Beekeeping

With hundreds of new beekeepers signing up for the hobby every year, there's a real buzz around the humble honey bee. As well as being a hot new hobby, beekeeping has long been a business in New… Audio

In his new book, Cliff Van Eaton tells the rags-to-riches tale of manuka honey, from his perspective as a beekeeping specialist who watched it unfold from the very beginning. It's the story of… Audio

Jo Donnelly is the co-owner, with her husband Ian Stewart, of artisan honey cordial company Bees Blessing based out of Kau Whero farm in the Mangaroa Valley. She brings recipes for Spiced Syrup… Audio

Picton bee keepers Matthew Wells and Catherine Gordon lease beehives to people who want greater returns from their fruit trees and vegetables. A few kilometres away retired car mechanic Sunny Sunbeam… Audio

The honey gathering season's slowing down in the South Island and so to find out how things are going for honey producers, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes visits Waimakariri beekeeper Simon Pulley. Audio

Frans Laas is a beekeeper from Mosgiel, and the president of the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand. He is about to step down after four years service. He's one of only two people in New… Audio

Bees are hard at work across Auckland pollinating our summer crops and making beautiful honey. There is one apiarist or bee keeper in particular, who is helping to encourage Aucklanders into keeping… Audio

The Backyard Bee Team goes into expansion mode. After a bumper honey harvest last year, bee mentor David Carleton helps us move in a new hive. Audio

In the UK, bees are being promoted as pets for city dwellers. Johannes Paul on the 'Beehaus', specially designed for urban beekeeping. Audio

Bee mentor David Carleton sorts out the hive for winter. Audio

Pro Maureen Maxwell pro shows me how to tell my mono-florals from my blends. She tastes honey for a living. Audio

We drop in on commercial beekeeper Frank Lindsay to see how honey gets extracted from the hive. Audio

After recent disasters affecting the backyard bee team are we ever going to get any honey? Audio

Toxic honey's been in the news recently. The culprit's tutin, a toxin that gets produced when bees gather honeydew from the sap-sucking vine hopper insect on tutu bushes. So if you're a backyard… Audio

David Graves is an urban beekeeper in New York with 14 hives dotted around Manhattan. Audio

We're having some issues in the hive, getting through more queens than Henry VIII! But we do have a new queen and she’s laying a nice pattern. Audio

The queen bee's gone AWOL and taken thousands of workers with her! I got back for a relaxing few weeks away and checked the hive, sadly there were hardly any bees and no fresh eggs or larvae. It looks… Audio

David Carleton and I are opening up the hive to check that our queen is alive and well and see how the bees are getting on with producing honey. Audio