Bee Hive to Beekeeper by Andrew Gibb & Ann Harman

Bee Hive to Beekeeper by Andrew Gibb & Ann HarmanBoth this volume and its companion, Bee Space to Bee Hive, have been extensively revised and expanded to cover the syllabus of the new British Beekeepers Association History of Beekeeping examination module. They continue to give a comprehensive view of the development of beekeeping, from hives to equipment to research and beekeeping methods. Undoubtedly one of the major discoveries that changed practical beekeeping was the recognition of the bee

Both this volume and its companion, Bee Space to Bee Hive, have been extensively revised and expanded to cover the syllabus of the new British Beekeepers Association History of Beekeeping examination module. They continue to give a comprehensive view of the development of beekeeping, from hives to equipment to research and beekeeping methods.

Undoubtedly one of the major discoveries that changed practical beekeeping was the recognition of the bee space by Revd L.L. Langstroth and Petro Prokopovych. This forms the basis of many beekeeping developments worldwide.

This volume has been written to fill a gap in the information available to those interested in the history of beekeeping. It describes the formation of important beekeeping organisations, significant areas of bee research, the introduction of bee strains to the UK and influential authors.

The first section details the establishment and development of the oldest bee keeping journals in the UK, two major beekeeping equipment suppliers and important beekeeping organisations.

Our beekeeping understanding and activities would not have developed without research. Included here is research into parthenogenesis, bee behaviour, diseases, piping, the fat body, mating outside the hive, pheromones, the colony as a superorganism and swarming. This is followed by details of the introduction of different bee strains to the UK.

We are fortunate that many eminent beekeepers have written books to help and inform and a significant number of these are described in the final section.

Beekeeping is a progressive hobby. An understanding of beekeeping history is more than simply interesting, it enables us to appreciate how and why things have developed as they have.

This revised and significantly expanded book is based on the proposed History module of the· British Bee keepers' Association examinations, but it will be of interest to all those curious to know how beekeeping has developed over the centuries.

Other sections of the module are covered in the companion volume: Bee Space to Bee Hive, also in its second revised edition.

Andrew Gibb has been a beekeeper since his school days and a master beekeeper since 1985. A committed involvement in the British Beekeepers' Association I examination programme grew and, almost I by accident, stimulated ari interest in beekeeping history. Andrew's authoritative arti,cles on beekeeping history appear regularly in Bee Craft magazine. He retired from Bee Craft Ltd in 2019 after more than four decades as a director and 33 years as chief executive.

Ann Harman found honey bees fascinating since childhood and started beekeeping in the 1970s when she was given a swarm. She held office in local, state and national beekeeping organisations. She wrote for Bee Culture from 1980 and also contributed articles to Bee Craft and The Beekeepers Quarterly. She was a contributor to and co-editor of ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture and was one of the first certified master beekeepers of the US Eastern Apicultural Society. Ann maintained six colonies for honey production in the mountains of Virginia, USA. Sadly, she passed away shortly before the I first edition of this book went to press. Her valuable contributions are still included here.