The Practical Queen Breeder: Beekeeping Naturally

My intent for this book is a step by step of how I do queen breeding and queen rearing. Some of this will be why I do it, but mostly it will be what I do. I may mention other methods in passing, but mostly this is just what I currently do. I have done many things in the past and most of them worked more or less. This method is the one I find most reliable in getting cells started, finished and mated. This is not to say that other methods don't work. A lot of what works and doesn't has to do with circumstances. If there is a flow you don't seem to be able to do anything wrong. If there is a dearth things become quite difficult and sometimes you don't seem to be able to do anything right. The reason I do this method is that it has the most success in my experience under adverse conditions as well as good conditions.

About the Author
Bush, Michael: - His writing is like his talks, with more content, detail, and depth than one would think possible with such few words... his website and PowerPoint presentations are the gold standard for diverse and common sense beekeeping practices.--Dean Stiglitz Michael Bush is an internationally recognized author and speaker on natural beekeeping. He is the author of The Practical Beekeeper, which has been published in five languages and is one of the authoritative sources on sustainable beekeeping without chemical treatments. His website is an invaluable source of information on natural, chemical-free beekeeping and just plain beekeeping. The topics are based on the questions that have come up on beekeeping forums over and over. The wisdom of his methods is evidenced by the fact that he successfully keeps bees through the harsh winters of Nebraska. He has had an eclectic set of careers from printing and graphic arts, to construction to computer programming and a few more in between. Currently he is working in computers. He has been keeping bees since the mid 1970's, usually from two to seven hives up until the year 2000. Varroa forced more experimentation which required more hives and the number has grown steadily over the years from then. By 2008 it was about 200 hives. He is active on many of the Beekeeping forums with last count at about 60,000 posts between all of them. He has an extensive web site on beekeeping at www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm What Michael reminds us of, is that beekeeping is a dynamic art. And that like most things of beauty and meaning, they are part of a system, a dance of relationships that requires as much or more intuitive insight as hard science to understand. --Scott Klein