How did you get started beekeeping?

 In the year 2016 I was traveling overseas when I received a message from a good friend regarding a possible business venture, The details were scarce, the only thing I knew was that it involved beekeeping which I had never done before but to be honest I didn’t care too much. I was already in two minds about returning home to New Zealand so the idea of a potential business with two of my closest friends was enough to convince me to move back home.

Fast-forward a month or so and with an array of messages flying back and forth across the globe, Brood Brothers bees was formed and by the time I returned back to New Zealand it was already up and running. It was a steep learning curve for myself as I was a complete novice not knowing the first thing about keeping bees but with careful guidance, a strong fellowship with my partners and a long-standing interest with nature, curiosity soon turned into a desire to learn, which in turn transformed into a passion.

I found honeybees to be a very particular creature and the industry in general to be very interesting; it was as if every time I would go out and check the bees I would learn something new about how the bees would interact and effect the environment around them. I also learnt the importance of bees not only to this country but also to all agriculture around the world, so equipped with this knowledge I would feel confident and willing to open a conversation about honeybees and the issues surrounding them to people from outside the industry. I received great feedback from my friends and family, as they too were initially unaware of the issues and difficulties that honeybees face in this day and age.

I quickly learnt that keeping bees were much like keeping any other livestock, granted they are a lot smaller and depending on whom you speak to they may be a little scarier but the baseline ideology is the same. Provide them with a warm, safe environment where they are comfortable enough to just be themselves as nature intended and you will see them thrive.

Although running a business has been a tough road as is no new secret, satisfaction comes in the knowledge that the same mistakes will not be made again and that it does not strip away at the character but in fact adds another layer. I often find similarities between our business and the bees we take care of in the sense that we are so busy rushing around from flower to flower, site to site, having arguments, climbing over and bumping into each other but at the end of the season we find a way to get everything sorted and hunker down for the winter.

By Ihaka Watene