Brian began by pointing out that the Bee industry is governed by law and all hives are inspected routinely by MPI inspectors to prevent the spread of disease and viruses and to maintain a heathy population which is very important for the economy of our country .In NZ we have the Honey bee which was imported mid-19th century, the Bumble bee of which there are 3 different breeds and our native bees of which there are 28 different breeds (and they do not sting). In the honey bee hive there could be 50,000 bees consisting of a Queen, workers which are the females and the drones the males. The Queen will live up to three years when the hive may decide to replace her, this is because she will have a lower productivity at this stage.Bees earned $520 million in export dollars in 2020. They pollinate 70% of all our crops plus honey is a very sought after food source for human consumption. Bees are very clever and are very good communicators as when foraging they can return to the hive after finding pollen and through a special dance they can indicate to the other worker bees the direction to fly and how far. They use the sun with polarising light to navigate and give this information to other worker bees. They fly up to 3km from the hive.
In Urban areas today there are many hobbyist Bee Keepers who are interested for pollination, and the honey is a by-product. Bees are friendly and are only interested in nectar and pollen; and only sting if provoked. Swarms are a natural phenomenon and occur in spring when new Queens are produced and the old Queen leaves with up to half the workers (all loaded with honey) who are very happy and passive at this stage. Drunk on honey!
There are many threats to the Bee population world wide with 30% losses per year and in NZ not so bad at levels of 10%. This is a result of starvation, pestisides and diseases such Varroa and Foulbrood which is actually a virus that kills the bees. Climate change, wasps and monoculture are all causes of the loss of bee numbers.
Caring for bees today is important and having the right plants in your garden can help as they provide pollen and food for the bee. Brian left a list of these plants which I now have as an electronic file if anyone wants a copy.
Brian Daniels bdandcher@hotmail.com
