RHBC recommends you begin your beekeeping hobby with a nucleus hive (nucs.) Nucs consist of a small colony of bees including a queen bee which is generally housed on four frames. Starting with a small colony of bees allows you to gain confidence in handling bees as the colony expands. Nucs are often available in October or November and again in autumn. RHBC has a limited number of nucs available from club members in spring and commercial beekeepers in autumn. We also recommend you start with new beekeeping hardware.

Other options are to purchase an established hive. By buying an established hive you are more likely to have surplus honey in your first year. However, with the huge interest in beekeeping buying an established hive is not a common option. It is also essential to have a hive checked by an experienced beekeeper prior to purchase to ensure it is not diseased.

Honey bee colonies reproduce by swarming and frequently RHBC has swarms available, especially in spring. However there are disadvantages with swarms as they may carry varroa or spores of American foulbrood.

Protective gear
RHBC recommends those new to beekeeping wear protective clothing so that you feel relatively confident when handling bees. This includes;
Smoker. This is probably the most important piece of protective equipment as it is used to calm bees.
Veil/overalls. Single piece suits that incorporate a veil are very popular and are more bee tight than separate units.
Gloves. Leather beekeeping gloves with long elasticised cuffs to protect the wrists work well.

Hive equipment:
Hive equipment can be purchased in kitset form or those with good woodworking skills can make their own. If making your own, precision is required so that measurements are exact to ensure correct bee spacing.
Bee Boxes. The bottom one or two boxes are called brood boxes and are where the young bees are reared and honey and pollen stored for winter. The boxes above the brood boxes are for storage of surplus honey and are called supers. Before purchasing bee boxes a decision needs to be made whether to use full depth (240mm deep) boxes or three quarter depth (185mm) deep boxes. The advantage of three quarter boxes is they are easier to lift and manipulate. Chat to several beekeepers at the RHBC for further info on the advantages/disadvantages of each size of box.
Frames: These can be either wooden or plastic.
Foundation: Wooden frames are filled with sheets of foundation, which are sheets of beeswax embossed with the worker cell pattern. Plastic frames include comb foundation as part of the frame. If they don’t come pre waxed then beekeepers need to apply molten wax.
Hive lids: To keep the beehive weather proof.
Floorboards: These may be solid timber or have a mesh insert. They should sit on runners.
Other possible equipment is a hive mat, queen excluder, plastic feeders……

The exterior of the hive is normally protected using a bee friendly fungicide and then given two coats of paint.

We strongly recommend you also purchase a copy of “Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand.” RHBC has these available at a discounted price to members.

A list of beehive equipment suppliers is given in the “About Bees” drop down box.

Having a beehive is a fascinating hobby however with it, come responsibilities to ensure that the health of the bees in our care is maintained.  Disease can not only destroy your own hive but have a huge detrimental effect on others hives in the area and to the industry.  As backyard beekeepers, we must be mindful of the potential risk that can occur to this essential industry through ignorance.  If a hive dies, it is very important to identify why that occurred and if expertise is needed to assist, then please access that.  There are many issues which can affect a colony’s health including but not limited to a variety of diseases, Varroa Destructor mite, poisoning, starving to death etc. Having a Bee Club, enables us to share knowledge to assist others but also to access expertise through guest speakers which as individuals we would not have access to.
All apiaries’ (one or more hives in a location) in New Zealand are required by law to be registered.  This is managed by AsureQuality and can be done through the web site www.afb.org.nz  where you can access the form for registration of apiaries, transfer and reporting disease.  If there is an outbreak of any disease in your area, you will be notified.  Knowing where the hives are, ensures that management of disease is able to take place.  Once you have registered, you will be allocated a registration code.  Once per year, every beekeeper who owns a hive/s is required to fill out an Annual Disease Return for each apiary to update location information, number of hives, if hives have been bought or sold/transferred and if any hives had American Foul Brood.
There is a small levy payable to contribute to the National American Foulbrood Pest Management Strategy.  The base levy is $20 and $13 per apiary per annum.
In addition to this, beekeepers who have not attained a Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement (DECA) and passed the disease test are required to fill out a Certificate of Inspection and in order to complete this form it is necessary to have an approved beekeeper (one that has a DECA) inspect your hives between 1st August and 30th November and sign the Certificate of Inspection on your behalf.

Careful consideration needs to go into deciding where to place your new beehive. There are a number of factors that need to be considered.

• Permission of landowner.
• Shelter from prevailing winds.
• Sunlight. Apiaries should receive as much sunlight as possible.
• Food sources. Bees will require good nectar and pollen sources within foraging distance.
• Good access for the safety and convenience of the beekeeper. Ensure at least wheelbarrow access so there is no need to lift heavy honey boxes long distances.
• Consider your neighbours as bee droppings on bee’s flight path can soil houses, cars and laundry. Ensure your neighbours are not going to be inconvenienced by low flying bees. Locating hives behind a fence, trees etc forces bees to fly high. Bees also require water so bees collecting water from your neighbour’s swimming pools etc is bound to be detrimental for neighbourly relationships.

Swarming has many causes and it is normally the interplay of several of these that causes a hive to swarm;

• There is no doubt at all that genetics plays a huge role in both encouraging and discouraging swarming.

• The time of year when most hives swarm varies from place to place but in general October and November will be the worst.

• Letting hives get to full, especially in late spring is not a good idea.

• The type of nectar and pollen they are collecting is heavily implicated with Barbary and Broome the two main offenders.

• A dearth period following good spring flows such as willow can lead to a large number of bees in the hive with nothing to do. Hives in this condition even with plenty of room and sometimes low on honey stores often swarm catastrophically and yet even a moderate honey flow normally alleviates this problem.

• Old Queens are reputed to swarm more than young Queens and while this may be true for spring Queens I have not found it so for autumn raised Queens with my Queens entering their second year swarming significantly less than first year Queens.

Early beekeepers in New Zealand talked about hives putting out up to 8 swarms. This is not something we should encourage any more. Unless they are hived by a beekeeper, all swarms now die within 12 months from varroa.

 Swarms can move into buildings where they are a public nuisance and the only way to remove them is generally using lethal methods. In general members of the public do not like swarms and they can cause bad publicity.

Swarming drastically affects the honey crop especially if it is an early season.  After the main swarm some hives continue to put out virgin swarms often to the point of the hive dying. Spring weather is notoriously fickle and not infrequently the new Queen is not properly mated and once again the hive can die.

What can you do to prevent swarming?

If you keep bees they will swarm at some stage, everybody’s hives swarm all you can do is keep it to a minimum.

• Never breed from hives with any tendency to swarm.

• Never let hives get to full in the spring or two hungry for that matter.

• There may be some advantage in trapping pollen in areas where hives are strong and pollen is plentiful in late spring.

• Take a split from any strong hives especially from those raising cells.

• Remove frames of sealed brood from strong hives and use them to build up weak hives either in the same apiary or in another area.

• Swap positions between week hives and strong hives.

How to detect swarming.

Assuming you are running your hives with two brood boxes the simplest method is to split the two boxes and look underneath the top box where you will see swarm cells hanging down. You need to go through every frame that the Queen has access to and look very carefully destroying all cells as you go (or saving them for royal jelly). If the main honey flow has started this may be all you need to do but otherwise you must do something or they will simply swarm again. Removing two frames of sealed brood from the bottom box and three from the second box and replacing them with foundation frames is my preferred option. I normally give these frames are light shake which tends to remove the older bees (young bees hold on tight) and then after a careful check for the Queen, I use them to build up weak hives.

If we are taking them to a different apiary we carry them in ventilated sealed boxes where they are fine for several hours, you can also leave them leaning against the front entrance of the hive as long as there is not much robbing and they will collect returning field bees which is useful if you want to use the brood frames for starting some new hives in a different apiary.

It’s better if you use Queen cells or cage Queen’s but if you really want to it’s very simple to take the existing hive a few meters away and preferably facing it in a different direction, set up a new hive in its old position with three frames of honey and three frames of brood leaving one and only one swarm cell to create a new Queen.

John Berry – June 2012

Our thanks to John for allowing us to share his notes with you.

Honey bees generally leave the stinger embedded in the skin. Remove the stinger as soon as possible since some additional venom may be pumped by the venom sac. Honey bee stings are best removed by scraping (not crushing) the stinger with a finger nail or knife blade.

Localized swelling and pain are typical reactions to a sting by a wasp or bee. In most people, these symptoms gradually disappear within a few hours. Some swelling, itching and pain are all normal reactions and do not necessarily indicate a systemic reaction to the venom of the sting.

Treat the sting site with an antiseptic to prevent possible infection. Cool lotions or compresses can help relieve pain and swelling. If many stings are received oral antihistamines can sometimes reduce swelling and itching.

Approximately 1 % of the population develops hypersensitivity to either bee or wasp venom following repeated stings. A systemic allergic reaction can involve difficulty in breathing, dizziness, nausea and development of hives. These symptoms may require immediate medical attention.

To set up your swarm in their new hive:

• Select a warm, sunny location, using one hive box unless the hive was more than 3 footballs in size, then use two. Place other boxes in storage.
• Ensure the boxes have 9-10 frames in them.
• If you are housing a swarm, this is best done in the evening.  Remove sufficient frames to enable you to tip the swarm into your hive box. You can carefully replace frames for the bees to move onto. If you have drawn frames put these in the centre and if available two or three frames of feed on the sides to encourage the bees to stay.
• If you are starting with new hive ware, then the colony will need to be fed. The bees have left their mother hive with only the honey they could carry in their stomachs.  This is needed to make wax so they can create a new home.  Putting them into a hive with foundation frames (not drawn out into cells) means they have to work really hard over the next few months to collect enough nectar to make enough wax to make the cells.  Without the cells the Queen cannot lay and therefore maintain the population.
• If you do not have a feeder, then order one asap. In the meantime, have your sugar syrup made up (2 cups sugar dissolved in 1 cup hot water) – about 2-3 litres.  Add another box without putting any frames in it.  On top of the frames in the box with the bees, place a shallow container with something floating in it (polystyrene pieces, straw, or put some large stones in it) so the bees can access the syrup without drowning.  Do the same thing to your feeder when it arrives if it is a frame feeder.  Then put your hive mat and lid on top.  This is only a temporary measure for a few days while your feeder arrives.  Check it every couple of days and top it up.
• Sugar syrup is best given at night (red head torch is ideal as this does not disturb the bees) in order to avoid robbing from other colonies. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS NOT TO SPILL ANY.  Hose it down if you do.
• The next thing is to ensure the front of your hive has a reduced entrance so that they can guard their new home. Put some folded up wind break or small pieces of wood along the front of the hive, leaving a gap that it 2-3 bees wide.  Ideally the gap is in the middle of the hive.
• Check your colony by carefully removing the frames in about 10 days to see if there are any eggs or very small larvae present indicating that your swarm is Queen Right (has a queen).
• Handle frames very carefully as the queen may be on any frame – there is no need to find her.
  • Remove the end frame first – slowly – to avoid rolling and killing the bees. You can move subsequent frames across into the gap before you lift them out.
  • Lift up each frame to look at it on both sides, holding the top corners.
  • Be gentle and move smoothly rather than jerking or banging. Do this reasonably quickly (in other words don’t have your hive open for more than 10-15 minutes). Note details of what you saw in your bee diary later.
• A week after placing the bees in the hive you can do your first full inspection on a warm afternoon.
• You may not get surplus honey to remove this season; that will depend on the health of the bees, the age of the queen, forage opportunities, weather and how strong the colony was at the start.
• Other VERY IMPORTANT POINTS :
• Remember the disease status of the issuing hive is unknown. Keep your bees in one apiary for 18 months without shifting them from that apiary. Monitor them for signs of AFB.  Avoid sharing gear with any other hive until you are sure there is no disease.
• Treat the swarm for varroa mite by putting in treatment about week later so they are settled. You can put in four strips of Bayvarol.
• There is no guarantee that the bees will stay in their new home, or that the queen is present and undamaged. As it is older queens that usually swarm, the colony may supersede the current queen.
• If you are not registered as a beekeeper you must register within 30 days; this is a legal requirement. Register via afb.org.nz or by contacting Asure Quality on 0508 00 11 22.
• Club Members can receive support by phone from experienced members of the club or request assistance with checking the hive. A buddy may be available to provide ongoing support.
• Please ask if you are not sure.

Download info here.