We Have Honey Bee's!
It's been a dream on the back burner for some time now, well before we even purchased our lifestyle block, but I've always wanted to set up our own bee hive... and finally we have done it!
Our Hive Setup
The goal was to have our own hive onsite to help ensure we have a local healthy bee workforce pollinating the flowers so we have a bumper fruit and vegetable harvest every year. Also so we wanted to have our own plentiful source of honey.
Not Much To See - Our Young Bee's Are Inside
Setting up the hive hasn't been the cheapest thing to do, about $700, but given the price of honey, after a couple of years we should be producing 20-30 kg of honey per hive every year. We only 1 hive for now, but I would like to have 2 in time, once I know what I am doing.
So how did we do it:
1). Join A Local Bee Club!
I've joined the Warkworth Beekeepers Society, a fantastic group of friendly locals, willing to share their experience of beekeeping. They have a meeting once a month talking about what you should be doing at that time of year, and then they have field days where you can go and see and learn. I couldn't have joined a better group of people, very welcoming. Thank You!
2). Buy The Beekeepers Bible!
This book "Practical Beekeeping" is fantastic, very informative and easy to read for a beginner with no bee experience or knowledge.
3). Just Jump In!
I prefer to learn as I go, so after my first hive visit, I put in an order for a Nuc (new Queen & Bees) and all the gear that very same day.
This weekend I will update this post with a picture of inside the hive. I'm just letting the girls settle in first after their journey to Kaiwaka.
Update... inside the hive:
The girls had been busy, there were only a couple of trays they hadn't been working on... so nearly a full box. I've now added the feeder box, basically has sugar water, to help them along. Exciting Stuff!
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