• A guide to "well-rounded" beekeeping
• Publisher: Undine Westphal
• Hardcover, 101 pages

Blurb

Abenteuer Bienenkugel^® A guide for "round" beekeeping

"The vast majority of today's hive shapes have been developed for beekeepers' requirements and not for those of the bees. They are practical, square, stackable, easy to transport, made of polystyrene and lightweight. The bee ball is none of these things. It is large and heavy, very difficult to transport, made of wood and has only one brood chamber. These aspects alone should make it almost impossible to beekeep well with it. But, oh wonder of wonders, it actually works very well." This is the conclusion reached by experienced (magazine) beekeeper Undine Westphal in her fourth book on beekeeping.
Westphal has already made a name for herself with her lectures at home and abroad as well as her textbooks. Now she was curious and, together with her school beekeeping pupils, embarked on a research project to try out this new form of beekeeping. The beehive - developed by Andreas Heidinger just a few years ago - is still little known among beekeepers, but is now becoming increasingly popular. The idea of using the bee ball to imitate the bees' natural habitat, to develop effective ways of combating varroa and at the same time to be able to beekeep in a way that is compatible with magazine hives are just three of the many reasons why Westphal was interested in Heidinger's "bee ball" concept.

With this really useful and very precise guide to handling this unusual hive, Westphal passes on her thoroughly positive experiences and makes you want to rediscover beekeeping for yourself. Above all, however, we can learn to "listen" to the bees again and treat them with more respect.

- Marion Wagner, beekeeper and teacher at the vocational school for curative education in Hamburg