frazzledfozzle

I know a beekeeper who has sold honey into Japan for years. They were very recently undercut on a supply contract by a huge amount, reportedly by a packer on a Trade and Industry type junket. By doing this its devalued all NZ Manuka in the eyes of that particular Japanese company.

If Comvita are chasing pollination for the first time ever what does that say about the state of the honey market ? Karin Koss in every media release talks about NZ still having a strong active Manuka market, if that’s the case why is Comvita looking to do pollination and why is there so much active honey sitting in sheds with no buyer interest ? Every man and his dog are now calling themselves queen breeders I see this lasting a couple of seasons before they give it up and As @BSBsaid why would a beekeeper take a chance on saving $20 on an unproven queen rearer at the front end to lose $200 in the back end at harvest time.

Funny you should say that, I was busy doing cell work when I happened to look up at the sound of a truck driving up the valley and blow me if it was a truck and trailer unit with midlands and bees all over the sides. Seemed to be loaded and was up the valley for over an hour before so saw it heading out. Thinking maybe they’ve scored some pollination and ousted some of the local beekeepers but only guessing. hopefully they aren’t too close to any of our mating yards I would be pretty annoyed to have all those unknown drones flooding our area

If the hive is small they may not go up to a top feeder. Internal feeding is better for a weak hive. If you have no internal feeder you could try drizzling a little down the feeder hole to see if you can entice some bees up.

im Sure you will be fine but there will be others reading this thread both now and in the future who won’t be. I feel it’s good to put up a warning to balance those that talk of allergic reaction being swelling and itchiness and the impression that desensitisation works every time.

Bad swelling and itchiness is not an allergic reaction it’s a normal reaction for most people.

I don’t change the colour until my uniposca pen runs out.

Just keep in mind people die from beestings and desensitisation can actually make you worse after each sting not more tolerant. theres nothing more frightening than seeing someone with full blown anaphylaxis, swelling and redness all over the body, low blood pressure, vomiting, stomach cramps and most frightening of all difficulty breathing. why anyone would risk there life in this way is beyond me.

Agree with this the dark queen is much older than an Autumn queen looks more like a queen well into her second year.

Did you do a core sample of the drum ?

I think rate of pay will depend on what honey your Dad gets. If he’s on high active Manuka honey his ability to pay a good wage will be much greater than if he’s on regular Manuka or other low value honey . Really it’s the advent of Manuka honey and corresponding high prices that have given rise to paid staff. hiring more than one staff member pre Manuka was very rare and mostly done by the few big players back in the day.

Beekeeping is hot hard work I wouldn’t do it for less than $25 hour and if I was in charge it would need to be minimum $30 hour with a vehicle thrown in having said that it would also depend on the type of honey harvested if on high active Manuka honey the ability to pay a good wage is easier than if the crop is a multi or low active mono Manuka .

Be interesting to hear the update

Maybe a high percentage of willow dew in the mix meaning melezitose is also in the honey maybe enough to actually have the feel of sand ? I dont think that would really account for the bright yellow colour though. You could send a honey sample to Analytica they would be able to tell you.

Not for us and at least 3 others that we know of.

My way of think is If Airborne are purchasing it at $3 there must be an OK profit or they wouldn’t be buying it in.

So im not sure why you posted this in reply to me. nowhere in my post did I say anything about being good or a true beekeeper if we went back to the days of making no money. Telling me to wake and think globally etc etc has nothing to do with my post. I simply stated that before Manuka there wasn’t a good living to be made doing honey . My dad made his money in pollination and pollen he didn’t even do honey . As soon as the last hives came out of the kiwis the hives were taken to dew sites and that’s where they stayed till spring . He didn’t harvest a single drop of honey it was all winter feed. We made most of our bee income from pollination then when varroa came we sold queens and nucs it was only in the last 6-7 years when the boom went nuts that we made money on honey. Most of the beekeepers who started beekeeping off the back of Manuka prices have no idea of how to make a living on non Manuka honey prices and that’s a simple fact.

Before Manuka there wasn’t really a “decent living” to made doing only honey. We worked in other jobs in the off season because bees couldn’t pay their way for the whole year. I don’t think beekeepers who got into the game after Manuka have any grasp on how little money beekeeping brought in unless you were running a few thousand hives, even then it wasn’t going to make you rich anytime soon.

We never had varroa deaths Bayvarol and Apivar are still doing the job. Theres definitely two very different experiences with staples going on.

You could and the grower could either keep you on or find someone cheaper. is that an option with asurequality?

Don’t have anything at all in the place where the Nuc was sitting.

Its a scam alright

Use of the word service/s is a bit overdone ! I count 8 with 5 in the first two paragraphs I can’t stand these types of organisations that contribute nothing but put there hand out for those that do the work to fill there coffers.

The two extremes . goodness knows why there’s such a massive difference.

My first thought was it was honey from Mount Somers Station.