PROUD bee keepers from across New South Wales came to the Hawkesbury Show to display the fruit of their – and their bee’s – labour at the weekend.
Apiculture chief steward Eric Whitby had the task of picking the best of the best honey and other related products such as beeswax moulds at the show.
Whitby took over as chief steward five years ago, but has spent a lifetime devoted to the keeping bees, the little insects which are so vital to the world’s food supply.
“I started off getting my first hive out of a dead tree,” Whitby told the Gazette.
“It started off as a hobby and it just progressed.
“I knew nothing about bees at all other than they stung and it has been built up from there and I've got about 200 hives now.”
Whitby said showing was about friendly competition within the apiculture industry, to try to achieve the perfect honey and other products made from the honey or wax produced by bees.
Whitby said this year there were plenty of entries, and said the field was very competitive. There were 25 entries alone in the medium honey category, for example, he said.
For those who show, it is about personal pride, and a reflection on their ability as a bee keeping, and Whitby said people took it seriously.
”We've got criteria that we follow, colour of the cappings, general appearance, is it a full comb or partly filled comb,” he said.
“You need good honey flows and the hive needs to be full of bees. It is a reflection on your ability to manage the bees and manage the site where they are.
“It is a friendly competition, but it is also to help develop the industry.”
Whitby said bee keeping was not easy as it was, but making it harder was the ever near problem that disease could strike bee colonies at any time.
Varroa mites are parasites that have decimated bee populations worldwide, although luckily it is yet to reach Australia.
However, Whitby said keepers needed to be ever vigilant to guard against that threat, or others, which could be disastrous to bees, but also the wider population.
“Without bees we haven't got a food chain. Pollination of various fruits and vegetables is vital to our survival,” he said.
“My bees pollinate avocados, cherries, peaches, but if there are no bees to pollinate, there is no fruit.
“We'e not just bee keepers, we need to know about a whole gambit of different industries.
“At present Australia we think is clean, but we are expecting varroa mite and it has eradicated bees worldwide, so we need to be on our guard for exotic pests or diseases and to look after our industry.”
But Whitby said it was not all doom and gloom, and that keeping bees could be a very enjoyable pursuit, and encouraged anyone who was interested to look into it.
“You can do it as a hobby. Depending on how far you want to go it can cost about $1000-$1200 to set up your first hive,” he said.
“You can go and visit local associations for assistance or you can comes to shows like Hawkesbury to meet other bee keepers and learn from them.”
Whitby has won numerous awards at the Royal Easter Show and Hawkesbury Show in the past.
