Apiary Diary January 2021

[Grant]

Here is your opportunity to tell us (and remind yourself) about what is going on in your hives during the month of January 2021. The idea is you can look back and see when you placed treatments, what hives were strong, what were weak, when you re-queened, split, added boxes, what flows were on etc.

If you have a specific problem, concern or topic you want to discuss about your hives, please start a new topic and if you have general chit chat, please direct it to a new post in the Members Only section. You may make a selective quote and copy it to the new topic for reference.

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[southbee]

Made some more splits to take inland for the clover

 

[Josh]

My last hive is sitting pretty. And was left with feed and space. My only anxiety is that this years Canterbury weather is so unusual that when our flow would normally be over the padocks are green and new clover popping up. Hope it has enough room for two weeks.

 

[redbee]

We harvested a box yesterday. 10 frame, fd and got 24 kgs. Pretty happy with that. The honey was a very orangey colour. It has a bit of an aniseed taste to it.

 

[Dansar]

South Waikato is still providing a flow but all our other sites are at a near standstill. Fortunately not going backwards.

 

[YTB8TA270]

Just been through my hives here in Hokitika. Great weather weve had here, bees been very busy. 5 of my 12 hives need another FD box of foundation put on. Two are 4 FD and 1 3\4 high. A mix of Kamahi, Rata, Flax, bit of Clover and Koromiko coming in now. Should be a good brew.

 

[EmmetHuttValley]

Blinkin' 'eck, darn hot in the Hutt the past few days. Myself and the missus went into the hives this morning and nearly boiled in our suits even at 10 am. Took 10 kgs off one of the hives a few days ago (six 3/4 frames) and expected to pull out 12 more from two of the others today but they weren't quite there yet. Bursting with honey but most frames only half-capped. Another week will see us back on track for the season. We're always late starters here for nectar flow in the outer valleys in Upper Hutt so another five weeks or so to harvest before we treat.

 

[Josh]

I

We harvested a box yesterday. 10 frame, fd and got 24 kgs. Pretty happy with that. The honey was a very orangey colour. It has a bit of an aniseed taste to it.

wonder what provided the aniseed flavour?

 

[stoney]

Fennel flowers around here during Jan and has an aniseed taste, even a small amount of it can taint a lot of honey.

 

[bighands]

Same as Quintinia, taints the rata here in the Otira valley

 

[EmmetHuttValley]

Fennel flowers around here during Jan and has an aniseed taste, even a small amount of it can taint a lot of honey

Very interested @stoney in your opinion of the 'taint' from aniseed in honey. Do you personally like it but think it would put off mainstream NZ or international consumers?

The reason I am curious is that I lived for a few years in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean where natural aniseed was a ubiquitous flavouring added to many things including drinking water for hygiene/purification reasons. I got pretty sick of the taste, but many locals in the wider Middle East love it. I wonder if aniseed 'tainted' honey might actually have a market in the Middle East? If the aniseed taste is common in sufficient quantities then taste testing it with local Greek, Turkish and wider ME communities for their opinion could be a fruitful exercise.

 

[stoney]

Very interested @stoney in your opinion of the 'taint' from aniseed in honey. Do you personally like it but think it would put off mainstream NZ or international consumers?

The reason I am curious is that I lived for a few years in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean where natural aniseed was a ubiquitous flavouring added to many things including drinking water for hygiene/purification reasons. I got pretty sick of the taste, but many locals in the wider Middle East love it. I wonder if aniseed 'tainted' honey might actually have a market in the Middle East? If the aniseed taste is common in sufficient quantities then taste testing it with local Greek, Turkish and wider ME communities for their opinion could be a fruitful exercise.

I say go for it.. personally I don’t mind it too much but found I could taste it even faintly in some batches we had assumed to be clover.. it grows around some riverbeds through North Canterbury and we also used to pollinate organic fennel crops at my last job. We would try keeping it seperate so as not to “taint” our light pasture honey batches but found even a few plants growing along the paddock edges would give a hint of aniseed taste to a whole batch.

 

[Wildflower]

WebKiwiNz came to the rescue today,with family in tow.🥰 45 mins drive!
Payment? Eggs, honey and apples.
Made me very happy.
With a broken hand,I really had no way to check my hives.
4 out of 6 hives checked. One total monster (HUGE) Two single box hives now have another box . My Queenless hive made a Queen, and the other two hives just have to enjoy life and stay home!🤣
I thankfully took off some honey before xmas. Lots of honey still to spin according to todays check.
Thanks so much to WebKiwiNz.
Thanks to the forum .... 🥰

 

[Grant]

Great work @Wknz 👍🏼

 

[kaihoka]

Up until yesterday the weather has been fantastic.
There is so much flow on the bees can not be bothered working my melons .
So I have to hand pollinate them .
The rata is having a very extended flowering and the hills in the golden bay area are having a manuka flowering the best people have seen for yrs .
When it is a bit breezy there is lots of lotus and clover down low for bees .
The migrant beek on my place has stacked his hives up higher than I have ever seen.

 

[bighands]

I say go for it.. personally I don’t mind it too much but found I could taste it even faintly in some batches we had assumed to be clover.. it grows around some riverbeds through North Canterbury and we also used to pollinate organic fennel crops at my last job. We would try keeping it seperate so as not to “taint” our light pasture honey batches but found even a few plants growing along the paddock edges would give a hint of aniseed taste to a whole batch.

Just like Westland Quintinia

 

[frazzledfozzle]

Up until yesterday the weather has been fantastic.
There is so much flow on the bees can not be bothered working my melons .
So I have to hand pollinate them .

sounds like @janice and her hazels

 

[Grant]

sounds like @janice and her hazels

I was going to comment, but you removed the need.
If anyone else needs their melons pollinating by hand, please do shout up.

 

[nikki watts]

Up until yesterday the weather has been fantastic.
There is so much flow on the bees can not be bothered working my melons .
So I have to hand pollinate them .
The rata is having a very extended flowering and the hills in the golden bay area are having a manuka flowering the best people have seen for yrs .
When it is a bit breezy there is lots of lotus and clover down low for bees .
The migrant beek on my place has stacked his hives up higher than I have ever seen.

watch out, there might be a stampede of bee trucks heading your way.

 

[Wknz]

Great work @Wknz 👍🏼

Thanks. I've got to say that as a newbie (18 months) seeing other hives and working on other folks needs was highly affirming. It let me know I've learned a few things, got to compare ways of doing stuff and got to know another beek...hi @Wildflower ...
@chchpaul would be astounded to hear I found two queens .. I'm normally rubbish at it... but even spotted an unmarked one. .. miracles do happen.
Like I said .. an affirming day. Also good for my daughter to see a female beek .... hopefully encourages her to have a go more often.