Keeping it legal
Home » Blog » Janet Luke » Keeping it legalRegistering your hive and observing a beekeeper inspect it is a good opportunity to learn how to detect the various bee diseases.
Photo by _PaulS_via Flickr.
Now you have your hive, and new bees, it is a legal requirement to register your hive with AsureQuality, which is an off shoot of MAF. Fill in an online application form here. The application will ask you for details of the hive, such as its location on your property and also requires map coordinates and grid references. I am lucky enough to have neighbours who are trampers so they had these special topographical maps. If you know anyone with a GPS system you can use these to plot the hive location. Maps can be downloaded for free here.
It costs around
$30 per year to register a hive. The reason
is because once a year a beekeeper with special training will inspect your
hive for disease. The main disease they are on the look out for is American
Foul Brood. If this is detected the hive and bees have to be destroyed. The bees are killed and the hive is burnt.
The inspector will go through every frame of the hive. These inspections happen
in spring and before November. As the hive owner you must complete a
certificate of disease inspection for the authorities.
It is a good idea to be involved with these disease inspections as it is a great opportunity to learn through observation. Contact your local beekeeping club and become involved. You can sit a test and become Deca-qualified and even carry out these inspections yourself in time.
