Hantz Honey
About
There’s more than one way to manage hives, but here at Hantz Honey, we like things done our way. Our way today is not far removed from the way that Les and Maisie Hantz were doing things back in the 1940’s, in the first years of what was to become Hantz Honey.
We’ve refined those 'best practices' over the years and our winning ways have certainly paid off in the health and well-being of our bees. Today, Hantz Honey is proudly run by a 3rd generation of Hantz, with the potential of a 4th generation who are currently our “little helpers” – with a firm love and respect for the bees and an eagerness to be involved. We are a successful and well-reputed commercial beekeeping business running over 4000 beehives, providing the following goods and services; pollination; sale of mated queens; contract extracting and packing; honey sales (domestic and export) to retail and wholesale customers.
The Last Fifteen Years
The last fifteen years have been just as challenging in Hantz Honey's long history, with the emergence of Varroa; a parasitic mite which enters and moves around the hive on adult bees. It proceeds to multiple rapidly, weakening the colony and making it susceptible to viruses with the effect of reducing bee numbers and subsequently honey production with the worst outcome being death of the beehive. The arrival of this debilitating mite changed the face of beekeeping in New Zealand during the 2000s. Current head of operations, Barry Hantz, faced more challenges during the early days of Varroa infestations than his parents and grandparents generations. Management of Varroa Destructor has become a significant factor in hive management, with beekeeping in New Zealand evolving around this focus during the past 15 years.
The Verroa Bee Mite Emergence In NZ
Varroa, a parasitic mite is damaging to bee health, it was first detected in the North Island in April 2000, and after years of problems in the North Island, it eventually reached the South Island and has been here since 2007. Today, our hives have recovered due to careful management and are producing on average a whopping 150 plus tons of honey each year. In the last 15 years our bees have thrived to the point where we have gone from 1000 to 4000 beehives. A huge increase! Again we put this down to careful management, exceptional staff and our generations of Hantz family experience.
