The World of the Beekeeper

From the Hive to the Honey Pot

New Zealand is world renowned for its clean, green environment, and we are proud to offer you delicious, pure New Zealand honey produced from within this wonderful country.

At Mossop’s Honey we own and operate our own beehives and therefore oversee all aspects of honey making including producing the honey to extracting, storing, packing into jars to labelling, marketing and distributing the final product in New Zealand and overseas.

 

Our factory is a hive of activity during the honey season when boxes (also known as supers) of honey are brought into the sheds.	The frames of honey are extracted in the honey extractor and honey is stored in drums.

From the drums the honey is pumped into the honey vats for packing into pots.

The pots of freshly packed honey are placed into a cool room until they are set then packaged into cartons for delivery to supermarkets and stores throughout the North Island of New Zealand and for the overseas market.

How we introduce new Queen Bees to the beehives in the field

In mid to late January we start grafting our queens. Royal jelly is brushed into beeswax coated cell cups followed by the tiny bee embryo. The cell cups are returned to the hive where the bees nurture the baby queens until they are ready to be taken to the beehives in the field. The queen cells are put into wire cages and placed in the hive. The new queen bee will ensure a strong healthy hive.

 

Queen Bee Cells

Queen Bee

How we monitor and shift our hives in Autumn and Winter

In the autumn and winter when no blossoms are available and the bees cannot produce honey they need to be fed. The condition of the hives is also monitored to ensure the bees are healthy and the hives are checked for varroa bee mite.

The beehives are then relocated to their spring apiary sites where early pollen and nectar sources ensure early build-up and prepare the beehives for the coming pollination and honey seasons. In order to get the best from our beehives we do over 10,000 hive shifts every year. This achieves optimum production from the hives and ensures the bees are able to forage for nectar and pollen, which are products essential for the well being of the hive.

 

Beekeepers Checking Hives	Checking Hives in the Winter

To avoid over stirring and over pasteurising we use traditional methods for tastier honey

When kiwifruit pollination is finished the bees are prepared for their next task - producing honey for themselves and for the Mossop’s. The hives are moved into remote areas of N.Z. bush and pastureland including Manuka, Rewarewa, Tawari, and Clover flowers. This ensures the unique characteristics of each variety of our honeys.

After several weeks, the beekeepers head out to collect the honey. Each of the boxes in the hive is called a super and every collection run sees hundreds of supers picked up from all over the central North Island. The loaded truck returns to the factory where the honey-laden supers are unloaded into the storage area.

How we extract the wax and pack into drums

At the factory the supers of honey are extracted. To do this, the wax cappings are sliced off each frame to be melted down later into blocks of beeswax.

The uncapped frames are put into the honey pricker to aid the removal of honey, then into the extractor which spins the frames, throwing out the honey.

Once extracted, the golden liquid honey is stored in 300kg drums. The drums of honey will be liquified and filtered before being poured into the stainless steel vat and stirred ready for packing into the various sized jars.

 

Honey Being Extracted	Honey Filtered

At Mossop’s Honey we sell a variety of honey and bee products including Supa Manuka Honey with UMF®, Manuka, Rewarewa, and Field & Tawari as well as pollen and propolis products.

Mossop’s Supa Manuka honey is independently tested to verify it contains the health giving benefits and anti bacterial qualities of the Unique Manuka Factor or U.M.F.® The clear circle around the sample is the area of dead bacteria neutralized by Mossop’s Supa Manuka Honey.

The shop in Tauranga has all these varieties of honey and honey products as well as honey ice cream, cosmetics, cooking condiments and gifts. Mossop's Honey is also sold in supermarkets and stores and exported.

Selection of Honey	Mossop's Honey Shop