1/ how do you inspect for AFB…what are you looking at that tells you there is a problem?
Ahhhh this involves shaking the bees off and inspecting each and every frame and cell in the hive. There are 22 double sided frames in each (two box) hive. I’m looking at each brood cell to see if ithere are discoloured or shruncken (or both). Its a LONG and boring job.
2/ Are there people charging to bring their bees to agriculturalists? Like the migrating beekeepers in the US.
Yes but not the huge distances. Currently there are pollenation hives in the orchard below us. Pollenation is a major source of income for most bee keepers. Honey hardly pays the bills.
3/ What happened to the All Blacks? (oops sorry about that question).
The entire country has taken a vow not to speak of that game. I’m sorry but I cannot comment (choke) …
4/ Does the old queen croak on her own or do the bee peons just kick her out in the cold? (you might have told me this once, but I fergot).
Good question. When the hive gets too big (crowded) or the queen gets a bit old and she cannot produce enough “queen smell” the hive produces a new queen and the “old queen” and about half the bees fills up on honey and buggers off. They look for a new home and settle there. The fact that the hives have swarmed means I’ve over looked some aspect of their management
5/ So how close are you to where the home grown ecoterrorists and Maori separatists were having their war games?
A long long way. They were playing up in the Bay of Plenty. Every villige has its idiot(s) we just are lucky enough to know our idiots by name. Did you see the leader? A fat guy with facial tats in surplus camo clothes two sizes too small???
6/ What happened to the All Blacks (oops sorry again).
You should get onto our sports radion (ia internet) I’m sure someone there is diuscussing it … maybe.