It's the Holidays – Time to Bee Kids

As winter rolls on, so do the school holidays and second-generation beekeeper Aimz reflects on her own childhood being “dragged around” bee sites as she now willingly undertakes the winter rounds in the family business.

Roll on school holidays, again. We’ve run out of lids to scrape, and the stack of boxes to clean is getting smaller. Holidays mean that I get two whole weeks reprieve from driving to an icy bus stop at 7.30am. Unlike my own childhood, where I walked a mile to school, barefoot in the frost, my kids have had it easy. With inflation these days, pocket money feels like extortion. Holiday camps and movies on demand, interspersed with a bit of hunting, fishing and beekeeping – these guys are living the dream.

Holidays weren’t really a thing when I was a kid, at least, there was little variance from the norm. Instead of being dragged to bee sites around school hours, we could now be at more bee sites, for more of the hours. Crispy mornings, kids and bikes thrown on the back of the truck, with watered down Raro and marmite sandwiches we would disappear into the bush for the day. Maybe we were living the dream.

My girls checking out the nucs on the first day of school holidays. 

My mum thinks I was deprived of a “normal childhood” – family holidays, beach getaways… If you’re reading this, Mum, I can’t even fathom how strong you were to raise a family under those pressures. The nature of the paycheck was few and far between in those earlier days of beekeeping. I get that summer holidays didn’t exist, and belts were under permanent duress. The wholesome freedom of my upbringing cannot be matched by anything today. Blessed are we, the children of the '80s. Imagination runs wild in those that are free to discover themselves.

I never really imagined I’d end up a beekeeper.

This month I’ve clocked up a few miles in the ute, and made the most of the rainy weather, shifting hives around. We have been filling up our best sites, ones that have plenty of forage and all-day sun, and bringing in weaker colonies to the nuc site.

Warmth is one thing we can manipulate a little, to relieve a bit of winter stress.

Whether knocking doubles down to singles, or utilizing five-frame nucs, having less space to heat makes it easier for weaker colonies to keep their queen and brood alive. As I’ve found out, a feeder filled with solid honey can act as a giant ice-brick – that also goes for heavy honey frames. Without bee numbers, honey can sap the hive’s warmth and energy trying to utilize it.

Alternatively, there are colonies that require no interference (excepting mite treatment), which sail through winter in fine form, maintaining adequate levels of bees and stores.

I have observed huge variances in hives, in sites, and most noticeably, in this year to the last one. Some of our winter bees took a knock with mites after coming off the honey. Interestingly though, among the losses were colonies that thrived. These have been marked to keep an eye on as breeder hives, with possible genetic tolerance to varroa a testimony to our hard-working queen breeders.

There was no escaping the family business in the ‘90s. That’s my brother and I on the back of the truck, December 1996, with Mum in front.     

It is that time of year. Orders have been placed for overwintered and spring queens, and while beekeeping around the bar, we are gnashing out this coming season’s plan of attack…

On the offensive, we have killed millions of mites. I can hear them screaming in my dreams as they are blanketed in an oxalic mist of death. Day after day, going round and round in circles. We may have been late to the game, but oxalic sublimation saved our bacon. The hives are looking great, and we have worked out our dosages and timing around the brood cycle. Being on top of the mites is a good feeling, but they are a continual threat, and we can’t afford complacency.

COMPLACENCY. Don’t let that one bite you in the butt. On that topic, I attended an industry day a few weeks ago where I was informed of a biosecurity breach, in our land of the free, where a mail order honey product tested positive for European foulbrood. On the upside, the incident was brought to national attention, and I offer a salute to New Zealand Beekeepers Inc. for their handling of that delicate matter.

Our industry bodies matter immensely and, going forward, a clear line between packers and producers will mean a more level playing field for all. Being only a newcomer to beekeeping politics, it was great to hear the speakers and comments that day, and I took much away from the event, particularly the sentiment for more BBQs… building stronger personal relations within our unique industry. Beekeepers are a very unique bunch, but at the heart of the matter, and above all else, we are most powerful together. United We Stand.

In solidarity,

Aimz

Aimz is a second-generation commercial beekeeper in the Bay of Plenty who took up the hive tool full time at the end of the 2024 honey season. Formerly a stay-at-home mum to four kids, she has now found her footing in the family business.