Bookshelf

Apis dorsata - the Manageable Bee

Digambar B Mahindre

2004 260 pages A5 £21.65 (€32.50) Code M005

Apis dorsata is a species of honeybee found in Asia. It builds large, single combs, suspended from branches of trees, cliffs or city buildings. In many parts of India honey is obtained from these bees by means of 'honey hunting', plundering the nest for its honey. Around 22,000 tonnes of honey are harvested annually this way. During the process many bees and colonies are killed, and the honey harvested may be of poor quality.

Digambar Mahindre has studied and worked with Apis dorsata for over 50 years, and has developed a way of harvesting high quality honey, and without harm to the bees. He uses an 'attraction plank', where the bees are encouraged to settle and build their nest. Using this plank the colony can be lowered for harvesting. Smoke is used to clear bees from the part of the comb where honey is stored. The area of honeycomb is then cut out, without damage to the rest of the nest.

This book contains a large amount of useful information about Apis dorsata: its current status for honey production in India, honey hunting, and experiences of working with tribal groups. An interesting text and record of Mr Mahindre's life work.

Beeing: Life, Mortherhood, and 180,000 Honeybees

Rosanne Daryl Thomas

2002 228 pages Hardback £15 (€22.50) Code T300

With a novelist's eye for detail Rosanne Daryl Thomas opens the mysterious world of beekeeping to a new audience. This beautifully presented text could make an appropriate gift for a new beekeeper, but maybe not for the more macho practitioner.

Post-husband, pre-rest-of-life, the author and her seven year old daughter move to a small New England town in the USA. When she decides to take up beekeeping, her daughter is so proud of her that she cannot back out. Thomas learns much from the Bee Master and other locals intrigued by a novice beekeeper who needs their help - at first.

As she finds her courage, Thomas also finds herself embracing a life she never dreamed of. Entering the mysterious world of bees, she begins a relationship with nature that mingles science with mythology, and with a search for new ways of seeing untried possibilities. She learns that beekeeping, like life, can never be completely mastered. There is always room to make another mistake, and with each mistake comes an opportunity. Along the way, she gets her share of stings, some honey and a little wisdom.

Queen Rearing Simplified

Vince Cook

2004 reprint 63 pages A5 paperback £10.95 (€16.40) Code C315

A very clear and practical guide to queen rearing. The author worked as New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries Beekeeping Advisor, before returning to the UK as National Beekeeping Specialist. Vince Cook offered advice without trying to persuade people to accept his ideas, and so kept his mind open to the thoughts of other beekeepers. In this book he describes a method of queen rearing he developed in New Zealand for his own use. He wrote (typically): "Let me hasten to say that what I am about to describe is not the be all and end all of queen rearing".

This text was first published in 1986. Because the queen rearing method works well and this is such a very clear and helpful text, Northern Bee Books have reprinted this new edition.

Pollinating Pet

Jude Tonkin

2003 22 pages A4 paperback £5 (€7.50) Code T350

A children's book about the red mason bee or 'pollinating pet' of the title. Colour cartoons accompany the 'conversation' between a little girl who is eating an apple and a red mason bee busy pollinating in the girl's garden. An explanation of how pollination takes place and the importance of the bees' role encourages the girl to ask her mum for a pollinating pet. She would like a nesting kit like the one described in BfDJ 66. The book is aimed at children of 7-8 years.

Other pollinating pet publications

Video: The story of the red mason bee Osmia rufa - pollination partners (reviewed in BfDJ 66) £11.95 (€17.95) Code VID26 Book: The red mason bee - taking the sting out of beekeeping (see BfDJ 59) £5.70 (€8.60) Code O155

The Apimondia Dictionary of Beekeeping Terms

on CD and reviewed in BfDJ 69 is £16.80 (€25.20) Code VID27

APIACTA

For the beekeeper and bee scientist Apiacta the Apimondia Journal. 2003 and 2005 editions available to download from www.apimondia.org