As you may be aware we lost a large number of bee colonies in May due to varroa mite and it's taken a lot of effort to build up hive numbers for this season. But fortunately we have had a great Spring and we look to be back on track with the prospect of a good season ahead.
Ohui
Located near Oputere on the Coromandel, our new apiary site is going well. This is a great Manuka site and being on the sunny, warm Coromandel, it flowers much earlier than at Marokopa on the West Coast. The honey here is a strong tasting Manuka and we hope to have this available early in the New Year.
Marokopa
At Marokopa, the Rewarewa has finally flowered this year after two years of no show! The bees are loving it and we are seeing lovely thick white comb being produced particularly with the summery spells we had in mid November. It looks like the Manuka will start flowering early this year about a week before Christmas.
Horsham Downs
At our home site the focus has been on collecting bee pollen and creating new colonies of bees. Its gone exceptionally well, as we have had such a great settled spring, allowing mating of virgin queens. We have added 80 hives bringing up our total number to 170, twenty higher than last year. We are seeing clover appear in the paddocks now and there has been good build up flows from barberry and hawthorn.
Four Brothers Reserve & Hakarimata
Beehives have only been placed at these sites in the last few weeks, as the focus has been on establishing hives at our early spring flowering areas. Already though, a lot of honey has been collected with prolific flowering from cabbage trees and now kanuka.
Cross fingers for a good season!
