Canterbury Hub Beekeepers' Day Out
This year the Canterbury Hub held a "Beekeepers' Day Out", held at Lincoln University on Mother's Day. Maggie, Carolyn, Martin and the rest of the team organised a great variety of speakers and trade displays for the mix of Hobby and Commercial beekeepers that attended from all over the South Island.
We always enjoy catching up with friends that we have met at other beekeeping events as well as meeting new customers and learning from the presentations and the discussions held at the breaks. The food prepared by the Lincoln University chef and his team was delicious too.
Going Live and Thank Yous
Finally, our website is live. It has been a long, but extremely enjoyable and educational journey, with a few challenges along the way. Several years ago, our journey began with our first meeting with Paul from Turboweb. From those early discussions, Anne-Marie’s outstanding design work has created a bright and timeless website that we are extremely proud of.
Add to that, the team-work of Bob and Stefan, the website developers working behind the scenes and our talented “web angels” Sarah W. and Sarah M. who have been there to answer all my questions, support my ideas and teach me the tools necessary to add all our content. Thank you all for all your support.
As well, our thanks must go to Amelia, our amazing photographer, who has taken and edited the majority of our product photos. Her eye for detail and patience in editing these photos to such a high standard has contributed to our store looking amazing. Thank you also to our models; Hayden who with a little bit of encouragement, left the factory to stand in front of the camera, my daughter Clare, my son Nathan and our gorgeous grandson Alexander who also assisted with modelling the bee suits.
We are privileged to have some very experienced beekeepers including John Berry, Derek Skinner and Frank Lindsay share their knowledge and ideas in the articles we have and we will be continuing to add in the Bees and Beekeeping section on our website.
Our Events section allows us to promote beekeeping related events including Conferences, Field Days and regular Bee Club meeting days. Tell us about your beekeeping event and we will be happy to promote it on our website.
Long live the queen bee ... but if she doesn't, the colony will prevail
In a honey bee colony, the queen bee rules while her daughter workers do nothing but work. So what happens when the queen dies? Are there worker riots, with the colony dissolving into a chaotic mess?
Surprisingly, no. In a study published in the journal Current Biology on Friday, Marianne Peso and her colleagues showed that while queenless bees do act a little more selfishly, they continue to work together to keep the colony going.
Bee Awareness Month - September
September is now "Bee Awareness" Month. No longer are we having a week in September to focus on the importance of bees and what we can do to help them, but the whole of September, giving plenty of time to plan an activity around Bee Awareness.
Check out the API NZ website and Trees for Bees.
The Dunedin Horticultural Society Autumn Show
We were invited to set up a display and promote "Bee Awareness" at The Dunedin Horticultural Society annual Autumn Show on Saturday 29th April and Sunday 30th April 2017. It was held at Forbury Park Raceway in the Dungeon Bar.
At this show there was floral art, bonsai, cacti and succulents, fruit and vegatables, a photographic competition and entries of Autumn Flowers. Dave Rawson spoke about pickles, preserves etc. on the Saturday and Maree Johnston from Orokonui Ecosanctuary spoke on the Sunday.
The team of club members from the Horticultural Society are a friendly group and we had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend speaking to a wide variety of people about bees and beekeeping.
NZ Beekeeping Field Day at Lincoln
A varied and informative programme of topics was offered at the NZ Beekeeping's South Island Field Day held at Lincoln University on Saturday 27 August 2016. Approximately 120 attendees from throughout the South Island, and a few beekeepers from the North Island enjoyed the selection of speakers that shared their knowledge and expertise.
As well, a number of Trade Exhibits including Beeline Supplies set up displays for the day. It was great being able to catch up with existing customers, as well as meeting new ones.
Field Day at Matangi 2016
The first Field Day for Beekeeper's organised by the Honeybee Society, (now known as NZ Beekeeping), was held on Saturday 28 May, 2016 at the community hall at Matangi, approximately 15 mins drive out of Hamilton. 140 people attended the day. Topics on the programme included Nosema, Willow Aphid, Varroa and AFB, as well as a panel discussion on problems facing Beekeepers handling Honeydew honey and possible solutions.
A number of trade displays were there, including Beeline Supplies. We were attending our first Field Day in the North Island. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new customers, as well as catching up with Beekeepers we have known for many years.
Bee Awareness at Mitre 10 Mega in Dunedin
To support Bee Awareness Month in Dunedin, Mitre 10 Mega had a display to promote Bee Awareness and to encourage people to plant Bee Friendly Plants. A number of groups were involved; including Beeline Supplies who loaned bee gear for the in store display and the live display hive that was in the Garden Centre for the weekend of 24th and 25th August.
Brian and Adrienne were also in store both days, as were Murray and Heidi from Rentahive, various members of the Otago NBA and the Dunedin Beekeepers' Club. There was a lot of interest and positive feedback from the public, particularly viewing the display hive, painted in Otago colours.
