The Central App has met a few interesting workers this summer to provide readers with a peek into their work lives.

Meet Barna Szocs, caretaker of some of Central’s bees and a guy who loves his job at Tiaki Bees.

What is your profession?

I'm a beekeeper, specialising in beehive rental. Basically, I look after bees for locals who want to have their own beehive but don't have the time or necessary the knowledge to do it themselves.

Describe a typical day at work 

A typical day can vary widely, anything from building and repairing hives, answering emails, researching and learning new things about beekeeping, to obviously the most important job of working hands on with the bees in the region. 

We aim to work from 8-9am to 5pm but sometimes longer hours can be necessary.

A typical day the last few weeks would have looked like this: 

• Start work around 8am, make a plan for the day while enjoying a cup of hot coffee
• Load the truck with the necessary equipment, hive boxes, and other components needed for the day
• Around 9am, after greeting the resident of the home and having the necessary "bee talk" informing them about what the bees are up to this time of the year; we get the smoker going and close our bee suit to start the first beehive inspection of the day.
• Evaluation of the hive starts as soon as we see the hive. When we walk towards the hive we get some important information by noting, for example, how many bees fly in and out from the hive.
• The inspection continues using all of our senses including the sense of smell that is a very good indication of the health of the hive. 
• After we are happy with everything that we see, and we have done all the necessary work we update our records, then decide on the next tasks and what we need to prepare for the next inspection.
• Finally, we say bye to the residents of the home and give them a quick breakdown of how their beloved little insects are doing, then jump on the truck to head to the next beehive.

We repeat this process multiple times a day then we head back to the base to unload the truck. 

Finally, the day usually ends with transferring the information about the hive visits to our big whiteboards and, if there is time, maybe a quick look at what the next day will look like.

How did you end up in the job you are doing now? 

I came to New Zealand for a skydiving job about 10 years ago. For a while I was also operating a 4WD rental business, but that quickly came to an end as Covid hit. 

Meanwhile I was beekeeping as a hobbyist for a few years, finished a qualification in Apiculture and even worked for a commercial beekeeping operation for a while.

Once the lockdown happened I started brainstorming about how to make a living from my passion and it wasn't long until I came up with the idea of renting out beehives. 

I knew of the concept of beehive rental from bigger cities around the world and given the fact that so many of my friends wanted to host my beehives in their backyard I realised that there is a demand from passionate locals wanting to help the bees and produce their own delicious honey. So Tiaki Bees was born in the year 2020.

How did you manage through the pandemic and what are you doing differently post

Covid-19?

A big reason for my transition from 4WD rental to Beehive rental in 2020 was Covid-19, so everything is different now. 

But different in a good way – bees are more fun and interesting than trucks.

What do you love about your job?

Working with the bees, learning something new, and trying to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Spreading the word about the importance of bees and most importantly helping the bees, one of the most important living beings on earth.

Inspecting a local hive

What are the negative aspects of your job?

The only negative part I can see is that sometimes we have to work longer hours as some jobs have to be done without delay in order to keep the bees healthy and happy.

But I guess working longer hours once in a while is necessary in every job so that's ok, especially if it is for a good cause like helping the bees.

What would you say to someone wanting to join your profession? How should they

go about it?

I would advise them to start with a hive or two as a hobbyist but to keep in mind that it is a commitment, and it will take time and willingness to research and learn. I would definitely recommend doing a course; Otago Polytechnic offers some great apiculture courses for different levels. Easing into it is the key.

What does the future look like for you and work?

As we found out in recent times, the future holds some surprises sometimes and we need to adapt, but whatever these surprises would be I believe I will be around looking after the bees in the region.

What else would you like to tell us about your job?

Maybe an interesting fact: Beekeeping has been around for 4,500 years, that's a pretty good job security record.

Summarise your work life in three words

Love my job!

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