Articles

New Zealand is home to 28 species of native bee, but most people wouldn’t recognise one buzzing past in the garden. Unlike their brightly coloured, social, honey-making cousins, native bees are mostly black, they lead solitary lives, and honey-making is not on their agenda.

Many Kiwi beekeepers start out as hobbyists, with one or two hives in a back garden or on a rural property, then make the jump to selling honey and beekeeping full time.

For beginner beekeepers, beehive positioning may not seem that important. Many newbies simply pop their brand new hive in a flat spot, without considering how temperature, wind exposure, damp, and even direction might affect their bees.​​

Organic food is made without using chemical pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or other artificial chemicals during production. Organic fruit growers don’t spray their trees or vines, using natural methods to control insects on their produce. Organic meat and dairy farmers don’t use antibiotics or artificial hormones to speed up animal growth. For many proponents, the organic concept extends into the overall management of the farm or orchard as well – they tend to take a slower, natural approach to crop or animal management, with a focus on caring for their charges rather than profit.

Beekeeping involves working with a large number of unpredictable living things. So of course, there are risks and dangers. But if you follow safe beekeeping guidelines, you should be able to minimise the risk to you, your family, your neighbours, and your bees. It’s about being well-prepared, thinking about the placement of your hives, and – most importantly – being calm and patient when you work with bees.

​Like any food product, honey needs to be handled safely before it can be sold. In New Zealand, safety standards cover everything – processing, testing, packaging and labelling. If you want to sell your honey, you need to meet these standards – and prove that you’ve met them. But before you do that, here’s our rough guide to safe processing and packaging:

Everyone knows that bees make honey, but beginner beekeepers are often surprised by exactly how much they produce.

After a long, cold winter spent huddled inside, everyone is looking forward to spring – bees included. For your hives, spring is a time of intense activity. Egg-laying, brood-raising, and nectar-gathering all start to ramp up after being almost non-existent in winter.

Spring is nearly here, the days are getting longer, and it's time to get ready for increased population and swarming.