Swanson 1 the suspected queen less hive was very quiet, so I donned on my newly repaired veil, and headed to see if the queen was indeed missing from the hive.

I spotted no brood in the bottom or top layer. The hive was full of bees and quite a few drones as well.

Looking through a frame full of bees, I spotted the queen in all her glory. She did seem smaller than other queens, but she is in residence. She is obviously not laying at moment.

The hive has plenty of food, so let’s hope this is just a normal part of winter, the bees seem pretty happy and are still bringing in nectar.

We added one of our test quilt levels onto the hive (see our blog post Wrapping up your bees in a Quilt?), so we will see how the bees gets on with this new level. I placed a queen excluder between the top-level and the quilt level. This will give the bees some more bee space.

At that point my brother turned up with some beers, and it was getting cold, so I called it a day . The temperature had dropped 4 degrees, so I didn’t want to risk chilling any brood. Or drinking warm beer…

See ya…Gary

P.S. Our Podcast is now on itunes!!! If you have an iPad or Ipod, Check out http://itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/the-kiwimana-buzz…/id528732255

But what is a Podcast?

A Podcast is similar to a radio show, but it is distributed via the Internet and not radio waves.

You can read more podcasts in this wiki article LINK.

Podcasts are available on many topics. On our podcast we will be talking about the similar things we write about on our blog:-
Beekeeping, gardening and other related news.

How can I listen?

Download the file and listen on your computer. Right click HERE And select save file.

If your computer has been setup, you can can click HERE and listen to the podcast on your computer.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, if you have a iPod or iPad. Here is the link to our iTunes page.
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/the-kiwimana-buzz…/id528732255

Subscribe via some Pod Catcher software such as Media Monkey or Juice. Check out this article about Pod Catching software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_podcatchers

This is the RSS feed to use in your Pod Catcher software:-
http://feeds.feedburner.com/kiwimanabuzz

When to listen?

The beauty of audio is that you can listen while you do other things.

Some examples are:-
• Travelling to work in your car or on the bus. Gary listens to them on the train.
• While walking on a treadmill at the gym or home.
• Working in your workshop building bee hive frames. As exciting as this can be .

Please give it a go and please send us your feedback and questions for the next show. We plan to do one show a month, if you guys find it useful.

Welcome to the Kiwimana Buzz!!! We hope you enjoy our first effort….

Gary and Margaret

Here are the show noted for today’s show:-

Show Notes

Welcome to the first Kiwimana buzz podcast.

Kiwimana News

What’s been happening at Kiwimana?

Wrapping up your bees in a Quilt? LINK
An old idea taken from Warre hives that we are going to test over winter

Music TOM LARK All Night Long LINK
We got to meet the bass player from the band Tom Lark, while we were buying a mixer to record our podcast.

Replacing old comb in your hive LINK
Why we replace old comb in our hives.

Save the Bees – Stop the Fee – UPDATE LINK
Team Kiwimana visit the town hall and met Mayor Len Brown. What’s the latest update?

Misconceptions at the Waitemata Home and Garden show LINK
Some funny stories about what members of the public people thought about bees.

Other News

US – Waldorf Astoria Hotel installs bee hives on its roof LINK
A luxury hotel in New York has installed six beehives on its rooftop. With the goal of harvesting honey by mid-summer.

NZ – Blood-sucking varroa mites spread to Southland LINK
Varroa mites have been discovered in the lower South Island region of New Zealand .

Ireland – Breeding a better bee LINK
Beekeepers in Tipperary are breeding bees that can resist the Varroa mite.
This is similar to the Mercury Island project which has recently ended in New Zealand.

Backyard Pesticide Use May Fuel Bee Die-Offs LINK
Neonicotinoid pesticides are being used in everday consumer plant treatments, home gardeners are asked to be more careful what they purchase for they gardens.

Neonicotinoid’s to avoid, a good guide to take with you to the garden centre from the Albuquerque Beekeepers website. LINK
We wonder how many of these are being sold in New Zealand?

US – Mild winter could lead to huge honeybee die-off come fall LINK
Elevated mite loads because of the good health of the honey bees coming out of a mild winter.

The BK Corner Podcast – LINK
Kevin Inglin’s podcast, a hobby beekeeper from central New Jersey.

Upcoming events in New Zealand

2 June 2012 – Bee Keeping Wananga 2012
9 June 2012 – Auckland Bee Club 65th Anniversary (Auckland)
10 June 2012 – The Franklin Bee Club “Club Day”
23 June 2012 – Inaugral NZ Natural Beekeeping Conference
28 June 2012 – Manawatu Bee Club Monthly Meeting

Phone Call

Nigel advised that he will be attending a meeting with Council’s Finance and Strategy Committee on 23 May ’12, there, he said he would be making the following recommendations:

1. That the proposed (Bee keeping annual consent) fee be removed from the Auckland Council LTP.

2. That Bee keeping on ‘Public Land’ would require consent; and that

2.a. any such consent would be at no charge (to the applicant).

3. That Auckland Council will not charge any fee nor require consent for those keeping Bees on Private land.

Thanks

We would like to thank Nigel for his call this morning, and thank him for supporting those who keep Bees in Auckland, we hope his recommendations are supported.

Our View

Point: Unfortunately there was no mention of removing any penalties for keeping Bees, we believe this should also be part of their considerations.

If Nigel’s recommendations are supported, we believe this would be a fair outcome.  We feel the benefits will be 100% for Bee keepers who have Bees on their (or other’s) Privately owned land. 

So… go Auckland Council’s Finance and Strategy Committee!… we encourage you to remove the Fee, support these recommendations, plus add that there will be no penalties for keeping Bees and we will know you have listened and support the keeping of  Bees in Auckland!  This will be a great move for Auckland Council and we hope all Council’s (all over the world) will take a leaf out of Auckland Council’s tree.

Going Forward

We Beekeepers can continue to provide swarm control services to Council with no need to charge for this service – so win/win

We anticipate being able to update you after the meeting of 23 May ’12. Please be aware that the decisions from the delegated authorities, such as the Finance and Strategy Committee, are then presented to the Council for adopting into the Auckland Council Long Term Plan – meeting of 28 June ’12.

Clarification

We would like to clarify the the matter of receiving the information in writing after the hearings, I have been advised that Council were unable to provide their decision in writing until it had been through the complete submission process, which entailed the submissions being considered by the delegated authorities. Delegated authorities are the committee’s or boards who are responsible for the relevant subject being considered and as this is yet to happen, Council could not provide anything in writing at this time. We appreciate Council getting back to us on this matter.

Here the summary of the inspections:-

Swanson 1

Swanson is a bustling hive with around three frames of brood and loads of honey.

I didn’t notice any eggs or a Queen today, so this hive could be queen-less, we will check it again next week. The queen may be having a rest?

Glen Eden 2

This hive may have been robbed, Margaret noticed some robbing type behavior last week. These guys have plenty of brood, but very little honey at all.

I have added a frame of spare honey to the hive and reduced the hive to one full-sized box. We may have to feed this hive I suspect.

I didn’t spot the queen, but did see loads of new lava.

I will check both of these next week, perhaps the answer is to merge the hives together, if the Swanson hive is indeed queen-less. We have heard some queens have stopped laying due to the winter temperature.

See ya….Gary

It was interesting to talk bees with members of the public, and we found a few people that were really keen. We hope these guys take the next step and come along to the next club day 12 May 2012.

Some misconceptions I discovered, while chatting with the public:-

I can’t have bees I don’t have enough space!

A beehive only needs a square metre and another metre for you to stand while you are working the hive. Come on guys you don’t need to supply the bees all the land to forage.

The bees will attack my children!

Bees are generally non-aggressive. If you provoke them by throwing stones at their hive, then that’s another story .

As long as you ensure the bees approach to the hive isn’t a footpath then you should be fine. If you place the hive entrance against a fence or hedge (Give them about a foot of space). This forces the bees to gain height before taking off, this avoids the issue of bees flying across pathways and disturbing people.

You can hide an army truck and it will never be found.

Hee Hee this was one of Andrews stories, ask him about it the next time you see him.

Thanks Andrew and Anahera for making it an enjoyable day. All in all a good home show, see you at the next club day 12 May 2012!!! More details at the club web site at http://www.aucklandbeekeepersclub.org.nz

Introduction

It was good to see a lot of other bee-keepers today at the meeting, and as we found out it was one of many hearings held by the Auckland Council across the city.

I believe the other meetings would have had a similar number of bee-keepers, gardeners and bee enthusiasts who are opposed to the bee fee. We established from the information, that there were 158 submissions altogether and interestingly and quite humbling…we saw that the majority of submitters used the form that we had created…thanks guys

We also saw and spoke to Kim, John and Kevin from the Auckland Bee Club as well.  Kevin brought along a jar of honey to share, which we think was a great idea.  Kim said she was going to inspect the bees on top of the Town Hall while she was there.

The hearings were set up in what they called a “forum” type  method, where there were several tables set-up and each table had a “chair” being a councillor, and a “scribe” to take notes.  They explained that because there were such a large amount of submissions, this was considered the best way to enable all submitters to speak to their submissions.  It appeared informal, however they did allow us the freedom to speak in support or disagreement of other submissions which we felt was a bonus.

The councillors on our table were Cllr Calum Penrose and Cllr Sir John Walker.

What happened

It was wonderful to see and hear that there were submitters who came from all over the city with different concerns about the draft plan.

I had my opportunity to speak to my submission, but as Margaret’s turn began, Cllr Penrose said that he was told that the bee fee was not going to go ahead, so Margaret did not get her opportunity to present her submission.  Both Margaret and myself expressed our approval at hearing this news, however wanted to receive this information in writing, Cllr Penrose said he would arrange that.

Mayor Len Brown sat at our table, (seen here next to Margaret) and took some questions.  The obvious question was about the gambling issue/casino/”national” convention centre.  His response was that the council had gone back to (central) government to ask for more information, and that Auckland Council were waiting on their response.

Conclusion

We think the “forum” process was a good one.  We are hopeful that the bee fee will be removed but rather unfortunately even after our persistent attempts to get the “decision” in writing whilst also having emails sent to several various council staff, none of them has given us that decision in writing, and rather boringly keep referring to the “Rodney Bylaw” which in our opinion, has nothing to do with what the draft plan states in black and white.

…watch this space because we are still following up for everyone and once we get their decision we will let you know….

On our way out of the Town Hall we congratulated the Mayor on being an advocate for the bees and we hoped the fee would be removed, his response “…we will do our best…” so there is hope that this fee will be removed from the Auckland Council Draft – Long Term Draft Plan !

Postscript

We got an email from Ian Farrell – Team Manager Environmental Health at Auckland Council regarding the bee fee. All this confirmed was that the fee derived from a bylaw from the legacy Rodney Council.

So no real answer there !

The email also confirmed that he was unsure whether this was going to be removed in the upcoming bylaw “harmonisation” review (no date for this given within his email)…..we will be watching this closely….and let you know how this goes, be prepared to put pen to paper if the council try to put the fee through this avenue….

In our view council need to give us a definitive decision in writing to our submissions…not just lip service.

Note: Cllr Penrose said submissions were still being worked through until 23 May 2012.

…as soon as we have more info on the Bee Fee issue we will let you know…be prepared as the battle continues…..

As many of you know the Auckland council has proposed charging bee keepers $190 a year to keep bees in Auckland city. See our other blog post Bee Keeping in Auckland to cost $190???

This is a 100% increase from last years costs. As we currently don’t pay any fees to keep bees.

We are going along today to present our objection to this proposal. Bee-keepers don’t need to be charged for keeping bees in Auckland city.

I see two problems with this proposal:-
1. Charging a fee will drive people underground and people won’t register hives with the “AFB – National Pest Management Strategy” fearing that their details will be passed along to the council. This could put New Zealand’s multi million dollar honey industry into jeopardy.
2. People won’t take up bee-keeping because of the increased costs. This would probably drive up the start-up costs of a single hive to around NZ$500. In this recession, household budgets are already stretched enough.

Both of these outcomes are bad news for the bees and you.

We have heard that many bee-keepers have objected to the proposal, so let’s hope the council see the benefit of the bees. Not the extra income they can extract from the hard-working bee-keepers.

We will post an update when we have one. If you also going to today’s meeting, be sure say “Hello”

The honey comb that the bees use to raise their brood and place their honey stores gets old. What is a beekeeper to do?

Why do it?

Frames become impregnated with pesticides, some the bees pick up from their foraging efforts and others from beekeepers placing treatments into their hives to remove mites.

When to do it?

We replace our frames every three years, we have started stamping our frames with the year the frame was made. This makes it easier to work out the frames age.

Old frames can be melted down for their wax and then rewired and re-waxed. Or destroyed if you can afford to buy new frames.

Look what our bees have been doing

The bees see the benefit as well of replacing the frames, so they have been filling in the stamps with propolis. To make it easier for us to remove the old frames.

How often do you replace your frames?
Do think it’s pointless to replace frames?

Comment below (If you date ) :-

He mentioned they latest video was kind of bee keeping related, check out the video quite cool and a pretty good song.

The meeting was held at the Waitemata Honey Company’s premises in Albany, so it was pretty close to us, when you take the new motorway that connects Kumeu with Albany.

We were allowed to have a look around the premises, which we gather is used to bottle honey. We were impressed with the size of the extractor and holding tanks. Much more impressive than our smaller extracting process .

The meeting started by Graham Cammell and then followed by a presentation by Dr Jonathan Stephens from Comvita innovations Ltd.

The discussion was about the differences between Manuka and Kanuka honey. These both come from trees in the tea tree family, so some of the elements are the same.

The big difference in the two honeys is two components that only appear in the respective honey. DHA (dihydroxyacetone) in Manuka and AGP (arabinogalactan protein) in Kanuka honey.

The amount of DHA is how the UMF factor of Manuka honey is determined.

AGP in Kanuka honey stimulates the healing process in your body. So would be good for medicinal purposes.

Kanuka honey has also been shown to give positive benefits in cosmetic uses.

Overseas honey buyers are now checking the HMF factor of honey.

Packers overseas have been known to heat honey to increase it’s UMF factor. So sellers now check the HMF to check for honey heating and age.

HMF increases as the honey ages. If the honey is heated during the extraction process, this also increases it’s HMF. This can cause the honey to fail it pre sale testing.

Manuka honey shouldn’t be stored for more than 3 1/2 years, as it loses it’s HMF factor and will also fail, if tested.

All in all a very interesting night with a great meal provided, hopefully we will be invited to the next NBA meeting. Thanks to Neil and Audrey for hosting the event at their premises.

P.S. We hope we have all the science correct on this one? If Not please comment below:-