20 Best Honey Bees For Beginners (2023 Updated)

This package is a reasonably good value for the cost and quality. Easy enough to assemble the boxes with dovetailed joints if the wood hasnt warped, which can be a problem with dovetails cut a long time before assembly, since different humidity and temperatures between manufacture and assembly can change dimensions enough to make precision joinery a tad iffy.

I really cant identify the Chinese wood type, but looks and smells similar to North American white cedar. The downside of the wood is that the box sides often are made with up to 3 boards glued together, unlike any domestic boxes Im familiar with.

How these will fare over time is questionable. The top and inner cover joints should be reinforced with screws, since the lightweight staples used wont hold up under use. While obvious for the price, it should be noted that the complete hive doesnt include frames and foundation.

To complete the hive a buyer will need 40 medium and 10 deep frames, plus the same amount of comb foundation. For durability, the box joints should be glued and screwed, with exposed end grain sealed before painting.

Tight, tight cuts. Almost as if dados were laser cut or die stamped, and well-beveled so it took a bit of careful alignment to get them to mesh. All boards flat, straight and square. Few, minor knots anywhere.

The result was a square stack, with no gaps at corners, top, bottom, or where boxes came together. Well enough made to be glued, without need of nails (but I use screws, and couldn’t help following my standard).

Without a doubt, best assemble-boxes I ever put together. and as a dedicated amateur, I’ve put together several hundred. Nice job. Best value I’ve seen or heard of, particularly for those who prefer a 1 (or two) deep & 3 (or 4) super configuration.

If I were forced to whine about something, it would be lack of ‘starter holes’ for joints. I can live with that.

Only four stars because a few minor issues with these beehives kept cropping up. I bought four hives. None had enough nails to finish the framing, fortunately, I had finishing nails on hand. Also, one hive came with an extra medium frame backing, and lacked a deep frame backing.

I made do by gluing the shorter backing in the frame to see what the bees will make of it. And one of the box panels had its handhold carved into the wrong side. These are minor issues, but it shows that these hives are affordable because the quality is not exaclty exceptional.

That said, I like them very much. The price was right, and the company worked to make sure I got them after a snafu with shipping.

Friend has a beautiful property in western MA. Very spiritual and very much a nature lover. I previously got her a butterfly puddler from Uncommon Goods which she also loved. I have bought several items for family and friends here and it is my go to for unique gifts to send to my favorite people.

Please keep the good stuff coming! Maybe next time I will treat myself with something special : ).

Great as you can remove and care for the bees overwinter. Read up about overwintering. Better than ones where you can’t take care of them!!! Needed sanding but they all do or can damage bees wings. Perfect size to not attract too many preditors.

Top holes can’t be opened so I will fill these as cacoons cannot be removed. Doesn’t fit as snug as I would like at the back with a few small gaps so I have yet to see if can be predated from there but overall good value nest with excellent delivery time.

Well worth a go. And many advantages over some of the bee deathtrap designs.

My mom has an extensive garden and loves to plant pollinator and butterfly friendly plants. She’d been interested in a back yard honey bee hive for a while, but ultimately decided against that. When I found this solitary bee hive I thought it was a great compromise! She was excited to receive this gift and was looking forward to finding a place in her garden for it.

It was smaller than I expected, but that’s actually not a bad thing as it’ll be easier to find a place for it. She also liked that you can clean out some of the holes if a bee vacated. #sweepstakes.

Decided I would like to go into beekeeping (obviously) and found this book helpful, insightful, and at times, funny. Lets you know of just about everything you can imagine. Will be a great book to refer back to as I start my beekeeping journey.

Very much looking forward to the arrival of my bees.

showed a friend the book and he asked us to order him one. This book is very informative and easy to understand for us bee keeping newbies. Was a great value too

I am a professional beekeeper and a state inspector. In my opinion Beekeeping for Dummies is the best beekeeping guide on the market. The information and photos are up to date and the tips are invaluable.

Obviously any new beekeeper should have a mentor. However, if someone wanted to become a beekeeper without a mentor; they could become a successful beekeeper just by following the information and guidance in this book.

I purchased multiple copies of this book to give to new beekeepers joining our state beekeeping association. The second edition is now available but this first edition is still extremely valuable for new beekeepers.

Bee Safe. Bee Healthy, Bee Happy C-Bees.

My husband hasn’t been able to put this book down since I got it for him. He can’t wait for our bees to arrive this June and the book is helping him get through the months of waiting by planning and preparing :).

Great overall information for a beginner beekeeper to get started!

So full of the best information. Even better than the 3rd addition, which I also own

Quite a good book on bee keeping with some very odd exceptions. Take gloves , they have pictures of people with no gloves including beginners then still recommend using leather with rubber as a kinda alternative.

Not exactly best practice. Lots of bits trying to be kind to everyone but thus loosing focus on what is best practice in the UK. Photos especially the incredibly important ones on what you should expect to find in the comb and diseases are not very good to near rubish.

Definitely a book as a companion but often only quick look up sending you to look online for more up to date information.

Looked at several other recommended titles for new apiarists before choosing this one, and for me it is an excellent starter book. A typical Haynes, it has clear and concise descriptions, and most importantly numerous close-up photos, of hive construction, processes, bee physiology & biology, honey extraction and many more that should remove any doubt that the newcomer may have about the unique technical terms used in the pastime and how everything “joins up”.

Well worth the 15 I paid for it.

Fantastic easy reading, great information, number one book on learning about bee’s and keeping them and harvesting honey.

The wild bee hive was delivered promptly. It is well made and very attractive in its design – especially the way the top hinges to reveal the inside structure of the house. I am very impressed with it.

I have just mounted it on a South facing wall and hope the bees soon find it.

I absolutely love Kim Flottum’s style of writing. It is clear, friendly, and eloquent, yet I honestly couldn’t tell if Kim was a man or woman. That’s not an easy task for a writer, but I like that. The photographs in the book are excellent, the advice is sound, and the instruction is easy to understand.

This is a book for a beginner beekeeper and it does a great job of getting someone started. Rather than have honey recipes in the book, I would have preferred more information on pest management and requeening, but that is probably because I started my hive of feral bees before reading the book.

I definitely wish I had read the book first! A member of my local beekeeping club recommended this book, probably because I was asking him too many questions that are clearly addressed in it. If you are thinking about doing beekeeping as a hobby, definitely read “Backyard Beekeeper.

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Excellent source for the beginner and nice reference to have on hand.

This book covers all the necessary information needed to raise Bees. In addition it also has recipes for Cooking, soaps, wine and etc. This book was recommended to me by a Professional Bee Keeper.

A worthwhile addition to your collection if you want to build your own. The writing is clear and precise. there are lots of tips for the unwary and really good “cautions” where someone could go wrong.

My only criticism would be that it does not have a plan for a “long” or “horizontal” hive. But that is a detail you can sort out from the designs that are there. A good purchase for someone who wants to “do it yourself”.

Great book for those interested in building their own beekeeping wooden ware. Logically laid out, an easy read with clear instructions. If you enjoyed “Beekeeping for Dummies”, this is a fantastic companion for your library.

Diagrams should match content on the same page. So. etimes the author assumes the reader knows which edge or side is up, doesn’t mention which but a little common sense helps. Don’t assume before you dado an edge etc.

verify it.

I have just ordered another after losing mine to storms, bee’s come back every year. The hook wears out after a few years depending on where it’s put. Attracts lots of Mason bees. I recommend this highly to those who need pollinators in the garden.

Buy more than one for big gardens.

I was so excited to finally begin keeping Mason be so I ordered this house, and then did a little research and discovered thatBamboo Mason beehouses are a death trap for bees. Do your own research. If bees do live in this house it will be very unhealthy for them because Bamboo is a terrible material for the little tunnels.

To properly keep Mason and other bees requires special materials, and a little bit of work, i. e. annual cleaning, providing other materials they need for nesting. Do the research if you love bees. I have ordered a healtpthier kit, andI will be using this house as a decoration only.

I did not know at the time I bought my 2 houses that bamboo is not a good tube for mason bees, first, because some tubes are bigger than necessary and require too much mud and effort from the bees. Second, and really most important, is that cocoons cannot be extracted from the bamboo tubes.

It is important to extract the cocoons in the fall because of mites and dangerous spores. It is a big part of raising mason bees. While these bamboo houses are cheap, they are really worthless. I bought 2 of them a few months ago intending them as gifts.

Now I will just discard them and buy ones with cardboard tubes.

In my last purchase of this product, one frame was stapled wrong and another completely missing the foundation. I have noticed in my three yrs of purchasing from this supplier that quality has really fallen.

It seems as they have taken an “anything to save a buck” attitude. This box used to come with slide strips and tacks to install them and no longer does. I will be buying my boxes from a different location from here on.

This had everything to start but the smoker was a little more difficult to keep going than our other one. I would also suggest that a brood box be purchased in addition to this kit. We recovered a hive that split and landed in our orchard.

The swarm was so large that if we wouldn’t have had an additional brood box they would have swarmed again. This kit with the addition brood box works incredibly.

For all of you who have been thinking about making a difference in the world, think about keeping the honeybees alive by keeping a hive in your backyard. This book is absolutely the perfect choice to do just that.

The author is an accomplished beekeeper and explains everything that is involved in this process. The material chosen for this book was approved by another life long beekeeper so that you can trust what you are learning by studying this book.

The most important reason to remember and to share with those that support your idea of keeping the honeybees alive was simply stated by Albert Einstein, quote “If the honeybees are gone from this planet, in about 3 years, there will be no fresh food left for us to eat, because of the lack of pollination for our fruits and vegetables” that might not be verbatim, however, that is a good enough reason for me to keep my bees alive.

Plus, think of all the sweet honey you can share with your friends. I read the book, I recommend “Beekeeping for Dummies” for you to read and keep.

It is a very good book for beginner bee keepers that do know nothing about bees. But as a new beekeeper starting to know more, this book becomes useless and a more detailed bee keeper book is needed.

I would recommend this book for new bee keepers , but not to anyone that know the basics of bee keeping already.

I bought this book because my wife wanted to start Beekeeping. It is full of great information and ideas for beginers and intermediate Beekeepers. What kind of tools you will need, safety equipment, and medication tips for your bees.

Mostly it rids you of a lot of the fears about beekeeping. You learn that bees are not out to attack you and your neighbors. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in bees, or is planning on becoming a Beekeeper.

Beekeeping for Dummies is a fantastic well structured easy read for the beginner or expert. This book covers the gamut of beekeeping and takes the reader through every step. It is well illustrated to give greater understanding.

It also provides recommendations and refers the reader to related online videos. Even if you are just interested in bees and not beekeeping this would be a great book.

I bought this as a gift for a friend who decided to get into bee keeping this year. I researched online about the best books for beginning beekeepers and this is one that came up. So far my friend has commented that he finds it very interesting and helpful, he seems most pleased with it.

This book breaks down the information in a way so that it makes perfect sense. There is a tremendous amount of information contained in this book! If you are interested in beekeeping, this is a must have!.

I recently purchased this Safariology set for a project I’m working on about the benefits of pollinators and found these sculpts to be very well made! I purchased this along with the “Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly” set.

These will work great for my purposes. The paintwork is done very well without any significant over-paints. I think it would be great if Safari Ltd did a set on the life cycle of a Hummingbird! I use these types of figures to expand some of my board game options or to help visualize new game possibilities and/or educational activities.

I’m very pleased with this purchase!.

These arrived promptly and are much bigger than expected. The details are great. My kids love them. Great for learning.

These are great quality and I love the size. They are large enough that I feel comfortable with my toddler handling!

A great resource for Australian beekeepers. Doug is an Aussie beekeeper, so the seasons and direction of tasks in the book align with our actual conditions. A very thorough handbook for the beginner apiarist with lots of good info to read and re-read as well as recipes for honey and wax.

Good insight into urban beekeeping. Easy to with the key things you need to know as a new beekeeper. Lots of pictures and references to further resources and reading. This isn’t a heavyweight detailed encyclopedia or text book.

Liked the last chapters with honey base recipes.

This a great introduction to the subject and manages to be encouraging but also realistic about the challenges. It covers just enough detail for a first foray into the possibility of keeping your own bees.

I imagine if you take the plunge you may need additional reference along the way but any more detail would be overwhelming to the newcomer I think. It’s nicely presented and a lovely little book to own.

Our family is a faithful Fisher Price buying family. We have always loved the products due to their durability and entertaining nature. Sadly, I didn’t feel that the Fisher Price Backyard Beekeeper stood up to their usual high standards.

In the photos I expected the parts to be made from wood, not felt. The flowers stems bent the first time we stood them up in the box. The bees and honeycomb puzzle pieces are very cute, but overall my kids age 3 and 4 only played with the set for about 5 minutes and haven’t wanted it again since.

A wooden box and wooden painted pieces, other than the honey jar of course, would have at least made this set durable enough to carry around and for the pieces not to get lost.

My little one loved the Backyard Beekeeper toy. She is 4 years old and has a great imagination. She integrated some if her dolls to play as the gardeners and patients after they were stung by the bees.

If your little one enjoys playing pretend, creatively with different settings then this is a great toy for them. I wish it made noise or had lights, that would make it even better.

This 13-piece pretend play set lets kids help the bees by buzzing them from the colorful flowers to their hive, harvest honey from the honeycomb, and stir it up in the honey jar. Featuring soft fabrics and real wood pieces, this play set is a great gift for any mini bee-lover.

My little girl just loved flying the bees from the flowers to their comb to pollinate. This is also very educational in teaching children the importance of bees!.

A great beginner book for anyone interested in Beekeeping. From the very basic to more advanced information. Everyone who reads this book will learn something new. A great book at a great price! Great color pictures included.

A must have book for people interested in keeping bees.

If you are thinking about getting bees, have bees, or just want to know about them, this book is for you. It has a lot of information for a wide range of readers. I have bees and I always have questions about why this or that.

So far I have been able to get all my answers from this book. The author covers many ways to do things and then gives his preference. I really enjoy this book.

Have just set up my first bee hive. This book has been invaluable in giving me the information I need to establish a healthy hive.

This product is absolute trash. The frames are all of varying size and poor quality wood. The boxes aren’t any better. They aren’t standard langstroth dimensions so other frames won’t fit in these boxes and if you try to use these frames on other boxes, bee space is a mess and they will build bur comb everywhere.

Thought I was getting a fair deal but all these are going to the trash after this season.

I am a first time bee keeper so the learning curve is high. I bought complete large and medium Harvest Lane Honey Beehive supers and they are great. The only reason I did not give these items a 5 is that they are not painted well.

I had to paint them again with two more coats to get the protection necessary for weather. My bees are now in the hive and seem to be happy.

The wax warmer is great – love it! Instructions were clear and temperature guide helped a lot. Melted Smooth Nectar hard wax and seems to hold temp really well. I successfully waxed my legs and face, plus first time back waxing for the man in the house.

Effective and definitely gentle enough for the face. The wax scent got rave reviews while waxing back. I wasn’t expecting to “share” but it was a big hit, so I’ll be ordering more wax sooner than I thought! Thank you for a great product.

So in love with my starter kit!! Little bit of a learning curve compared to what I was previously using. ,. But I can still tell the quality difference already!! Very pleased with my purchase, and so is my skin!! Only thing I would recommend, is adding more tape for delivery! I had just one little piece on the top and it broke open before it arrived at my house.

BUT, everything was there and in great condition so… there’s that.

I have had the BEE-pack now for just over two weeks. My initial experience has been very good. The Nuc transferred into its new hive without any issues, and the hive quickly established its daily schedule and I could see the worker bees returning with pollen.

The hive is currently receiving supplemental feeding to help with its establishment. I look forward to inspecting the hive more thoroughly shortly. From my early interactions, it appears the hive has a good temperament.

Andrew.

Thank you Graham for delivering my nuc of bees a couple of weeks ago and helping to choose the perfect site in my garden for the hive. I have had great pleasure watching them settle in and they have been working hard.

You can see all the pollen on them as they go into the hive. They are loving the clover flowers so now we can’t mow the yard!!! As a beginner beekeeper i really appreciated the support during the whole process and your patience in answering all our questions.

My Italian bees are so gentle and are a wonderful addition to our backyard. thank you again for your help in the start of a wonderful adventure of bee keeping 🙂🐝🐝🐝.

Must have for beekeepers. Among a flood of literature this book stands out and keeps what the title promises. Recommended for amateurs and professionals. We run 3 apiaries, got many answers from the rich content.

Natural beekeeping is the future. Here is an important contribution.

We checked out this book from the public library and decided to purchase our own copy based on the content and presentation. We haven’t yet read the book, but having previewed over a dozen different books on the topic, this book and one other made our list of “To purchase” titles.

It appears to be comprehensive in nature, and the font size is readable.

A great book for any beginner or experienced bee keeper. It has all the basics a bee keeper needs to know but additionally includes information on how to best raise your bees without using medications or pesticides.

Well written and easy to follow. A great book for those who want to raise their honey bees the way they should be. Highly recommended!.