Am looking for advice on the best beekeeping magazine for a first or second year hobby beekeeper. I've heard of American Bee Journal, Bee Culture, and Speedy Bees. am I missing any? Any recommendations for which would best fit a new hobbiest?
I vote for 'Bee Culture' as I believe it is more oriented towards the hobby beek, while 'ABJ' tends to lean more toward the science of beeking with in-depth data/stats on completed/ongoing experiments.( a lot of graphs/formulas' ). I have not heard of 'Speedy Bee' but will be looking for a copy now.
lee...
I like Bee Culture for the hobbiest but also get alot of great info from American Bee Journal, so I get them both.
Never heard of Speedy Bee. Once you start w/ a subscription the back pages will offer several other available publications from around the world.
Have fun with your new adventure.
t
ABJ will send you a free sample issue upon request...go to their "Subscribers" page and there's a link to their email address. Contact Bee Culture, tell them you're trying to decide which magazine to subscribe to and ask them if they would send you a sample to compare. Might take a few weeks to get both magazines in hand but you get to decide by looking at them.
I'm a newbee, but for a couple of reasons I'm leaning more towards ABJ...I've got a ways to go on both subscriptions (doubled up on gifts from folks this past Christmas :) ) so my view may change. ;)
Best wishes,
Ed
A while back I let both subscriptions expire (not at the same time). When I came back both of them ended up sending the one or two issues I had missed, no extra charge. Now that was pretty cool 8-)
t
Quote from: Jpmrmw on September 12, 2012, 11:21:15 PM
Am looking for advice on the best beekeeping magazine for a first or second year hobby beekeeper. I've heard of American Bee Journal, Bee Culture, and Speedy Bees. am I missing any? Any recommendations for which would best fit a new hobbiest?
I use to get speedy bee newspaper in the last 70s
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,35401.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,35401.0.html)
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Thanks for your suggestions. I've decided to try out Bee Culture this year. Maybe after a year of experience under my belt, the charts, graphs , and studies found in ABJ will make more sense to me.
You'll be happy with BC.
Ed
I can get BC on line free through my library. The funny thing is that there are no pictures or adds. The other funny thing is that I do not read it because I do not think to log on and look for it like I do when it is delivered.
Splurge and get them all!
Scott
Hardwood said it I've bought all book and mags. If ya don't have a mentor books and mags. forms and utube are great allot to learn.
Plus don't forget the PDF files on beekeeping out there.What a great time to take up beekeeping.
There are lots to read, you may have to hunt it a little. Beekeeping made easy, Basic beekeeping .com, Beeclass.com and numerous others on the web.
Bee Culture also has the online version which will save a couple bucks,and it's accessible with mobile devices too.
The subscriber version of BC has every page as it is in the magazine.
You won't go wrong with either one of them, however I tend to enjoy BC a little more.
Quote from: buzzbee on September 15, 2012, 01:49:22 PM
Bee Culture also has the online version which will save a couple bucks,and it's accessible with mobile devices too.
The subscriber version of BC has every page as it is in the magazine.
I noticed that their website states the digital version has the contents of the paper version but it goes further and says something like "...and so much more". Does it offer more than what is inside the paper version?
Ed
...another positive aspect of Bee Culture is that Kim Flottum, the editor, is very approachable. I wasn't sure who the editor of ABJ was until I just looked. ;)
I think both mags are great with them both having audiences that overlap a bit but both devoting a part of their substance to certain groups of beekeepers that the other one doesn't target. It's a good mix.
Ed
I just get Bee Culture now.
I opted for the online versions of both and regret my decision. Next year I plan on getting a printed copy sent again. Reading an iPad just isnt the same.
I get BC and the positive side of the digital version for me was that any story that refers to a resource has a link you can click on and go directly to the resource. The ads have the same thing that takes you to the sellers website. I did go back to the printed version this year because it's a little bit easier for me to read. I ended up printing most of the digital ones anyway. I hope at some point they will make it so you have access to the digital version if you buy the printed version. Our local newspaper does that.