Winter is the time for reading in beekeeping. The colonies are clustered in their hive,s and we have time to think about and plan for the coming year. I recently finished the book Swarm Essentials by Stephen J. Repasky. I picked it up at the Virginia Beekeepers Fall meeting in November. I always struggle to prevent swarms, so this seems like a good book for me.

Repasky is a long-term member of the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) and was Director of the EAS Master Beekeeper Program for many years. So even though this was published in 2013 I was interested to see what the Repasky had to say.

The book is a fairly thorough discussion of swarms, from what they are to how to prevent, recover from, and capture them. Repasky gives a lot of examples from his own experience, which is helpful. A lot of the material is based on ideas and concepts I have either read about or heard from other beekeepers, though it is nice to have everything in one book. I plan to re-read the chapter on preventing swarms before spring, as I definitely need it.

Repasky is also the owner of Meadow Sweet Apiaries in Pittsburgh, PA, where he raises queens and bees for sale as well as selling bee equipment. I often find myself in Pittsburgh so perhaps I will have to look him up sometime.

May you prosper and find honey.