Southern North Island conference.

[John B]

I had the pleasure of attending last week's conference at the Wanganui racecourse. It was perhaps not as professionally run as the APi NZ Conferences and it reminded me of the conferences run by the branches in the old days of the NBA. It was way more friendly with plenty of time for socialising and unashamedly focused on beekeeping. Randy Oliver gave four talks over the three days and kept everyone entertained, educated and interested the whole time which is quite an achievement.
The whole thing was affordable and my only criticism is that it was run at a time of year when beekeepers are starting to get quite busy.
A beekeepers conference run by beekeepers for beekeepers . It was attended by both hobbyist and commercial beekeepers and even an Australian contingent keen to learn about varoa.Top marks to Frank, Maryanne and the team from southern North Island.

 

[tristan]

any good take away's you can share?
i'm keen to see what randy had to say.
unfortunately i couldn't go. the cost plus we are full go on the hives.

 

[John B]

I believe that Frank has videoed the whole thing. I think it is all going to be publicly available .
Randy has most of the stuff available online . He has used no other treatment except for organic acids for many years now. He does mite washes using dawn Detergent and mechanical agitators. He started with one hive out of 1500 that didn't need any treatment and now has over 50% that don't need treatment. Hives that do need treatment are routinely requeened. No AI, all open mated preferably in a isolated area using selected drone hives. They use up to 30 breeders and as well as varoa resistance they also select for health, productivity and gentleness. Most of their beekeeping is done in minimal clothing and without a vail .
He seems to be fascinated by what does and doesn't work and uses science to find the answers.
I really suggest anyone interested goes on his website but be prepared to go down a lot of rabbit holes, the amount of data he has produced on multiple beekeeping subjects is absolutely amazing.

 

[jos@centalotago]

What a shame I missed that, I would have made the trip up north for it. Randy Oliver is a really interesting beekeeper and has a lot of great insight, always interesting to listen too.

 

[Matt C]

I've watched a number of Randy's videos - worth the watch and re-watch! Fantastic that he was invited and welcomed into the SNI conference.