OUR HONEY

At Ngamaia Farms our sole focus is on producing top-quality honey. To achieve this we don't add sugar, and ensure we keep the hive numbers per beekeeper low. In the autumn traditionally most commercial beekeepers extract all the natural honey from the hive instead choosing to feed the hives a form of artificial sugar over winter. The bees store unused sugar, and this can end up in their honey. As we know a high sugar diet is unhealthy and it's no different for bees. We have found the bees thrive through winter having their own honey to nourish themselves. After all, it is the food they make using their own recipe.

 

There are three main ingredients in our honey "People, Places, and Precision"

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People - The most important. We couldn't produce our unique honey without our landowners who allow us access to their beautiful land/Whenua. Together we sort out a payment option that works for everyone - be it a flat hive rate, a percentage of the honey, or completing work on the land/whenua which works best for some people.  

Places - access is granted by our landowners, friends, and family and luckily for us this happens to be in some of the most breathtaking places in New Zealand. As you can imagine this makes going to work easy but maintaining concentration hard... when the scenery is stunning in every direction!

Precision - At Ngamaia Farms Honey we keep hive numbers low so we can maintain them to the highest standard. We leave honey on the hives so the bees have honey "on tap" keeping them happy through winter. We pride ourselves on strong Queen bees, which means strong hives you can count on to deliver quality honey. 

 

How we create... Our honey = Your well beeing®

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Preparing the Hives:

At Ngamaia Farms Honey our beekeeping year typically starts around the end of July/ early August when we wake up the dormant hives by feeding uncapped honey and pollen. This triggers the Queen bee to start laying eggs (baby bees). As they hatch, the bee numbers in the hive steadily increase making it stronger and ready to harvest the Northland Manuka. As the Spring wakes and warms the countryside the Northland Manuka nectar is ignited, signaling the beginning of the honey-making season. This typically starts in the North and East then moves South as the colder areas warm and bust into Spring. So as the Northland flower is coming to an end, the harvest begins.

Harvesting: 

At Ngamaia Farms Honey we remove the bees from the honey box using a bee escape. The Honey boxes are temporarily removed and an empty box is placed directly above the bottom box which contains the Queen and her brood. A bee escape is applied on top of the empty and the honey boxes above this.  Overnight the bees freely move down through the bee escape, out of the honey box and into the empty box to be closer to their Queen leaving bee-free honey upstairs. The next morning the honey can be removed without stressing the bees or the beekeeper, resulting in less harm and happier bees. The honey is then transported on our trusty Hiluxes to our local extraction plant.

Travel:

Once the Northland nectar is harvested, we then pick up our strongest hives and travel to our Southern sites to hopefully make more honey. These trips also provide an opportunity to catch up with Southern landowners, friends, and family. Our hives then return to their homes in the Northland bush, where they are greeted by the warm Autumn weather, a smorgasboard of Native flora and fauna,  and enjoy a well-earned rest!