Liz Day wondered about a good book to answer beginning beekeepers. For people already keeping bees and looking for good technical information I prefer The Hive and the Honey Bee rather than the ABC XYZ. They both have lots of information for reference. People considering whether to keep bees might prefer Dadant,First Lessons in Beekeeping; Sammataro, The Beekeepers Handbook; Carrier, Begin to Keep Bees, or Hubbell, A Book of Bees You can get a catalog of bee books, in Canada from Doug McCutcheon 3871 197 Street Langley, B.C. V3A 1B4 Tel (604) 530-5428 Fax 604 534 4932 in the U.S. from BES Wicwas Press PO Box 817-L ` Cheshire, CT 06410-0817 Fax or Tel (203) 250 7575 or from IBRA in Britain I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from asking beginner questions on the list, and I'm pleased that they're interested enough to ask, but the more complete answers available in one of these book is likely to often be better than the quick one someone can take time to compose.