Who do I notify of an abandoned hive

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1,030
748
Christchurch
Experience
Hobbyist
I think there are beekeepers walking away from their hives and that’s causing them to collapse with surrounding healthy hives robbing and bringing home heaps of mites.

we were told of an abandoned site recently very close to one of our apiaries. 9 hives only one alive :( hopefully there’s no AFB lurking in any of them.
Quick off topic, for us relative newbees. If we discover or suspect an abandoned hive, who do you notify?
 
106
248
Dunedin
Experience
Semi Commercial
Quick off topic, for us relative newbees. If we discover or suspect an abandoned hive, who do you notify?
 
  • Good Info
Reactions: Josh

Alastair

Founder Member
Platinum
8,753
9,966
Auckland
Experience
Semi Commercial
If an unregisteredf apiary is reported it will be visited by an AP2 and checked for AFB. A notice to register will be left under a lid, giving the beekeeper 30 days to register or his hives may be destroyed.

It is normally possible to locate the owner by talking to the landowner, and in that case the beekeeper will just be told to register. But if the beekeeper cannot be ID'ed the apiary may be destroyed.
 
3,578
6,706
Hawkes Bay
Experience
Commercial
As long as the site is registered then it is not technically abandoned even if all hives are dead.
No one is happy about the situation and I believe moves are being made to try and change this. In the meantime unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about these sites apart from perhaps having a quiet word with the landowner who does have the power to get the beekeeper to remove his dead hives.
One easy solution would be to automatically deregister sites that have not had live hives in them in the last 12 months.
 


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