39
NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MAY 2017
CHRISTCHURCH
WEST COAST
It’s interesting how a disaster, or in the case of the Christchurch Hobbyist Beekeepers’Club, a near disaster, makes you re-evaluate things. Christchurch seems to be getting pretty practiced at this sort of thing. As a result of the Christchurch fires in mid-February, the club committee has had a good hard look at how we run the club. It has been decided that we will become an Incorporated Society. This will remove any personal liability from members and enable the club to obtain insurance in its own right. This process is relatively simple as most of the requirements are already being met; i.e. we already have rules, a committee and our accounts are audited for the AGM, etc. It does seem strange that this hasn’t been addressed before, seeing the club has been in existence for over 50 years. We are also looking at the club’s website and how that works. Some feedback seems to indicate that it’s not too user-friendly. As the club has accumulated more assets on site, the loss of these through fire or theft would seriously erode the club’s financial resources to replace them. We are also investigating some sort of legal arrangement regarding the use of the site. While the property owner is very happy for us to be there, as residential development creeps closer, it would be good for us to have some sort of clarity regarding tenure. In the past, it has been a loose agreement with the property owner (we just provided a few jars of honey as a thank you). The area the club has the use of is not visible from the road and is in a sheltered area in an old orchard at the front of the property. Security from the general public is great, but not from beekeeping visitors it seems. On our last field day (8 April), 90 people turned up, about 60 of whom were members and the rest were visitors. As one hive was opened (the best-performing one), it was noticed that the selected queen donated by one of our queen breeding members was missing and there was a self-raised virgin queen on the frame in its place. Whilst we would like to think it was not a club member, it has to be someone with some beekeeping experience, as the hive showed no sign of interference. This hive also was the one that we used for queen grafting on the last field day, but none actually took. When I removed the cell frame in the middle of March, the queen was present. As we get a lot of visitors on field days, the apiary is becoming more known. This poses the issue of hive security. Currently, only hive straps are used to secure hives. This obviously will need to be addressed. Wintering down and varroa treatment also were demonstrated at the 8 April field day. I saw some new beekeepers taking notes as the hives are demonstrated, which is good. Talking to them afterwards, it seems that some go home and repeat just what they have been shown on their own hives. Joining us at the field day were the stars and film crew from“The Adam and Eve Show”, a TV2 programme aimed at young adults, in which Adam and Eve are placed in situations outside of their comfort zone. This show will air on TV2 on 16 May at 3:30 pm, and will also be available on YouTube.
It’s almost the end of another season, with the hives all settled into their winter sites, varroa control in place, and winter stores well stocked up. Honey extraction is almost finished now. The last boxes harvested did end up with a tasty lick of rata, along with a nice hit of pasture honey to finish off the crop. Although the crop was smaller this year, the late flow did provide a few additional drums to the count, and winter stores also received a good boost. We are finding the majority of hive stock to be in generally good health, particularly due to the influx of healthy, young autumn bees that were a result of the late surge in brood raising last month. Hopefully we will notice fewer hive losses as we approach next spring. Overall, not a lot has changed since last month, aside from the lack of daylight hours and the sudden desire to hibernate. April–June 2017 temperatures are most likely to be above average (50% chance) in the north of the North Island, and about equally likely to be above average (45% chance) or average (40% chance) for all other regions of New Zealand. There is little chance (only 10–15%) of temperatures being below average over the late autumn season as a whole, but nevertheless frosts will occur from time to time in cooler locations later in the season. April–June 2017 rainfall totals are about equally likely to be above normal (40% chance) or near normal (35% chance) in the north of both Islands. Conversely, rainfall is about equally likely to be below normal (40% chance) or near normal (35% chance) in the west of the South Island. For other regions, near normal rainfall is the most likely outcome (45% chance). April–June 2017 soil moisture levels and river flows are about equally likely to be above normal (40–45% chance) or near normal (35–40% chance) in the north and west of the North Island, but below normal (45% chance) in the west of the South Island. In the east of the North Island, soil moisture levels are likely to be near normal (40% chance), with river flows equally likely to be normal or below (35% chance). In the north of the South Island, soil moisture is likely to be normal (40% chance) or above (35% chance), with river flows near normal (40% chance). Finally, in the east of the South Island, both soil moisture levels and river flows are most likely to be near normal (45% chance). Source NIWA (2017, 31 March). Seasonal climate outlook: April 2017–June 2017. Available online from https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/ seasonal-climate-outlook/seasonal-climate-outlook-april-2017- june-2017 NIWA SEASONAL CLIMATE OUTLOOK - Carla Glass
- Lindsay Moir
Made with FlippingBook Annual report