Introduction viii Chapter 1 Life history of the honey bee 4 - Castes of the honey bee 4 - The Western honey bee and its subspecies 6 - Lifecycle of the honey bee 8 - Mating and drone congregation areas 15 - Life as a young adult bee 16 - Collecting nectar and pollen 19 - Communications and navigation 20 - Honey bees as superorganisms 24 Chapter 2 Basic equipment and protective clothing 28 - Equipment 28 - Protective clothing 36 Chapter 3 Constructing hives 46 - Constructing a hive 46 - Other parts of a hive 63 Chapter 4 Frames and how to build them 66 - Frames 66 - Cleaning used frames 71 - Attaching foundation to the frame 71 - Using wax or plastic foundation 74 - Using plastic sides for frames 74 Chapter 5 Your first bees 76 - Obtaining your first bees 77 - What kind of bees should I keep? 78 - Should I buy an established hive or catch a swarm? 79 - Swarms and swarm catching 80 - Transferring an established colony 84 - Moving hives 88 - General maintenance and inspections during the first year 91 Chapter 6 Locating your bees 98 - Locating hives on your property 98 - Hive position in summer and winter 102 - Urban beekeeping 102 - Feeding bees water 105 Chapter 7 Spring and summer management 108 - Inspections 111 - Managing the build-up of bees in your hive to maximise honey production 117 - Managing the honey flow 118 - Merging colonies 119 - Feeding syrup 120 - Sugar candy 123 - Feeding pollen or pollen substitute 123 - Swarms 124 - Providing hives for pollination 128 - Collecting pollen 131 Chapter 8 Autumn and winter management 132 - Autumn 132 - The winter shutdown 135 - Winter 141 Chapter 9 Extracting 144 - Using a sieve to harvest honey 144 - Use of an extractor to harvest honey 146 - Choosing an extractor 150 - Type of extractor to buy 153 - Comb honey 155 - Reuse of wax foundation 156 - Colour of wax 160 Chapter 10 Preparing honey for sale and competitions 162 - Preparing honey for sale 162 - Preparing honey for competitions 165 Chapter 11 Rearing queens 178 - The three reasons for a colony to produce a new queen 180 - Hive splitting 181 - Queen candy 187 Chapter 12 Sustainable beekeeping 188 - Natural beekeeping hives 193 Chapter 13 The bee-friendly garden 204 - Bee-friendly flowering plants 204 - Further considerations for the bee-friendly garden 215 - A garden is a work in progress 223 Chapter 14 Native bees 228 - Social bees 228 - Solitary bees 234 Chapter 15 Diseases of the honey bee 248 - Diseases of brood 248 - Good management practices to minimise disease in the colony 249 - American Foul Brood (AFB) 249 - European Foul Brood (EFB) 253 - Sacbrood virus (SBV) 255 - Chalkbrood 256 - Adult bee diseases 258 Chapter 16 Parasites of the honey bee 262 - Varroa 262 - Tropilaelaps mites -- the Asian mite 270 Chapter 17 Pests of the honey bee 274 - Wax Moth 274 - Small Hive Beetle (SHB) 277 - Braula fly 285 Chapter 18 Other problems of the honey bee 288 - Pesticide and fungicide poisoning 288 - Chilled brood 290 - Overheating of the hive 291 - Damp hives 292 - Cane toads 293 - Ants 294 - Mice 295 - Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) 296 Chapter 19 Other types of bees and wasps 300 - The Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) 300 - Bumblebees 305 - Wasps 309 - Asian hornets 314 - Other races of Apis mellifera 315 - Other species of Asian bees 317 Chapter 20 Flow Hive 320 - Introduction 320 - Flow design 321 - Setting up a Flow Hive 327 - Extracting 328 - Tips when keeping bees 331 - Disadvantages of a Flow Hive 335 Appendix: Sizes of frames and boxes 336 Glossary 341 Acknowledgements and picture credits 349 Bibliography 352 Index.