Black Shepherd Apiaries

18/10/2026

https://hamilton.neighbourlynews.co.nz/neighbours/local-children-design-new-label-for-waikato-honey-range-44706

A collaboration between a beekeeping family and Hautapu School children has produced artwork for new charity honey.

15/10/2026

Introducing our Little Beekeepers Honey! 🐝🍯

Today was a pretty special day for Black Shepherd Apiaries!

After some amazing entries from the talented young artists at Hautapu School, we officially unveiled the winning design for our new Little Beekeepers Family Mānuka Honey.

What makes this honey even more special is that $1 from every jar sold will be donated to Kids in Need Waikato, helping support local children and families.

We absolutely love seeing a child’s creativity come to life on one of our honey jars, and we’re so proud to have created something that gives back to our community.

A huge thank you to Hautapu School, everyone who entered, and Kids in Need Waikato for being part of this.

And of course, a massive congratulations to our talented winner Paddy! 💛

A little jar of honey making a big difference.

Black Shepherd Apiaries × Kids in Need Waikato

10/10/2026

🐝 Ever wondered what those colourful little bundles on a bee’s back legs are?

That’s pollen, and this hardworking girl has been out collecting it from flowers!

Honey bees have specialised structures on their hind legs called pollen baskets, or corbiculae. As they visit flowers, pollen sticks to the tiny hairs covering their bodies.

Using their legs, they brush the pollen together, mix it with a little nectar or honey to help it stick, and pack it tightly into their pollen baskets.

But here’s the fascinating part…

🍯 Pollen isn’t what bees make honey from!

Honey is made primarily from flower nectar. Pollen provides bees with essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.

Back at the hive, worker bees unload the pollen and pack it into honeycomb cells, where it becomes a vital food source for the colony, particularly for developing young bees.

And while she’s busy collecting food, she’s also transferring pollen between flowers, helping plants reproduce.

One tiny bee, doing two incredibly important jobs. 🐝

02/10/2026

Tiny bee. Big job. 🐝🫐
Pollinating tomorrow’s blueberries, one flower at a time. Truli Blue Blueberries

02/10/2026

🐝 Built by bees. From scratch.

This is one of those things you see all the time as a beekeeper, but when you actually stop and think about it… it’s pretty incredible.

Worker bees produce tiny flakes of wax from glands on their bodies, then soften and mould that wax to build every single one of these little hexagonal cells.

No template. No measurements. Just bees. 🐝

And every cell has a job — storing honey, storing pollen or raising the next generation of bees.

Thousands of tiny wax flakes, turned into something this precise.

Bees are seriously clever little creatures. 🍯🐝

02/10/2026

🐝 Something pretty special is coming…

Our brand-new Little Beekeepers Mānuka Honey is almost ready to launch! 🍯

Created with our little beekeepers in mind, and featuring the winning artwork from our label design competition, designed by a local child right here in the Waikato.

Even better, $1 from every jar sold will be donated to Kids in Need Waikato ❤️

Locally produced Mānuka honey, a label created by one of our local kids, and a little jar doing some good in our community.

We can’t wait to show you the finished jars.

Little Beekeepers Mānuka — coming very soon. 🐝🍯

24/09/2026

It’s that time of year again…

The bees are busy, Really really busy ….

Right now, millions of tiny wings are moving from flower to flower, doing one of the most important jobs in our food system — pollination.

Without bees and other pollinators, so many of the foods we love simply wouldn’t be produced in the same abundance. Think apples, berries, kiwifruit, avocados, pumpkins, courgettes and so much more. 🍎🥝🥑🍓

It’s easy to think of bees and think honey — but their biggest contribution happens long before a jar ever reaches your pantry.

Every flower visited. Every grain of pollen carried. Every fruit that begins to form.

Our bees are out there doing what they do best. 🐝💛

Small creatures. Massive job.

Here’s to our hardworking little pollinators — helping put food on tables all across New Zealand. 🇳🇿

21/09/2026

There’s something about Clover Honey. 🍯

It’s the honey I grew up on — simple, familiar, and always in the cupboard. And now, all these years later, we’re producing our own for our family and yours. 🤎

Our New Zealand Clover Honey is beautifully smooth and naturally sweet, with that classic mild flavour that makes it an everyday favourite.

Honey naturally contains antioxidants and has long been loved as a soothing addition to warm drinks — but sometimes the best thing about it is simply knowing exactly where your food has come from.

From our hives, through our hands, to your table.

A little taste of childhood, bottled for the next generation.

Black Shepherd Apiaries
Hive to Home 🐝

19/09/2026

There’s something special about starting the day simply🍯

A spoonful of Black Shepherd Apiaries Mānuka Honey, a good coffee, and a little time before the day gets busy.

Harvested from our New Zealand hives and carefully handled by us from hive to home, our Mānuka MGO 180+ is rich, smooth and naturally delicious — perfect drizzled over breakfast, stirred into a warm drink, or simply enjoyed straight from the spoon.

Pure. Potent. Real.
New Zealand Mānuka honey, from our family to yours. 🐝🖤

18/09/2026

And just like that… pollination is underway 🐝🌸

Seriously, HOW has this happened already?! 😅

It feels like five minutes ago we were finishing last season, and now the trucks are moving, the hives are heading out and another pollination season has officially begun.

The busy season is HERE.
Let the madness begin. 🐝