Introduction.
The bees are flying in my apiary and bringing in lots of pollen which is a cheerful sight. I’m in the middle of complicated family admin which will fully occupy my focus for a couple of weeks so I am very grateful to my friend Gordon MacKay for stepping in at short notice to contribute a guest blog. Thank you, Gordon.
Book Review.
Bill Cadmore was born and raised in a tiny village on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. After moving to London for University, he then went on to post-graduate work at the University of Leeds. While walking home one day he came upon a swarm of bees and after informing the local beekeeper, he was invited to put on a veil and help collect the swarm—still in his business suit! Taking early retirement to become a bee farmer he soon found himself employed as the apiarist for a bee research programme at Leeds University. Bill is presently chairman of the Bradford Beekeeping Association. He has written on establishing training apiaries and has produced a teaching pack that has been given to every school and youth organisation in Bradford—called ’Bradford Beautiful Bees’
Notes for New Beekeepers really is an appropriates and succinct title as this book is a well needed and well-structured book for beekeepers that are on the verge of getting their toes wet in this wonderful craft, or are into their first or second year of beekeeping.
The paperback format and the size (8 by 8 inches) make this a very manageable and user-friendly title. With 112 pages it’s not overwhelmingly large and for the ‘newbee’ I feel it will very quickly become your favourite go-to book as part of your introduction to beekeeping and ultimately get you hooked on working with the bees.
Published by Northern Bee Books in 2022, this book is recent enough that it provides an overview of current pest and disease problems of honey bees.
Bill has provided us with content that starts with the hymenoptera, bee castes and life cycles before moving onto the various hive types and what is required to set up a hive and get your first colony. He wisely includes the pros and cons of poly hives, an area that seems to be getting more interest in some beekeeping circles for both nuclei and full-sizes hives. He suggests that if you purchase a quality poly hive it should last at least 15 years
There are both well composed line drawings and colour photographs throughput the book and I was delighted to find a good photograph of a frame with a close up of eggs on page 11; I really struggled with finding/identifying eggs when I first started working with the bees and having that image at hand will really make it easier for beginners.
As this is a UK book, various hive designs are included and these are still of interest, although in BC most beekeepers are content (I think anyway… !) with using Langstroth equipment.
After discussing equipment like smokers and clothing Bill then moves onto the hugely important topic of siting your apiary. I think that for new beekeepers this topic can sometimes be overlooked and this subsequently can lead to more challenging times when the bees finally arrive. Apiary location also means planning for good neighbour relations, particularly in the urban environment and this gets good coverage in the book.
For beekeepers who wish to only maintain one colony, there’s some good advice on how to maintain that, with having 2 colonies during swarm season and then in the fall, going back down to one colony if that is desired.
Page 60 has an excellent image of queen cells and queen cups, especially vital information for beekeepers going onto their second year (although as we are all aware, swarms can also occur during the first year of having bees).
Bill provides us with a good overview of swarm prevention and control; the Pagden Method of artificial swarming is well described and includes and a full page with colour diagrams further explaining this system beautifully. In fact, for a book aimed at beginners, it’s refreshing to note that many pages (p 59-77) are devoted to swarm prevention and control.
The book includes a fairly decent list of bee plants, all of which can be gown here in BC (British Columbia, Canada) and it rates both the pollen and the nectar yields, albeit with a simple good, moderate or poor rating. I particularly appreciated the last section of the book: The Beekeeping Year which Bill intentionally starts in August. I remember first starting with the bees and my mentor was a big proponent of being mindful that the beekeeping year actually starts in late summer and fall as we get the bees prepared for the upcoming winter. In block capitals Bill woefully reminds us that Varroa destructot treatments must commence now before it’s too late! A small list of items to check for at this important time of year are included and then the chapter goes on to give activity lists for Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec and then late March/mid-April with May, June and July given their own, bulkier sections, finishing with early August.
The final 2 pages gives a summarized beekeepers checklist e.g. Is my apiary in a good forage area? Do I know the names and functions of all of the hive parts? Can I recognise queen cups, open queen cells and sealed queen cells?
Bill ends the book with a final warning: ’Beekeeping is addictive. Once you become fascinated by the thousands of bees in the hive, you’ll find it hard to stop being a beekeeper.’ I’ll definitely second that!
I would have really liked to see the pest and disease section expanded and include images of AFB, EFB DWV and a few pests and disease images This would allow the beekeeper to self-diagnose these important diseases With that being said though, there are lots of images of these on the internet and also in other books: ‘Honey Bee Diseases and Pests’ (Canadian Association of Apiculturists) comes to mind and is a must have for anyone contemplating (or keeps) honey bees. Probably due to my age I struggled a bit with the smaller text of the graph on page 108 which lists the months of the year and activities required and this is an important enough overview that it definitely deserves a full page.
Some may want a chapter on queen rearing, but I’ve often found this area can be overwhelming for the new beekeeper who is mostly interested in keeping their bees alive through the summer, winter and into the next spring. There are lots of other books and websites devoted to rearing local queens. Locally raised stock is finally becoming an appreciated and necessary part of beekeeping and I feel this will continue.
I really appreciated this book for its practical angle to keeping bees and not going too deeply into the science of apiculture. Many new beekeepers often become overwhelmed with the science and biology aspect of all things apicultural and although this is a vital subject area of the craft, this part of beekeeping can be appreciated and more understood as the beekeeper becomes more deeply involved; this is where books like ‘The Biology of the Honey Bee’ (Mark Winston), ‘Honey Bee Biology’ (Brian R. Johnson) and’ Form and Function in the Honey Bee’ (Lesley Goodman) can be added to the library.
The well thought out contents and the order in which this information is presented will go a long way in allowing this book to reach a wide audience and I really feel that for the new beekeeper, this will prove to be an invaluable source of learning.
“Notes for New Beekeepers’ by Bill Cadmore is available from Northern Bee Books (www.northernbeebooks.co.uk) and your favourite local independent bookstore. ISBN:978-1-914934-45-2