Bees pestering businesses in Auckland city

Danielle Butler, owner of Pied Piper and Doornuts. Photo / Michael Craig.

There's a buzz around dessert shops on one of Auckland's busiest streets, but it's not the kind owners were hoping for.

An increasing number of bees have been pestering businesses on Karangahape Rd over the past two weeks, seemingly attracted to sweet treats.

Businesses are feeling helpless to tackle the problem with one shop reporting hundreds of bees entering its premises.

Suzanne Butler, owner of The Pie Piper and Doornuts, said they've started burning citronella candles to deter the insects - but with little effect.

"We've had to close our doors at times, but that's affecting our business because people don't come in, thinking we're closed," Butler said.

"But it's lucky that our customers are really understanding of the situation, and that the honey bees are just out and about looking for food and not here to sting anyone."

Butler said one of her staff did get stung - but that was when she tried to handle the insect and not because the bee was aggressive.

"Don't get me wrong, we don't hate bees; on the contrary, we love them and bees are not something you're going to kill," she said.

Butler believed the bees were the result of an increasing number of urban hives in the central city and a lack of food sources for the insects.

"We use lots of natural ingredients and products, including honey, so it's really quite understandable why the bees come," Butler added.

Auckland Council said it had not been alerted to any swarming of bees in the area, but did have some rules around beekeeping which were encompassed in the animal management bylaw.

A spokesman said the council did not respond to swarms. Auckland Beekeepers Club member Kim Kneijber said it was also not aware of any swarming situations in the central city and that it was unlikely for them to happen at this time of year.

Swarming happens when the queen bee leaves a colony with a large group of worker bees to form a new colony, she said, and this usually happened in the spring and summer months.

"Very likely this is just a situation where some honey bees are out and about looking for food," Kneijber said.

She said bees were attracted to sweet food at cafes, but there wasn't any real problem with honey bees being aggressive.

"Bees don't just go out to sting you, when they're gathering food for the colony, most of the time they're oblivious to people around them."

Kneijber believed the bees would be coming from a newly established colony in the area or from small hives kept by hobby beekeepers.

"I know of some cafes and a motel in the Symonds St and Queen St area that have hives," she said.

Kneijber, who runs beekeeping courses, said there had been increasing interest in backyard beekeeping as people learn about the importance of bees.

According to Apiculture New Zealand, swarming season across New Zealand runs between August and January.

The best thing to do if you find a bee swarm is to leave it alone and call a beekeeper to collect it in a safe manner.

It also said people should not assume bees are wasps, because they can look similar.

"If they are bees they can be saved. Wasps should be killed in a controlled manner by an exterminator or a beekeeper," the organisation said.