Book thread/forum section

[prakel]

Can anyone here offer a review of Bill McKibben's Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist?

[snimmo243]

I hope everyone has had a good christmas!
I just finished re-reading Ted Hooper's Guide to Bees & Honey, I have to say it was a great read and covered lots of stuff not just for the exams but has given me food for thought for my beekeeping plans next year. I did notice that there is a lot of crossover between this book and the Yates study notes for module 1 and the basic beemaster.
I'm off now to start on David Cramp's Practical guide to beekeeeping.

Steven

[snimmo243]

Just finished David camp's practical guide to beekeeping, I thought it was very good, covered all the basics in enough Detail to get you started and was very easy to read. It looks like it has covered most of module 1 as well as touching on Bee genetics which I found fascinating. Just waiting on Ron Brown's wax and Larry connor's queen rearing arriving!

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[Neils]

I like David Cramp's Book a lot, it gets a bit of a bad press because he was a commercial beekeeper in New Zealand when he wrote it and therefore it couldn't possibly apply to 1-2 hive beekeepers in the UK. It could possibly do with a few more diagrams but for beginners I think it's lot more accessible than Hooper.

[snimmo243]

I felt there was a lot in the book for hobbyists. I also liked the fact he doesn't put himself across as an infallible guru but points out some of the mistakes he has made

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[snimmo243]

I got JD Yates monograph (it makes me feel like I'm in a Sherlock Holmes novel) on beekeeping equipment today. I will let you all know what it's like

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[snimmo243]

Hi
I've finished Yates, Beekeeping Equipment, anyone who has read the basic or module 1 study notes will recognise most of the content of this short book. Essentially it raises criticism of aspects of hive and equipment design and proposes short term fixes as well as suggesting a reinstatement and expansion of British Standards.
For me the most interesting parts were around hive and frame design and the problem of propolisation. In particular I am considering employing his runner design

Steven

[gavin]

For those like me (shame!) who haven't read Yates' book, what is the essence of his runner design?

G.

[snimmo243]

Basically instead of the usual triangular profile running into the corner of the rebate he uses a flat piece of metal. The frame lug sits on the edge of the runner reducing the area for propolisation whilst fully maintaining Bee space below the lug
Steven

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[gavin]

Thanks Steven. Castellated spacers without the castellations?! You'd probably need heavier gauge metal to make up for the weakness of the single edge. Let us know if you try it!