Glad to see a keen new beekeeper! You are joining a growing community here in New Zealand. Our friendly sales team are well educated and most have years of experience in beekeeping. We are happy to help with your journey or solve problems you may be having with your bees. o If you haven’t got any bees yet, we can help you there. We offer complete beehive packages or nucleus hives and we can help you choose the best option for you. o If you have bees already but are a bit stuck on items you need personally, we have a range of tools, smokers, protective clothing, and components you’ll need to look after them all year round.  The basics of equipment and clothing that you will need to get started are:  A beehive, which usually consists of a base or floor, at least one brood box with frames on which the bees will build their comb, (later once your bee numbers grow, a second brood box with frames, and honey supers added as needed), a hive mat, sometimes called an inner cover or a crown board, and a lid or roof.  Tools to work the hive, the minimum being a smoker used to calm the bees and a hive tool, used to break the propolis (bee glue) that the bees use to fill cracks to keep out drafts and which we need to break open to get in the hive and work the frames.  Protective clothing, which is usually a full set of overalls, usually white, or a half jacket, then a veil, gloves and boots. Gum boots are fine.  A good book, such as ‘Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand’ to give guidance when you are unsure. So that’s what you need to get started--well of course you need bees too and we can point you in the right direction to source bees if you need that as well. If you already have some of this, great. We can supply the rest and provide advice.

How to start keeping bees can be confusing. The number of hives to start with is entirely up to the individual. We recommend at least two hives because with two hives you can share resources between hives. If one hive becomes queenless and fails to replace their queen, a frame of eggs can be carried over from the other hive and the queenless hive can raise their own queen. If one hive becomes low in numbers, frames of brood from the strong colony can be moved over to strengthen the weak hive. Certainly, starting with one hive is acceptable, but there is an advantage to starting with more than one.

Varroa mites (V. destructor) is an external parasite that attach and feed on honey bees. They carry diseases giving bees varroosis and can lead to hive death. It is very important that we regularly and appropriately treat against varroa. You will need to treat you hive at least twice a year (spring and at the end of summer), but you may need to incorporate additional treatments if your hive becomes infested and the varroa count is higher than manageable levels. Varroa will be in almost every beehive in New Zealand and can spread through bee drift meaning you will need be sure to maintain treatment cycles.

Feeding your bees is a requirement especially in the colder months or as we head into spring. Sugar syrup can be made at home with 2 parts sugar and 1 part water. Or, Ceracell supply refill sugar syrup options. Top feeders provide an easy way for the bees to access sugar syrup and means you can top it up in the colder months without disturbing the hive. Division/Internal feeders can also be used to feed sugar syrup, but drowning is more a problem, and it also means some brood frames will need to be removed to insert the feeder.

An easy option to remove your honey supers is to use a bee escape. Our Great Escape has 10 escapes routes with ventilation to quickly (within 24hrs on average) clear the honey supers you want to collect. Simply place the Great Escape underneath the super(s) you wish to collect honey from and then come back the following day to a bee-free super to take to your shed/garage or extraction facility.