New honey industry organisation proposal open for industry feedback Apiculture New Zealand and the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association (UMFHA) have shared plans with their members on a proposal to form a new industry body. This new organisation will be better placed to provide a stronger collective voice for the honey industry’s commercial beekeepers [...]
To get a behind-the-scenes look at how international standards for honey and hive products are being developed, Karen Allan caught up with the New Zealanders who are putting in the hard work and late nights to ensure fair, quality standards are produced, and counterfeit products are kept out of the market. The International Organisation [...]
Q. Can I sell my beeswax if it has been processed in a NP1 kitchen? A. If you are operating under a National Programme (NP) 1 Guidance and want to process beeswax for sale that is not for human or animal consumption, then you do not require a registration or have requirements to meet [...]
Q. How does one start, and increase an apiary in and around Carterton? A. It depends on whether you want to be a hobbyist or commercial beekeeper. In the first case the best step would be to join a local beekeeping club, your nearest is likely to be Wellington Beekeepers’ Club, you are fortunate [...]
Q. I’m a second-year beekeeper, I lost my hives last winter. Should I check my hives in the winter? A. It depends. Like most things in beekeeping, context is everything. There is the dilemma that going into a hive will actually set it back, but a hive needs to be managed and not going [...]
Q. Why don't drones sting? A. Only female insects sting. This is because the sting has evolved from the ovipositor, which lays eggs. We can see this today in parasitoid wasps where she lays an egg inside an immobilised host which the young wasp consumes as it develops. The sting of the honey bee [...]
4 June 2024 New Zealand Honey Strategy receives funding boost The New Zealand’s honey sector’s plan for a more sustainable and future has received a funding boost through MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund. The MPI funding will support and enable a work programme to act on the recommendations made in the sector [...]
29 May 2024 Honey has a plan and is sticking to it By Karin Kos, Chief Executive of Apiculture New Zealand Farmers Weekly’s front-page article last week would have readers believing the end is nigh for the New Zealand honey-producing industry. But that is far from the case. That is not for a moment to deny [...]
Q. My queen came outside the hive for some reason. A. With so little context, it is difficult to give a definitive answer as to why this happened. Assuming that she came out alone and went back in, we can eliminate swarming, absconding and being ejected after having been superseded. If she’s a virgin, [...]
Q. Who is in charge inside the hive? The queen or the workers (foragers)? Good question. While it is commonly thought that she is called the queen because she is in charge, the hive can be likened to New Zealand and its form of government which is a constitutional monarchy. The queen is the [...]