Amateur beekeeper and local Boorowa Garden Club member Wendy Burns says people may have seen some of the hype surrounding this new type of honey bee hive.
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“There has been little change in the way the extracting process has been done in beehives since early beekeeping days,” she said.
“It requires removal of frames from the hive (where many bees may be squashed), manual ‘uncapping’ of the comb and ‘spinning’ to extract the frames.
“This new flow hive is the culmination of 10 years of inventive process and allows for the extraction of honey directly from the hive.
“The idea is that this new process is a gentler way of extracting the honey that requires less disturbance for the bees as you do not need to remove anything from the hive for the extraction process.”
Wendy, Treasurer of the newly formed Yass and District Beekeeper’s Club, has this week introduced bees to her new “flow hive” and is very keen to see whether it lives up to all of that hype.
Wendy is quick to point out that it is only the extraction process that is different with this type of hive; all other aspects of bee husbandry are the same as using standard hives.
When the honey bees have increased in numbers and start to fill the flow frames with honey, she will be providing an assessment of how this new hive is working to the Yass and District Beekeeper’s Club.
The Club is also likely to hold one of their meetings at Wendy’s property when the extraction process will be demonstrated.
Members of the Yass and District Beekeeper’s Club have a number of different types of hives, including the traditional Langstroth hive and the Top Bar Hive.
Honey bees are Wendy’s twin passion, along with gardening.
Wendy is also a member of the Boorowa Garden Club and believes that her two passions go hand in hand; looking forward to a bumper crop from the vegetable patch with the assistance of the bees.
As bees travel up to five kilometres to collect nectar and pollen for the hive, it is likely that these bees will be working on pollinating many a Boorowa resident’s garden. The Yass and District Beekeeper’s Club meets every 2nd Sunday of the month at 2pm.
In Winter there are activities such as building hive components while from Spring through to Autumn the meetings are generally held at a member’s property where a hive or hives are opened and activities may include checking for pests, extracting honey or replacing frames.
Member’s range from highly experienced through to beginners. For more information contact Wendy on 6385-1839.
