W
hen hives are full and ready to be
harvested, Hayward beekeepers arrive
on site. Using blowers and smoke,
they remove most of the bees from a hive’s
upper boxes, the ‘supers,’ which are taken to the
processing shed for harvesting. The bottom box
or ‘deep super,’ which holds the queen and her
brood, is left behind and the bees get back to
work while the keeper moves on to the next hive.
Harvesting time follows the completion of
a particular flowers’ bloom. This year, the
rewarewa bloomed exceptionally well before
Christmas, providing the beekeepers with two
harvesting periods: one for the rewarewa, and
the other at the end of the summer for manuka
and bush blends.
Back at the shed, boxes are stacked according
to the collection areas to ensure the manuka
batches don’t get mixed with the clover blend,
for example.
OPERATION HONEY
The honey shed is a unique working
environment. From the outside it just looks
like an old shed, the exception being the
hundreds of hovering bees who have made
the trip with the hives. But inside it’s another
world, the dimly lit storage shed (called the ‘box
shed’) holds towers of stacked, pastel painted
boxes. It’s an impressive sight that is slightly
intimidating, given the bee to human ratio is
1000:1, and yet there’s a calming atmosphere.
Some bees gather toward a window in the
ceiling, the rays of light beam through, giving it
a virtuous glow.
Another hive storage area contains an isolated
window that is also covered in bees. This
solitary source of light in the room creates an
illuminated pathway that attracts them. As we
move around the supers, I’m quickly instructed
to avoid this ‘buzzway’ and the hundreds of
bees moving along it toward the light. This ‘light
lure’ makes it easier to see and avoid them.
One of the beekeepers occasionally opens the
window to release them from the shed and
back to nature.
As the walking tour through the shed continues,
owner Bonk Hayward’s extensive knowledge of
bees is revealed. I find myself trying to digest
all this new information while keeping my cool
as bees buzz around me, some even landing on
my shoulder. Believe it or not, I made it through
unscathed... and unstung!
There are many jars of honey in various colours
and shades on the shelves. Bonk tells me these
have been saved from the past three seasons
for traceability and testing purposes. For him,
distinguishing the type of honey is second
nature. He points and reaches for this season’s
rewarewa jar. “Just by looking at it you can
tell... see how runny and dark it is? That’s what
makes Coromandel honey different: it’s well
known for being darker which means more
intense flavours.”
What about the famous manuka? Bonk
explains the region produces many honeys
worth raving about, but their bush blend
manuka is not among the power hitters in
the ratings. (Some Coromandel producers
specialise in potent active manuka, but
generally, the manuka honey certified and
top rated for bioactivity originates from the
East Cape region around Gisbourne, the
easternmost tip of North Island, stretching from
Maihia in the south to Opotiki in the north.)
Bonk then opens up a sliding door, taking us
into the processing room where we are greeted
by the rich smell of honey, an intense humming
of machinery and a blasting radio. Here the
beekeepers pull frames from the boxes and
guide them through the uncapping machine to
remove the beeswax seal over each cell. In an
8 hour shift the busy crew will get through 6-7
pallets of supers. And no beesuits needed for
for these keepers; the guys are comfortable
without them in the shed.
UNCAPPED AND READY TO SPIN
The room has a warm temperature allowing
the honey to flow easily through the machines
and pumps. Interested in how the honey is
processed? We’ve broken it down for you:
Stage One: Uncapping
Each super is made up of ten frames. Each frame
is fed through the honey capper which slices the
wax off each face of the frame. The scraped wax
is collected at the base of the machine. Patches
of wax missed by the capper are sheared with a
shearing comb – an extremely appropriate name!
At the end of the machine, the caps are further
punctured so every cell is opened up and ready
to be extracted in the mighty centrifuge.
Stage Two: Centrifuge Extractor
The uncapped frames are dripping with luscious
honey now that the protective layer of wax has
been removed. The frames are placed into a top
loader washing machine doppelganger. They are
put on a cycle of 9 minutes – 3 minutes forward,
3 minutes backwards and another 3 minutes
forward.
(
See next page for photo).
These cycles
vary with the type of blend being processed.
Monofloral or clover blends are processed for 6
minutes all up. The honey is collected at the base
of the extractor and pumped through to the next
machine for further refinement.
Stage Three: Capping spinner
Further spins the honey, separating more wax.
This machine also resembles a stainless steel
washing machine. A giant sieve bucket captures
the wax and lets the honey further filter out into a
separate pump which transports it to the ‘waffle’
machine. The collected wax is pumped through to
the cork screw machine…
Stage Four: Cork screw
The cork screw condenses the wax which is then
taken to the wax room.
Stage Five: Waffle tank
The waffle tank, the last filtering machine,
removes the remaining traces of wax as the
honey moves through a baffle or strainer system.
The wax and residue float to the top and are
cleaned out each night. The waffle tank is warmed
slightly to 35 degrees to ease the flow of honey
through the filters. It isn’t heated any higher as
temperatures over 60 degrees will pasteurise the
honey and destroy some of its healing power –
further filtering the nutrients out of the honey.
by Claire Fitzjames
The last two issues offered a glimpse into the life
of bees and their keepers, including Haywards
Honey Shop. They are the largest apiary on the
Coromandel and export all they produce. Their
main office is in Tairua, but ‘bee business’ is either
out in the field or on the farm in Whenuakite where
their honey processing buildings are located.
Hayward Honey Shop invited us to see how
honey makes its way from the hive to the jars
on the shelf. Keep reading for an insight into the
fascinating harvesting and extracting process and
the many ways you can enjoy your honey.
Honey comb laden frames line up to go through
the uncapping machine. The wax is sliced off, then
the cells of the comb are pricked so the honey is
ready to be spun out in the centrifuge extractor.
Another process reclaims the beeswax.
Behind the scenes
in the honey shed
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