City abuzz with busy bees

Gin Mabey and Dylan Frewin in the Mabeys' garden, which has had a resident hive for about a year. Photo / George Novak

Honey bees are buzzing their way through Tauranga neighbourhoods with up to 200 hives on residential properties.

Alan Tate, who makes, rents out and maintains hives for residential properties, said he would maintain 15 bee hives in suburban Tauranga but thought there could be up to a couple of hundred hives in the city with each hive having between 30,000 and 40,000 bees.

"Half of those would stay in the hive, looking after the young bees, but the other half are out there foraging for nectar and pollen and the other things they need."

In a good year they could produce 30kg to 40kg of honey.

Mr Tate said he was fascinated with bees and got into the hobby about four years ago.

"They are incredible little insects, how they manage their affairs and look after themselves ... and the amount of honey they produce can be amazing."

Mr Tate said it was great locals had taken on beekeeping.

"There are no wild beehives any more. Varroa mites, which arrived in New Zealand 10 years ago, mean a beehive can't survive on its own without being managed by a beekeeper to keep it under control. If beekeepers don't provide that help there will be no bees in the city and they play a pretty essential part in pollinating plants, without them a lot of fruit trees can't reproduce. If there are no bees there won't be any plums or apples."

Mr Tate said the Bay's kiwifruit industry also relied on the humble bee. "Unless beekeepers managed and put hives into the orchards there would be no kiwifruit industry."

Local enthusiast Sue Mabey said they first looked at getting honey bees because she knew the population was in trouble.

"We provide a space for the bees. I know they are under threat so we wanted to do what we could to provide a habitat for them and it makes you think about what sprays you should use and being more environmentally aware in your garden."

Mrs Mabey said she and her husband, Paul, had had a beehive for about a year and it housed about 40,000 honey bees.

"We know at the moment they are making pohutukawa honey, the bees will go around a distance of about three kilometres, in the winter time you will see them on the camellias.

"They are fascinating to watch and they are industrious and you feel good being able to offer them a space to do their jobs. And the benefit is you get everything pollinated."

Seven kilos of honey before Christmas was secondary.

Keeping of bees

Beehives may be kept in the city but, if bees are causing a nuisance or annoyance to any person or are dangerous to health then council may ask the owner to either relocate the hive on their property or remove it entirely.