How can you adjust your beekeeping practices to support struggling honeybee populations? Watch the bees and they'll show you the way. Susan Knilans and Jacqueline Freeman love bees. They have spent thousands of hours observing these mighty insects-fascinated by their work, intimate communication, seasonal activity, and communal partnerships-and this commitment has paid off. Through their studies, Knilans and Freeman realized that when bees are allowed to live naturally, they thrive. Together, these dedicated apiarists have spent years perfecting their preservation beekeeping practice, discerning clear conclusions on what bees want and need to survive: log-like hives, chemical-free foraging, dependable water sources, healthy and free-moving queen bees, little-to-no human interference, and more. Outlining simple, tangible ways that you can make your beekeeping practices more sustainable, What Bees Want is a vital addition to the beekeeper's library. With lively stories from the hive, Knilans and Freeman reveal how their successes and failures informed their current beekeeping practices. Their observations underscore that the true joy of working with bees is not in the honey, but in the bees themselves. Book jacket.