New Zealand Certificate in Apiculture (Level 3)

Kelly Retimana - Apiculture

“I had a change of lifestyle after being a caregiver for a long time, so I was looking at available courses and this one appealed. You can study from books and see things online but with bees you actually have to see and do in order to know.”

“This course maintains your interest all the way through as we learn to look after the bees and the hives. We learned about the history of all the different types of hives and that to be commercial they need moveable parts. Then there are further courses to explore things like value-added products, how to run a beekeeping business and queen rearing.”

“The biggest challenge for me was the first time I walked through a swarm of bees – even with all the gear on. It’s not normal to walk through 5000 bees, but this is what we signed up for. We have to learn to get stung and continue to do the job. That’s beekeeping.”

“My classmates are all adult students and we’re here because we want to be, so it’s a great learning environment, and the tutor has been in the industry so can give us feedback on both commercial and domestic situations. It’s great that he is open to us trying something a bit outside the curriculum in order to learn more about the world of bees. He also knows what works for this region, which differs in timing from even the Hokianga.”

“I’d like to have my own hives and honey, but whether I decide to do it on a small scale for barter, or commercially, I’ll have to get a job to earn the money to build up my hive numbers. I’m also keen to do some of the follow-up bee-related courses. Bees are so fascinating that when you become interested in them, you get more and more interested.”

Nicholas Kemp - Apiculture

“In our area all kinds of people are interested in bees and they’re all doing their own thing. A group of us down at Pouto want to control what bees are on our trust land and to know they are handled in a co-ordinated and healthy way. We are part of a 9500 acre property with beef-stock, sheep and trees, and bees can be another aspect of the property.”

“Six of us are doing the course with the practical and most of the bookwork done on site at Pouto but we come up here once a month for intensive study.”

“We plan to put up a purpose built honey extraction and processing shed that will be the basis of an industry on the peninsula, but first we need to get on with learning the basics.”