The 8 Top Buzz-Worthy Books About Beekeeping Available Today

There are many reasons why beekeeping is a great hobby. For one, it’s a very peaceful and relaxing activity. It also doesn’t require much space in any backyard. Beekeeping is also a fascinating and informative hobby. It allows you to learn more about the process of making honey and the essential role bees play in our ecosystem. It can also be a great source of income. By selling honey and other bee products, you can profit while doing something you love.

These books about beekeeping are some great resources to check out if you want to learn about beekeeping. The books picked for the best beekeeping list were from reader reviews (not just a good summary) and were of high quality. The books offer a variety of information on the topic of beekeeping, from beginner tips to more in-depth advice. Check out these fantastic books if you are ready to start learning about beekeeping. 

1. Best Overall: Beekeeping for Beginners

Beekeeping can have several steps, and for anyone who hasn’t raised bees before, it’s essential to know how to pick a hive. Bee Keeping for Beginners will teach you everything you need to know about how to do that and take care of them in different seasons, like winter. 

It is designed to get you through everything you can expect in the first year of beekeeping. This will teach you how to harvest honey and strain the wax. It’s ideal for people who have no prior knowledge of beekeeping. Intermediate to expert keepers will not find this book helpful. 

If you’re unsure if beekeeping is right for you, several readers bought the book to consider that same dilemma. Some readers decided to keep the bees, while others saw that beekeeping wasn’t for them. After reading this book, you’ll know if you want to be a keeper!

Best Overall

Beekeeping for Beginners: How To Raise Your First Bee Colonies

•  A simple, step-by-step guide that helps you learn the fundamentals of modern beekeeping
• A great resource for your first year of beekeeping
• Includes clearly defined terms and a complete glossary

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2. Best for Finding a Location: The Backyard Beekeeper

At the beginning of this book, you will learn about the history of beekeeping and the problems that beekeepers face today. This is another book for beginners, but it goes into different details than the one mentioned above. For example, it will walk you through choosing a location to keep your bees while keeping your safety in mind. 

In this fourth edition, they’ve added information for urban beekeepers and how to handle pests that may affect your hive. It highlights things new beekeepers may not have considered, like how important water is for bees and what to feed them. 

Owners of this book can’t help but take notes and highlight it because it has valuable information that will be useful as future reference. Many appreciated the detailed illustrations and said it helped them understand the text well. It is a highly recommended book for beginning beekeepers.

Best for Finding a Location

The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

• Great for urban and rural beekeepers of all skill levels.
• Photos, illustrations, and callouts on nearly every page
• Includes 25 rules for beehive management

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3. Best for Referencing: The Beekeeper’s Bible

So you already have experience with beekeeping and your hive is up and running. What can you read next? You can read this helpful book that is dense with information. It has high-quality pages and a strong book cover. 

That’s important for those who reread books or are naturally rough people. It briefly discusses many bee-related subjects, including mythology, history, fundamentals of bee biology, beekeeping, and even some recipes. 

It won’t show you how to get started with beekeeping, but it will significantly increase your knowledge of bees; even if you aren’t a beekeeper, it’s a good read for anyone who adores bees. Some readers say that it’s excellent for them to keep on their coffee tables, while others are intrigued by the illustrations. This is perfect for learning more about your beekeeping hobby or business. 

Best for Referencing

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

• High-quality pages and a strong book cover
• Discusses many bee-related subjects
• Amazing resource of information, lore, facts, tips, and techniques

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4. Best Images: The Bee Book

This beautiful book is filled with full-color pictures and tells you everything you need to know to start your backyard hive, from setting it up to getting the honey. Thanks to the comprehensive step-by-step instructions, images, and diagrams that clearly illustrate practical beekeeping practices, you’ll be prepared to start your colony, handle diseases, assemble a colony, and much more. 

This book also contains recipes for creating candles, personal care products, and home remedies. You can say that you made everything from scratch because you raised the bees and prepared the honey yourself. Readers enjoyed the depth of this book because it took them several days to read and even longer to study. 

This will be an excellent book for those who want to study new topics thoroughly before beginning new endeavors. Intermediate beekeepers may also find it helpful. Many enjoyed the section about bringing more pollinators into your yard and taking care of them. Gardeners will enjoy this for sure! 

Best Images

The Bee Book: Discover the Wonder of Bees and How to Protect Them for Generations to Come

• Fully illustrated with full-color photographs throughout
• Includes clear step-by-step sequences, photos, and diagrams
• Good for beginner and intermediate beekeepers

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5. Best for Emergencies: Beekeeping for Dummies

Have you been researching online about beekeeping and felt so confused you wanted to give up attempting this hobby? Others were in the same boat, but then it started making sense when they stumbled upon this book. This practical manual includes all the equipment, advice, and methods required to create a successful backyard beekeeper. 

The comparison between each hive type and the author’s explanation of its benefits and drawbacks is excellent. This book explores every facet of beekeeping. You’ll discover how to tell the queen from her drones and workers, how to open and close the hive correctly, and how to tell one type of honey from another. 

It also explains how to protect your colony in an emergency. After finishing this book, readers felt significantly more confident about beekeeping and proceeded to order the supplies to carry out the tasks. Stop endlessly googling in despair at the conflicting information and grab this book. 

Best for Emergencies

Beekeeping For Dummies (For Dummies (Pets))

• Covers everything you need to know to start your own colony
• Great hands-on guide
• Learn how to protect your colony in an emergency

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6. Best for Hive Problems: Beginning Beekeeping

Experienced beekeepers that read this book wished they had it at the beginning of their beekeeping journey. They said it has the best simple instructions that are easily understood with beautiful pictures. The book touches on several different types of beekeeping and the supplies needed. 

Aside from just an incomplete list like most online pages offer, the author mentions what supplies are crucial, what is simply nice to have, and what you can skip on buying. If the experienced beekeepers say this is excellent for starting, it’s incredible. Beginning Beekeeping will show any novice how to develop and maintain healthy, thriving colonies thanks to its more than 120 color photographs. 

You’ll discover the best practices and methods for maintaining healthy colonies, how to establish a colony and draw in bees, and how to diagnose and resolve a variety of typical hive problems. Along the way, you’ll discover how to collect your honey and look after your bees. 

Best for Hive Problems

Beginning Beekeeping: Everything You Need to Make Your Hive Thrive!

• More than 120 color photographs
•  The only book you’ll need to get started with beekeeping
• Instructions for enjoying rich, bountiful honey harvests

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7. Best for a Laugh: Bees Make the Best Pets

This book offers more than simply exciting facts about bees’ daily lives. Most experienced beekeepers have never heard of this information before. It comes from someone who has a close relationship with his own bee colonies and is naturally curious about various issues. 

The book is entertaining and leaves the reader feeling awestruck by how sophisticated and complex the bee colony is. Owners of this book think it’s hilarious and fun. It has advice, as well as history and lore. Yes, bees have lore behind them! 

Have you ever heard the story of caroling bees on Christmas? Did you know they had a role in the Civil War? Readers have kept this in their library and enjoy rereading it. This is a perfect book to simultaneously have fun with and while gaining an appreciation of bees. It’s a great gift too! 

Best for a Laugh

Bees Make the Best Pets: All the Buzz about Being Resilient, Collaborative, Industrious, Generous, and Sweet-Straight from the Hive (Beekeeping gift)

• A book full of bee facts, anecdotes, and advice
• Overflowing with bee trivia, tips, legend, and lore
• A great gift for any bee lover

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8. Best for the Environment: Top-Bar Beekeeping

More and more beekeepers who care about the environment are using top bar hives, which look like hollow logs inside. A top bar hive made of untreated wood is long-lasting and completely biodegradable. It lets bees build comb naturally instead of just filling pre-made foundation frames in a typical box hive with added supers. 

Most Langstroth box hives make more honey than top bar hives, but top bar hives make more beeswax. Bees stay healthy and disease-free when the hive is checked regularly and old combs are removed. All home beekeepers and hobbyists who have time and want to keep bees should consider the natural, low-stress methods in this book. 

It will also be attractive to gardeners and people who practice permaculture and rely on bees for pollination and honey or beeswax. The book presents a compelling case for organic beekeeping methods. It isn’t beginner-friendly, so it’s best for those who already have experience working with bees. Readers liked that it was so detailed, and they easily understood the benefits of these organic techniques.

Best for the Environment

Top-Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health

• Great resource for anyone wanting to have top bar hives
• Learn about organic beekeeping methods
• Good for intermediate and expert beekeepers

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