This years crop demonstrated this. Hives in sheltered areas have done very well (away from the northerly winds), while those in more exposed areas only put on a box. Overall, it has been a mixed crop production wise. Some hives stored a lot of early bush honey, whiteywood, kamahi and Rewarewa, but most of our crop came in between Christmas and new year when we had four still days from late flowering bush sources.

Instead of filling up the boxes above the brood nest, most hives honeyed themselves down (stacked the honey in and around the brood nest) unless you started pulling up partially capped frames into the boxes above the brood nest. Once this box was full, you had to under-super (put a new super above the brood nest) otherwise the bees just sat there.

Some of the points noted this year.

For best results use escape boards. That is after you have checked the brood chamber for BL. Although this requires two trips to the hives, its easier on you, the bees and your neighbours. Just a little tip, scrape off the burr comb from the frames above and below where you intend to place the escape board. This allows the bees to move easier to the bottom supers.

Of course they won't work well if the queen is in the honey super or if there is any brood in the honey supers. Watch robbing when using boards. If left on for longer than a night and a box has a small hole or crack in it, it will be robbed out in no time. Use tape or foam plastic to seal the supers.

After extracting get them back on again, (after dark in the city). I have also noticed that the bees seem to be building up again so we could get another late flow. Weather reports for March sound good.

A word of warning - leave a least a box of honey for winter feed just in case this doesn't come off.

REQUEEN Now is the best time to requeen all hives. Make nucs or kill the old queen and introduce the new. This isn't the best way as sometime the older bees kill the new queen - best get her laying in a nuc and then swap frames between nuc and hive (with the old queen on). The bees from the nuc protect the new queen.

ENTERTAINMENT Been to see Ulee's Gold at the pictures recently. Its a great little story and portrays beekeeping in a good light - hard work. Beekeepers around the world are all alike - just can't get rid of old gear. Notice that old four frame extractor under the house? A few lines come to mind: "How are the bees" ? - "Well with pesticides, mites, and drought - they're doing just fine".

Well worth seeing.

The following plants are listed by Walsh as late summer sources:

¤ Tree Manuka (or Kanuka) - pollen and possible honeydew in Feb, ¤ Inkweed - pale thin nectar in late Jan, ¤ Fennel - nectar in Jan/Feb, ¤ Vipers Bugloss - abundant nectar in Jan/Feb, ¤ Ornamental Gums - nectar, ¤ Scarlet Gum - nectar and pollen in Jan/Feb, ¤ Stringbark (or Mealy) - pollen and nectar
The Aka - nectar in Jan/Feb, ¤ Catsear - late summer nectar (NB pollen from this plant is of poor quality), ¤ Pennyroyal - nectar Dec to Mar, ¤ Lancewood - nectar Feb to Apr, ¤ Giant Groundsel - late summer pollen and some nectar, ¤ Thyme - nectar in late summer, ¤ Sunflower - copious nectar and pollen in autumn, ¤ Boxthorn - nectar during Feb/Mar, ¤ Silver Weed - pollen and some nectar in autumn, ¤ Mint - nectar during Feb/Mar, ¤ Mana Gum (or White Gum) - nectar and some pollen Feb to Apr, ¤ Elaeagnus - nectar in Mar to Apr.

Don’t forget that the Club will be holding its annual Honey competition at the March Meeting. The aim of this competition is to get members to prepare and present a sample of their honey. It is NOT a competition about honey taste.

The secret in this competition is to take great care in filtering your honey to remove impurities, to get rid of air bubbles. You should also start with only the best honey which has a low moisture content (so it will keep).

There are four classes in the competition as per last year:

1. Liquid Honey. This is the standard honey produced from extraction, and the emphasis is on quality of presentation. No air bubbles or particles, no granulation, and a suitable low water content.
2. Creamed Honey. The emphasis is once again on presentation, with the aim being to have a smooth and consistent texture to the honey.
3. Comb Honey. Entries to be a frame of honey which would be suitable for cutting and packing as comb honey. Emphasis is on the presentation of the frame. Please bring a complete frame.
4. Mead. Emphasis will be on the presentation and quality of the mead (is it balanced, fermentation finished etc). Entries to be in clear glass bottle.

The club encourages members to take the time to prepare some of their honey to the best possible standard and to enter it into the competition. There is a cup awarded to the best entry in the Liquid Honey class (along with a miniature for the winner to keep).

Last year, the club introduced new classes in response to demand from members, so please support the other categories as well. If you are producing creamed honey, or have good comb then bring it along to find out how it compares with similar products from other members.

Judges comments from previous years have indicated a high standard of entries, but there have been some recurring problems with impurities (eg bees legs), air bubbles, and excessive moisture content. Pay particular attention to these things in order to come up with the winning entry.

Your honey sample (limit of one per member in each of classes 1 & 2) is to be presented in a clear glass 200g jar (coffee jar size) with a well fitting lid. No labels or markings on lid/jar please.

Phone 0800-5BEEHIVE (0800-523344)
or 06-324 8224

We will trade Honey, Beeswax or Pollen for Gear

Contact Marjorie or Kevin Kibby
for further details or to place an order

Nick Wallingford maintains a very good Internet site on all aspects of beekeeping, with particular reference to New Zealand. This can be found at www.beekeeping.co.nz and is well worth browsing on a regular basis.

Autumn feeding is essential for light colonies that would otherwise starve out during winter or early spring. They may be light in stores because of a poor honey flow, because too much honey has been harvested, or because they are a late split. Feeding should be done early enough for there to be enough older bees to ripen the sugar into honey stores, and for the weather to be warm enough for the colony to be able to process the sugar, but not too early or unwanted brood rearing will be stimulated. Do not continue to feed colonies past May, as winter feeding will cause the bees to store syrup in brood combs that should be left empty for clustering on.

An opportunity for all hobbyist and commercial beekeepers to learn something new about bees and hive management.

Mark the date on your calender now. More information will be provided at the meeting and in the next newsletter.

Members wishing to use one of the Club’s extractors will receive an account when collecting the extractor from 26 Cunliffe Street, Johnsonville. This fee should be paid at the time of collection. Extractor is to be returned to the Treasurer at above address. Note: that there is a one week limit per hiring.

Our secretary, John Burnet, is currently planning some interesting sessions for next year. Please mark these dates in your diary and come along.

If there are any topics of particular interest which you would like discussed at future meetings, or if you know of an interesting speaker who is able to talk about a topic of relevance to beekeepers, then please advise John Burnet.