I got the Barefoot Beekeeper book....

[me&thegals]

Well, a few days of being sick saw me through 4 books! One of them was Barefoot Beekeeping.

I liked it. It's a good overview of "natural" beekeeping. He's definitely biased and doesn't try to be very diplomatic about his views of conventional beekeeping, but if you can get past that, he has some good points.

I notice he mentions at least 3 times certain experiments he means to try, and the book would be more complete had he actually tried them rather than just referring to them.

I would recommend it as an introduction to Warre or topbar beekeeping, but you still need to go online to get plans for TBHs. It's just an overview, not incredibly in-depth on any particular subject.

Overall, especially as it was a gift to me from a SS member, I enjoyed it!

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! It had some interesting info on the history of TBHs, but wasn't quite comprehensive enough for my taste. He made references to things but did not explain them in full, more pics would have been helpful and in color would have been even better!

 

[me&thegals]

I liked the ideas for multiple nucs in one topbar hive, and I think I'm going to convert my strongest TBH to a central entrance system, brood in the middle and storage on either side. It would really knock off the time it takes me to get to the broodnest to see if the queen is still laying. Right now, I start from the back and have to work all the way up to the front. By the end of the season, this was about 20 bars and the bees were really ticked by the time I got there.

Plus, I liked his thoughts on minimal intrusion. My first year was awesome for lots of learning and observing. This year, I'd like to leave the bees much more alone. Just get far enough to see the first bar of brood, then get out. And, as he says, know why I'm going in there in the first place and what my contingency plans will be for the scenarios I might find.