing a queen-rearing group. Subsequent comes Michael Maunsell’s chapter on the way to enhance your bees. Entrance and heart, he makes the purpose of “Take the bees which are native to your individual space and work with these.” Even in Eire, a comparatively small island, there are nice variations in local weather and vegetation, and beekeepers there need bees which are suited to the place they reside. Maunsell notes, too, that colonies which are heavier propolisers “are typically more healthy or higher in a position to deal with illness.” The subsequent six chapters, by Tom Prendergast, Colm ÓNéill, Jane Sellers (three), and Irene Energy, describe every creator’s instruments and strategies for rearing queens and getting them correctly mated. Some are conventional (gathering swarm cells and utilizing 5-frame mating nucs) and others are trendy (Jenter kits and Apidea mating nucs). All have been examined by the authors’ experiences in Eire over a number of a long time.

The fourth part— 4 Corners— may be very particular, for it includes private accounts of a number of the Irish beekeepers who’ve lengthy championed the native Irish honey bee. For instance, Gerry Coyne, of Connemara on the west coast, describes superbly his early years within the Sixties of working with the native bees—”type creatures that have been docile and content material finishing up their work”—utilizing no veils, or simply ones improvised from lace curtains. Likewise, John Summerville, a beekeeper with 40 years of expertise in Galway, writes “we have to shield and nurture our personal black native bee as she serves us effectively together with her calm nature and skill to forage in typical Irish climate.” There may be additionally the inspiring piece by Michéal Mac Giolla Coda that describes the origins of the Galtee Bee Breeding Group. He additionally explains how the safety (from non Amm drones) of the group’s mating apiary was impressed by the prehistoric fortress on Inis Mór, one of many Aran Islands off Eire’s west coast. These three contributions, plus the others discovered on this part, present a lot that’s particular in regards to the beekeepers, in addition to the bees, in Eire.

The fifth part—The Previous, The Current & The Future—incorporates 5 chapters. The primary, by Jim Ryan, does a wonderful job of reviewing the historical past of beekeeping in Eire over the previous 1300 years with emphasis on the interval from the 1850s (following the Nice Famine) to the current. Pictures of beekeepers and their hives, from the Eighteen Eighties to the Twenties are a particular deal with. The second chapter, by Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda, gives a transparent and exact description of what it’s prefer to be a industrial beekeeper in Eire. I discovered his tables on things like the month-to-month imply most temperature, the month-to-month imply rainfall, and his annual honey manufacturing per hive very useful in getting a transparent image of the situations of beekeeping in Eire. Beekeepers may also respect his cautious descriptions of the hives he makes use of, and of how he offers with the challenges of swarming, propolisation, and illness susceptibility. The third chapter, by Redmond Williams, “Making ready for the Season Forward,” is effectively named, for he describes his system for doing simply this. He cites the previous saying “There isn’t a level in sharpening your sword when the drum beats for battle.” The fourth chapter, by Tanguy de Toulgoët, gives a ten-point (“Ten Commandments”) program for managing colonies in Warré hives to assist improve the inhabitants of untamed colonies of Apis mellifera mellifera in Eire. I like his program, and hope that will probably be adopted by those that have an interest extra in being a bee watcher (akin to a chicken watcher) than in being a beekeeper. The closing chapter, by Mary Montaut, poses two questions on the way forward for bees: “Can our beloved bees outlast the hurt which human exercise is undoubtedly doing to the earth? And in that case, how can beekeepers assist them?” I’ve requested myself these two questions, and I hope that bee biologists, beekeepers, and different involved folks will muster the collective intelligence that we might want to reply these questions with “Sure!” and “Right here’s how.” After studying this ebook, I’m assured that the pure “laboratory” of Eire, and its resilient native Irish honey bee, will play an vital position in serving to us discover methods to guard the way forward for bees.

Widespread Sense Pure Beekeeping
Ebook By:
Ebook Evaluation By: Dewey Caron

Widespread Sense Pure Beekeeping Paperback, 128 pages • $24.99 US, $32.99 CAN • ISBN: 9781631599552 • Quarry Books. You’ll be able to preview the ebook right here: https://bit.ly/3yFh0A2

The latest ebook by Kim Flottum, Widespread Sense Pure Beekeeping, co-authored with Stéphanie Bruneau, wanted to be written. It very succinctly covers sustainable beekeeping utilizing “restricted chemical or human intervention.” Will probably be good for people who want to Save the bees however not deal with nor handle their bee colonies like standard livestock.

New beekeepers shortly be taught, and established beekeepers are effectively conscious, that honey bees face quite a few stressors. Huge adoption of chemical therapies as needed for varroa mite management have develop into customary. Somewhat than spending our time frequently at warfare with varroa mites, utilizing a “battery of chemical therapies” Widespread Sense Pure Beekeeping covers the “center floor between micromanagement and no administration…. it permits the bees, the surroundings and the beekeeper to thrive.” within the phrases of the authors.

The authors imagine we should always strategy yearly colony losses otherwise and undertake “a suitable various.” Contending that pure colonies are “thriving” with out our intervention, we have to learn the way higher to handle our yard bees. Their strategy is to return to a extra pure dealing with and housing of bees. We have to first be taught then to associate and take part in colony care relatively than search to dominate our bees. It’s a stewardship of cooperation from respect, not from management.

The ebook is extraordinarily effectively illustrated – 35 pages are pictures alone. The duvet is excellent and actually captures the essence of the ebook. Amber Day is credited with its design. There are two pages of background studying and analysis and a helpful index. The final part contains last suggestions “Bee like a Bee would Bee” – a neat abstract of the Widespread Sense philosophy of the ebook.

The primary pages describe the authors philosophy of bee care. It gives again floor on the lifetime of bees within the wild. The work of Dr. Tom Seeley, who has extensively researched bees in bee timber, is summarized. His research kind the framework that “helps us make modifications to create more healthy and extra liveable hive methods.”

There are three sections of knowledge. For the primary part Residence Candy Residence, totally different bee hive designs are coated. Chapter 2, over one-third of textual content, describes and lists professionals and cons of eight totally different hive designs. Actual-life practitioners are included of adapters for every hive. For the Langstroth hive, cons (9) outnumber the professionals (2) however eight “diversifications” are listed for a way people would possibly “enhance the bee approval score.” The professionals outnumber cons for Warré, High Bar, Layens and skep (modified as a solar) hives. Log hives, the Custos and Eco Tree hive are additionally mentioned. There’s a companion chapter on Hive siting entitled “Actual property selections.”

A second part discusses three main bee stressors – bee mites, swarming and “what’s for lunch” (bee vitamin). Pure beekeeping for varroa administration contains inventory choice, finest hive, correct vitamin and extra intensive administration. Every of those is gentle on textual content, extra of the philosophy in comparison with observe. Swarming protection contains prevention and management. Preserving bees in smaller hives and swarming is described as “pure choice to create robust and wholesome colonies [that] lower the hive’s issues with varroa mites.” The ultimate chapter discusses the significance of a various weight loss plan for correct bee well being.

A 3rd part features a two web page case examine dialogue of 5 people which are utilizing Widespread Sense Pure Beekeeping. It properly illustrates how the philosophy of gentler, sustainable beekeeping may be achieved through use of a special hive and chemical-free administration of honey bees. These assist illustrate how by observing the best way bees reside within the wild, beekeepers be taught to make administration selections together with hive design that incorporate the bees innate intelligence and habits for sustainable alternate options for pure hive administration.