Cruisin' with some bees

This is one of two hives I drove home from Hamilton with. They were sealed up with gauze but started escaping by the time I got the last hive to its location. There were over 30 bees flying around the back of the station wagon!

I drove home so carefully and had my bee suit an smoker ready just in case.



















I was in Hamilton to learn how to train Bees for my upcoming project.

I met Mark Goodwin who is New Zealands leading Bee expert. He is an absolute Guru!
Check out this site to hear his talk about his research, its really interesting!


Video of Dr Mark Goodwin

About Dr Mark Goodwin



I was very lucky to be able to meet Dr Mark Goodwin. I bombarded him with questions and learned as much as I could from him.

He arranged for me to hang out with his Bee keeper for a day. We saw a lot of hives and inspected them all.

Here he is pointing to the queen.

 I saw Varroa mite. These little guys are a major problem in New Zealand. They attack bees at all stages of their development.

 Here they are on a bee.











This is Sac Brood. It is a virus that attacks bees in their development.













This is an image of a healthy stages of development for a bee.

 This is what Sac Brood does to the stages of development for a bee.








This was a trip of a lifetime for me. I learned so much from some of New Zealand leading experts. The fellowship is providing many learning opportunities for me but it is also providing me with opportunities to network and communicate with people that I would never otherwise had access to.