Cleaning and Renewing: The Apiscope is Back On, in Room 4!

On Monday the 20th of September, some of the beekeepers took apart and cleaned the apiscope (indoor beehive) in room 4. Sadly, the reason why we had to do this was because the hive died.

The hive died because we had a very bad varroa mite infestation. It spreads from hives when bees from one come into contact with another while foraging for food. Varroa is a parasite which feeds on the soft tissue of developing and adult bees. This results in deformations on the bee. As a result, they are less supportive of the hive because they can’t perform their role, be it as a nurse or food forager. Plus, these bees die faster than the other bees, and the hive can die within a matter of months.

Varroa is a big problem in New Zealand because agriculture is a big part of our economy and bees pollinate ¾ of our plants. These mites entered NZ about 10 years ago and threaten honey and pollination in NZ. Honey is also another product that our country is known for the world over. Thinking of the big picture, we need to support bees so that they can continue to play an important role in our way of life. We need them and they need us.

One of the easiest ways to help bees is planting bee-friendly gardens, full of flowers that bees love to feed from. Bees need food, so they can help pollinate our food.

Bees will forage on these flowers for nectar and pollen, which provide carbohydrates and protein for growth and energy. Well-nourished bees are more capable of fending off disease and parasites.

On the brightside, it was fun to take apart the apiscope and see more clearly how it’s built and why. Cleaning it and resetting it with a fresh wax foundation was also helpful and will make sure that our new hive thrives. We will be adding a new queen and fresh workers from a healthy hive near the end of the October holidays, meaning the students at NIS will get to enjoy having bees once again.