As a beekeeper, I often find myself fielding numerous questions from curious individuals intrigued by the world of bees and honey production. Whether it’s at farmers’ markets, community events, or simply chatting with friends and family, there are certain inquiries… Read More »Questions I Get Asked Often as a Beekeeper
A very common misconception within New Zealand is that wasps (the wasps we have here) are a threat to beehives. To put it bluntly, this could not be further from the truth and I am willing to state that the… Read More »Wasps don’t kill beehives.
Recently I bought a new oxalic acid vaporizer. I have used vaporizers before, and often to very good effect, but the treatment method does have its drawbacks sadly, which I hope to have been largely addressed with this new model.… Read More »Oxalic acid treatment and vaporizer
Apologies. I was very busy for the last month and failed to provide a “what to do in April” Post in time. There is no point in providing it now and we might as well skip it altogether. In a… Read More »Things to do in May
We are selling queen bees, and beginners often will come to ask for guidance when introducing the queen, they just bought from us. I thought I would collate my thoughts on the matter in a blog post. Check for signs… Read More »Guideline: How to introduce queen bees
Phew that month went fast! I did write a “things to do in February” post which obliges me to now write at least one post every month outlining what I would doing at each month. in short: Varroa treatments are… Read More »Things to do in March
Today I have a less fortunate topic to write about. Sadly one of my hives died. As for the reason I can confirm that it was due to a too heavy Varroa infestation, that weakened the hive, and in the… Read More »The loss of a bee hive
One of the most regular issues that beekeepers will be facing is the loss (or the perceived loss) of a queen. Now Queen Bees are incredibly hard to find, and you can safely assume, that whenever you really want to… Read More »Queenless hives
Honey bees that invade another hive and steal the honey that has been stored are said to be robbing. The thieving bees break through the sealed cells, load the goodies into their honey stomachs, and fly home with them. To… Read More »Robbing behaviour and what you can do
In the spring or in that case later in the year, honey bees swarm when their colony becomes too huge and congested with bees. They do so to relieve colony congestion and to establish new bee colonies. The queen and… Read More »How to catch a swarm.