Whether you have a single rooftop hive, a few bee boxes in your backyard, or a large-scale apiary, this is the only reference you'll need. Learn how to properly house your bees in all seasons, manage your colony's nutrition, maintain an effective pollination schedule, prevent and treat mites and disease, introduce a new queen to the hive, capture a swarm, and harvest and store your honey crop.

Acknowledgments Preface      1 Beginning Beekeeping Seven Basic Tips for Getting Started • Dimensions of Beekeeping • The Beekeeper’s Commitment • Financial Considerations • Stings • Legal Considerations • Finding Resources2 Origin and History of Beekeeping  Honey Bee Evolution • History of Beekeeping3 A Bee’s Life         What Is a Honey Bee? • Inside the Colony • The Queen • The Worker • The Drone • The Varroa Mite • Activities and Behavior • Patterns of Behavior4 Choosing Hive Location    The Colony and Your Community • Weather Issues • Forage Availability5 Getting Equipped              Hive Design and Dimensions • Hive Materials • Supers • Frames and Foundation • Bottom Board • Queen Excluder • Covers • Hive Stand • Hive Scale • Feeders • Pollen Trap • Tools of the Trade • Beekeeper Garb6 Enter the Bees   Smoker Basics • Package Bees • Installing a Nucleus Colony • Starting with an Established Colony • Swarm! • A Wild or Feral Colony7 Managing Honey Bee Colonies        Working a Colony • The Beekeeper as Manager • A Colony’s Yearly Life Cycle • Population Cycle • The Apicultural Calendar • Late-Season Management • Requeening • Managing Nutrition • Cooking for the Bees8 Taking the Crop The Honey Crop • Harvesting the Crop • Processing the Crop • Storing the Crop • Chunk and Comb Honey • Other Bee Products9 Pollination          Unique Challenges • Small-Scale Pollination • Is Pollination for You?10 Diseases and Pests of the Honey Bee           Innate Defense Mechanisms • Brood Diseases • Adult Diseases • Parasitic Mites • Integrated Pest Management • Tolerant or Resistant Stock • Colony Collapse Disorder • Wax Moth • Small Hive Beetle • Black Bears • For More Information11 Additional Strategies Beehive Design • Alternative Management Practices • Toward a Honey Bee–Friendly Future Glossary      Model Beekeeping Ordinance            Sample Pollination Contract Resources      A Sampling of U.S. Beekeeping Supply Houses • Sources of Beekeeping Information Metric Conversion Charts Index