FAQ
Q. We've moved into a our new home and have found a dead/live beehive on the property, what do we do?
A. Any dead or live beehive is someone's property, it is important to locate the registered beekeeper legally responsible for them. This can be done by asking the management agency for help to locate the beekeeper. Every beekeeper and apiary site in NZL has to be registered and the Agency can assist in directing the beekeeper to come forward. afb.org.nz
The management agency will assist you.
Q. We found a swarm of bees what do we do ? !
A1. The easiest solution is to visit https://bopbee.weebly.com/collection.html to find a local beekeeper to take care of them, treat them and register them.
A2. If you want to become a beekeeper yourself, you can! But you need to understand how much time you will need to commit to keeping them alive as any livestock farmer can explain. Learning about beekeeping through courses, books and trying to find a local mentor is a long but rewarding journey. It is generally felt that if you want to start off in beekeeping the most straight forwards way is to buy an existing beehive locally and learning about that before branching into swarms, splitting, breeding, queen raising etc. Legal requirements to register as a beekeeper and register your apiary site are for the health and survival of all bees and the industry our agricultural sector depends on. As well there can be disease outbreaks from time to time that you need to get communication about from the management agency. The book Practical Beekeeping in NZ is a handy reference in most public libraries.
A3. If you don't do anything, the colony will die from Varroa within 18 months. Unfortunately failures by people at our border means that it is the fault of humans that Varroa are in NZL and misguided attempts to suggest leaving the bees alone to live naturally will result in their death. Further if the colony is not collected early enough it may hive itself into a house creating a lot of cost and after they have died the site will attract future swarms in future years to also die there. This will result in smell of dead bees, ants and other insects attracted to honey, possibly bees in the house and risk of AFB deadout spreading infection.
Q. Our neighbour has bees in their backyard, is that even legal?
A. Every local government council in NZL creates and reviews bylaws for ratepayers trying to balance personal freedoms versus public nuisance. Everyone should have the right to peaceful enjoyment of their own property. Lots of us own beehives in the backyard and share a pot of honey with neighbours to keep them sweet and onside. The beekeeper does have legal obligations to meet and needs to be responsible and sensible about it. However, mounting some kind of crusade to get rid of your neighbour's beehive, will not amount to much because there are large numbers of beehives throughout the urban areas and you never know exactly which bee came from where.
Q. I have heard about AFB what is it?
A. It is the apiculture equivalent of foot and mouth; a notifiable disease that will not only kill the hive but will spread killing exponentially. Instead of waiting for the colony to die slowly, the only legal solution is to exterminate the hive as-is promptly and then dispose of it by fire to halt the spread. The management agency has to be notified and they give warning to all surrounding beekeepers to be vigilant. Full details are at afb.org.nz
A. Any dead or live beehive is someone's property, it is important to locate the registered beekeeper legally responsible for them. This can be done by asking the management agency for help to locate the beekeeper. Every beekeeper and apiary site in NZL has to be registered and the Agency can assist in directing the beekeeper to come forward. afb.org.nz
The management agency will assist you.
Q. We found a swarm of bees what do we do ? !
A1. The easiest solution is to visit https://bopbee.weebly.com/collection.html to find a local beekeeper to take care of them, treat them and register them.
A2. If you want to become a beekeeper yourself, you can! But you need to understand how much time you will need to commit to keeping them alive as any livestock farmer can explain. Learning about beekeeping through courses, books and trying to find a local mentor is a long but rewarding journey. It is generally felt that if you want to start off in beekeeping the most straight forwards way is to buy an existing beehive locally and learning about that before branching into swarms, splitting, breeding, queen raising etc. Legal requirements to register as a beekeeper and register your apiary site are for the health and survival of all bees and the industry our agricultural sector depends on. As well there can be disease outbreaks from time to time that you need to get communication about from the management agency. The book Practical Beekeeping in NZ is a handy reference in most public libraries.
A3. If you don't do anything, the colony will die from Varroa within 18 months. Unfortunately failures by people at our border means that it is the fault of humans that Varroa are in NZL and misguided attempts to suggest leaving the bees alone to live naturally will result in their death. Further if the colony is not collected early enough it may hive itself into a house creating a lot of cost and after they have died the site will attract future swarms in future years to also die there. This will result in smell of dead bees, ants and other insects attracted to honey, possibly bees in the house and risk of AFB deadout spreading infection.
Q. Our neighbour has bees in their backyard, is that even legal?
A. Every local government council in NZL creates and reviews bylaws for ratepayers trying to balance personal freedoms versus public nuisance. Everyone should have the right to peaceful enjoyment of their own property. Lots of us own beehives in the backyard and share a pot of honey with neighbours to keep them sweet and onside. The beekeeper does have legal obligations to meet and needs to be responsible and sensible about it. However, mounting some kind of crusade to get rid of your neighbour's beehive, will not amount to much because there are large numbers of beehives throughout the urban areas and you never know exactly which bee came from where.
Q. I have heard about AFB what is it?
A. It is the apiculture equivalent of foot and mouth; a notifiable disease that will not only kill the hive but will spread killing exponentially. Instead of waiting for the colony to die slowly, the only legal solution is to exterminate the hive as-is promptly and then dispose of it by fire to halt the spread. The management agency has to be notified and they give warning to all surrounding beekeepers to be vigilant. Full details are at afb.org.nz
