My Review: Natural Beekeeping- Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, 2nd Edition

Author: Ross Conrad

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Publication Date: March 8, 2013

Language: English

Dimensions: 8 x 0.5 x 10 inches

ISBN-10: 1603583629

ISBN-13: 978-1603583626

About the Book:

“Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, 2nd Edition” is a comprehensive guide to organic beekeeping practices. Authored by Ross Conrad, the book offers a sensible, holistic alternative to conventional chemical practices, focusing on a program of natural hive management.

Content Overview:

The book covers a wide range of subjects essential for both novice and experienced beekeepers. It provides insights into the basics of bee biology and anatomy, urban beekeeping, identifying and working with queens, and parasitic mite control. It also delves into hive diseases, offering non-toxic methods of controlling mites and eliminating American foulbrood disease without the use of antibiotics.

New Additions:

The new edition of the book is revised and updated with new resources and includes full-color photos throughout. A completely new chapter on marketing provides valuable advice for anyone who intends to sell a wide range of hive products.

Additional Chapters:

Other chapters in the book include Hive Management, Genetics and Breeding, The Honey Harvest, and The Future of Organic Beekeeping. These chapters provide detailed management techniques and strategies for keeping honeybees healthy and productive.

Author’s Approach:

Ross Conrad brings together the best “do no harm” strategies in beekeeping. He emphasizes selective breeding for naturally resistant bees and many other detailed management techniques, which are covered in a thoughtful, matter-of-fact way.

Return Policy:

The book is eligible for return, refund, or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

My Opinion

A central contention of this book is that recent issues troubling apiculture – not least, as it states, the alarming spread of colony collapse disorder – have made natural (also called “organic”) beekeeping almost an obligation. This is a book for those convinced that natural beekeeping is the way forward – but it is also a very practical guide.

The book notably laments that the rise of certain bee diseases – varroa and tracheal mites etc. – have made standard practice the application of harmful chemicals to afflicted beehives. Author Ross Conrad clearly has something of a bee in his bonnet (ahem) where this issue is concerned – but that engenders a spirited attempt to outline natural beekeeping in a practical way. The book is clearly aimed at as wide a readership as possible.

Like a lot of beekeeping guides, there is an extensive section on bee biology and anatomy which is at once useful to the beekeeper and in affording a solid scientific underpinning to Conrad’s – at time’s almost polemical – championing the natural beekeeping alternative. The book also contains much information that will be useful to all beekeepers – even beginners could get set up with the information provided here.

That is not to say that this book could function as a consummate guide to beekeeping alone. There are many sections that downright advise against inorganic beekeeping practice, even where these are fairly standard and commonly practiced by beginners. The book is a balancing act between a genuinely thorough and helpful guide and forcefully written argument for the natural beekeeping way.

If you are already into natural beekeeping though – what are you waiting for?

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