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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, DECEMBER 2016
FROM THE CHATHAMS
FOSTERING AN “ACTIVE CULTURE FOR BEEKEEPING”
Mana Cracknell and Michele Andersen
Our active culture for beekeeping on Chatham Island engages many platforms, several of which we have listed below. If bees will create and sustain the environment we require to ensure our existence, then they will need to co-opt and retrain us to help them do that.
We think this will be done by:
November and extend into March 2017, weather permitting.
queens to produce a generation of bees that would build up fast enough to target New Zealand mānuka flowering in October. It is important to maintain this trait on the island because it enables us to produce nucs for island beekeepers. One of the other pre-identified set of qualities for continued amplification and distribution this year is a set of traits wherein the queen and her colony demonstrate advanced nurturing and ability to produce excellent naturally mated supersedure queens out to three generations in one honey season. This particular trial began three years ago (2013). The methodology was a bit shaky but we are fully satisfied with the outcome/results. Breeding and finishing hives are now primed to receive and on-rear queen cells (November). In some parts of the island, the number of drones currently on the wing is sufficient to produce a good natural queen mate and also to fill the initial straws of drone semen for artificial insemination (AI). The AI project will complement and underpin research and development. In December 2016 or February 2017, there will be a grafting and queen-rearing course on the island for existing beekeepers. Postscript If beekeepers are coming to the island, let us know by e-mailing us at mandersen@xtra.co.nz
• capitalising and maintaining clean, disease- free and healthy bee colonies and by preserving the DNA diversity 1 within that population • enabling them to breed high-quality durable queens 2 and bees 3 fit for environment, function and purpose • vesting major time and effort into research and field trials to inform and upskill 4 our bee awareness, management approaches and adaptive practices. With the arrival of November, the bees are busy pollinating the apple trees and small plots of kahikatoa (Leptospermum scoparium) destined to produce high-quality seed and stock for future plantings, trials and tribulations. A limited range but reasonable quantity of pollen is being collected in the pollen trap. This is mainly gorse, canola-gone-feral, tiny amounts of clover and some grass pollens. Pollen samples are sent to Massey University for identification and analysis as part of a project aimed at building and maintaining a pollen record for the island that extends back millions of years. Nectar 5 hives have already been set up. The bees will mostly forage clover (the pre- dominant nectar), but they will also forage harakeke, naturalised thistle, dandelion and ribbonwood—an endemic that produces a fine honey with a greenish-lime tinge. The main flow will begin near the end of
A small number of trial hives will also specifically target tarahinau (Dracophyllum arboreum) , an endemic that produces a nectar that resembles pink champagne. This pollen and nectar will be sent to a university or private lab for testing and assessment—cross fingers! During the last two winters we have encouraged colonies to produce ‘winter- specific bees’ and at the same time, we have been engaged in trialling an autumn–winter hive set-up (one brood box and one honey super) during the spring–summer honey flow. Results from both experiments in terms of winter hive loss (less than 1%), and increased amounts of honey gathered in the spring- summer flow (three boxes of honey per hive as opposed to one), justify amending the traditional island spring–summer set-up of two brood boxes and one to two honey supers. As an overarching goal, in 2014 we bred diversity up to capture increased vigour. In 2015 we bred diversity down, focusing on increased calmness. Amplifying traits In 2016 we will continue to amplify and consolidate particular traits in sections of our bee population. For instance, last year (2015) we bred five hives that have a New Zealand seasonal clock. This year those hives built up rapidly in September–October. Drone comb in those hives will ensure the New Zealand seasonal clock trait is passed through new
1 Whakapapa and tatai: vertically and laterally integrated aspect of DNA. 2 Puhi-kai-ariki: a queen raised on royal food (jelly). 3 Tai-mahana: ancient word for bees in a cluster or colony. It is a reference to the warmth generated. 4 Matatau: skilled accomplishment. 5 A history lesson in time— Maru: honey (ancient Rei-puta Māori); Marui: honey (Rei-puta Māori); Maruia: to overflow as waves, honey or swarming bees; Maruiwi: hive or ancient word for numerous tribe (New Zealand Māori); Madhu: honey (Sanskrit); Miere: honey (French); Mead and Honey Mead: honey and a drink made from honey (Celtic and Modern English).
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