13
NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017
Hives at Kaingaroa School. All photos by Michele Andersen.
Same hive mat stapled to a feeder ring: 1
When ET returned to the Chatham Islands as a drone
were assembled to allow for that. The air cushion keeps the bees warm, we can use cheap straps to secure the hives and wooden pallets rot.” Both hives were double queeners living and laying in the same brood boxes and very happy with their arrangement. We took the old queens away. Visitors: some came and two stayed In the past two months, several beekeepers have visited the island as part of tour groups and we met up, caught up and shared information. They are aware of the challenges that bees and beekeepers face on this island and they have left with some good information to help them refine and redefine their commercial operations and approaches. We have shared with them the mission and vision to establish the island as a bee-safe sanctuary, with its own beekeeping school and research and development arm to serve the bee needs of our country. We have spoken about our need to build investment and skills partnerships and our aim to create a new industry on, for and with the island community. Another beekeeper arrived on 9 February. This year the island gained two more beekeepers. Both have had employment as entry-level hive workers within commercial beekeeping operations. Planning a visit? If beekeepers are coming to the island, please let us know by e-mailing us at mandersen@xtra.co.nz
Throwback gene, or is this drone sporting new Chatham shades? This rare drone has an ancient recessive gene that causes it to have white eyes. We need to do more research and II (Instrumental Insemination) to identify breeding potential. Cordovan queens also carry a recessive gene. Seven years ago, we crossed that gene with the Buckfast and other indescripts to produce several super queens. Unfortunately, when you have a giant queen that lays 5000 eggs a day, it creates all kinds of management problems from a beekeeper’s point of view. We shut down the programme to give us time to think through the implications for beekeeping. It’s true: kids are indeed future kings and queens As shown at the top of this page, we have cleaned up the two hives at Kaingaroa School. The child-sized suits have been washed and the bees are ready to teach the kids. The new teacher said, “Oh, those hives fit on the fish bins” and we replied, “Yes, the baseboards
6. Set-up is used with a recycled plastic tray to deliver the winter bee feed mix 2 directly above the cluster. 7. Turn the ring and mat over, open the front facing entrance, staple it to the brood box and we have a temporary baseboard. 8. This is also used as a bee escape hatch. Close the doors on the hive mat. Place a queen excluder on top of the ring or on top of the brood box and use it to encourage bees to exit the honey super one week before the honey super is removed. 3
1 The feeder ring/square is made by cutting a full-depth box to produce a three-quarter honey super to meet the demands of advancing age over beauty. 2 We discovered the recipe on the Canadian Bee Feed bag was mainly for drowning bees, so we developed our own recipe and delivery mechanism. The goal was to cut feed costs by 80% while improving outcomes by 80%. Our winter hive loss rate is now at 1%. 3 We found bees did not like crossing the empty space (the feeder ring) to get to the honey super above, so they stayed downstairs and packed the brood boxes with honey (which is all good for winter).
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs