Where can I buy honey bees and homes, casual beekeeping gear for a good price?

[Buzzyboom]

I am enraged about our bees here in NZ dying out so I wanted to take up casual beekeeping to try and preserve some honey bees and to research foraging patterns. I need to know where to get mild mannered honey bees, homes for them and some beekeeping gear for a good price in New zealand. Tips would be good too.

[eltalia]

http://www.footrotflats.com

... ask Wal. Heh ;)

Bill

[b2bnz]

There is a bee club down your way , google BOP beekeeping interest Group and have a chat to them.
But Please remember that beekeeping is a farming endevour and bees must be looked after, inspected and treated on a regular basis. Bee are NOT a garden ornament  to make the garden look pretty. You can cause a lot of damage to surrounding beekeepers if you don't look after yours.
If you are not prepared for the hard work, please just buy honey for the supermarket!
NZ is not short of bees!!!!!!

[Skeggley]

, please just buy honey for the supermarket!

Or preferably from your local beekeeper......

[omnimirage]

From the beginning I built all my hives from scratch, captured beeswarms for my hives, bought cheap gear off gumtree and buy frames from a local beekeeping supply yard. Took a lot more time, I made a lot of mistakes along the way(darn glue I used ended up not holding up over time and my supers fell apart) but I basically got into beekeeping for very minimal financial investment.