Wairarapa Hobby Beekeepers Club

Nineteen members of the of the Wairarapa Hobby Beekeepers Club met at Liz and Chris Surman’s home in Longbush for the September 2011 meeting.

The intention of the meeting was to discuss re-queening and to investigate Liz’s hives to see how they were progressing heading into the spring. We found that for some reason some of the bees seemed to be entering the top of the hive under the hive lid. Neale cautiously removed the lid to find a number of bees clustered around the ventilation mesh on top of the crown board and trying to get into the hive with the rest of the bees (see photograph). It was suggested the gap between the lid and the hive should be reduced to discourage the bees from trying to enter through the back (top) door.
As usual there was lots of active discussion on the merits of the various products for controlling varroa, how and when to re-queen a hive and what to look for at this time of the year.
The bees are becoming active on fine sunny days as they go about their business collecting pollen and early supplies of nectar. It is important at this time of year however to keep an eye on feed stocks to ensure the bees have plenty of food. This is particularly important when we experience cold snaps right at the time the bees are thinking that spring has arrived.
For many hobby beekeepers with only one or two hives there is always an interest in increasing hive numbers just in case a hive doesn’t survive a varroa or wasp attack. There is nothing worse than for a budding beekeeper after successfully establishing one or two hives to lose the lot and have to start again.
We discussed various methods of increasing hives like splitting, catching swarms and establishing nucleus hives. At the next meeting it is intended to split one of Ros Broadmore’s hives. This should be a great opportunity (weather permitting) for members that have not had the opportunity or don’t have the knowledge or courage to do this to get some hands on experience.
The next meeting of the club will be held on Sunday 09 October at 2pm. Any prospective members and their families are very welcome to attend and should contact one of the club contacts below for further details.
Club Contacts
06 379 5611– Kent Murrell – kmurrell@paradise.net.nz