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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017
Kanuka in flower: not a bee on it.
A bee taking advantage of the last of the manuka in the Wellington region.
Mānuka standards Packers are not buying honey until the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) announces the new mānuka standards. These standards might make beekeepers look carefully at what they are doing. Instead of just putting all the honey boxes through the extracting plant and having a proportion with mānuka, they may have to sort boxes/frames and extract mānuka separately. It’s the only way to guarantee a good product that contains the leptospermum markers. In the Wellington area, our mānuka under the present system is generally 50/50 with other honeys such as kāmahi, catsear and lotus major. Technically it could still be labelled mānuka as it is 50% mānuka, but I feel our honey will be classified as a mānuka blend and the price paid by the packers will drop accordingly. Gone, I hope, will be the 5+ range from the shop shelves, which were a blend anyway. Those areas where only mānuka is flowering (i.e., where the bees have no alternative) and produce a 70% mānuka will become more sought after, as the honey will have strong leptospermum chemical markers. Those with lots of kānuka will have a harder job. Sometimes the kānuka flow is slightly later. Sometimes it’s very hard to separate. The difference in taste between mānuka and kānuka is that kānuka has a sharp taste at the end. Coping with a poor season Most older beekeepers have seen bad production seasons before. They kept their hives strong in the spring and only split hives or removed brood to stop swarming. Bees won’t draw out comb on a dribble but they will store nectar if they have drawn combs. This year, some of the older beekeepers have produced a modest crop in selected sites in valleys that are sheltered from the southwesterly wind. It might not be The last thing you do in beekeeping is to stop feeding hives, especially when money is short in the spring.
the sort of honey they wished for, but they produced a honey crop and the bees have enough to winter on. So what can you do if faced with financial difficulties? A long time ago, I was told that the last thing you do in beekeeping is to stop feeding
Treating for varroa: this is a hive’s reaction to 40 ml of formic acid on the bottom slide.
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