Organic NZ – September 2019

Promote • Educate
22 September/October 2019

Feature

22 Promote • Educate

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eekeeping can be an immensely

rewarding hobby, a source of guilt

if you cannot give colonies the

necessary attention at the right time, an

expensive pastime, or a useful secondary

source of income.

Before getting into beekeeping you should

think about what you want from it, and

what you are prepared to put in. People start

keeping bees for many different reasons.

Some simply enjoy honey and want to

produce enough for their own needs. For

many, a general interest in the honey bee

or ecology prompts them to acquire hives.

Others have economic reasons, and are

attracted by the ideas of ‘free’ honey or

pollination, or a profitable sideline business.

Before you start

Here are a few things you should think

about before deciding whether to become

involved in beekeeping.

Allergic reactions

It is impossible to keep bees without being

stung. Even if you always wear a complete set

of protective clothing, you will get stung from

time to time. Being stung is always painful,

and localised swelling and itching is common.

Most people do become accustomed to

frequent stings, and eventually experience

only minor swelling and itching. A few

people, though, don’t adjust in this way,

and their reaction to stings may become

increasingly severe – involving swelling,

itchiness and a rash away from the sting

site, or even difficulty in breathing. If you

have these allergic reactions, or have never

been stung before, consult a doctor before

deciding to take up beekeeping. You also

need to consider family members. Bees can

remain in vehicles or come into buildings

and sting the unwary, and venom is brought

home on clothing and gloves.

Diseases and chemicals

Now that the parasitic mite varroa is well

established in New Zealand, you have to

actively keep bees and not merely have

them. Honey bees cannot survive for

long in the presence of varroa without

human intervention, and this usually

means applying some form of mite-control

chemical several times each year. [There are

organic options available – Ed.] Untreated

honey bee colonies will die.

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Heavy work

Beekeeping is heavy work and requires good

physical fitness. Boxes of honey may weigh

up to 40 kg when full (the same as a bag

of cement). When lifting them you will be

wearing cumbersome protective clothing,

often lifting the boxes from the ground

and using your fingertips in relatively small

handholds. The heaviest lifting is also done

at the hottest time of year. However, using

three-quarter depth boxes reduces the

weight a beekeeper must lift.

Shifting hives can be even more difficult

and is generally a two-person operation, as a

two-storey, full-depth hive can weigh 70 kg

or more, depending on how much honey it

contains.

Timing

You must visit your hives regularly if they

are to stay healthy and productive, and if

you are to remain confident and satisfied

with your beekeeping.

The biggest workload is in spring, and

it is also in spring that fine weather seldom

seems to coincide with weekends. Certain

critical beekeeping tasks must be carried out

when colony conditions dictate, not at the

beekeeper’s convenience.

Eyesight

Good eyesight is needed for finding queens,

looking for eggs, and diagnosing brood

Photo: iStock/dashu83