Curious as to the motivation, remuneration and hours required to be an administrator of Backyard Beekeeping NZ’s Facebook page of more than 17,000 members, Maggie James chats with Wellington beekeeping enthusiast Dave Hodson. She uncovers an individual of varied roles, responsibilities and interests – from policing the page, to a career in government data, business and policy analytics, a penchant for trout fishing, and even a six-year stint as a professional online poker player.
By Maggie James
At a time in the New Zealand beekeeping industry when many beekeeping communication channels don’t appear overly strong, I was keen to explore why the Backyard Beekeeping NZ Facebook page has such a large following – 17,219 at time of writing – particularly when just 8223 people are recorded as registered beekeepers in New Zealand with the American foulbrood (AFB) Pest Management Plan Agency as at 31 August 2024.
Despite a reduction in hive numbers and beekeepers in recent years, in September 2024 Facebook Insights reveal there were approximately 53 posts, 984 comments, 1839 reactions, and, gobsmackingly, 28,109 visits to the Backyard Beekeeping NZ page that month.
“The Backyard Beekeepers NZ community, with its questions, mentoring, and aiding good decision making, fills a gap between when beekeeping clubs do not meet, plus many beekeepers don’t have a club nearby,” Hodson says.
“I am keen on making beekeepers aware of their legal obligations – with relevance to AFB – and it’s not uncommon for an AFB “victim” to be offered a replacement nuc colony by one of this Facebook community.”
The page has been running since early 2015, with Hodson asked to come on board as an administrator not long after. There is an almost even mix of male and female members, which vary in age from 13 years old to ‘65+’. With New Zealand’s decreasing hive numbers has come a decreasing of posts, and there appears to be fewer brand-new beekeepers recently. Ten years ago there was a major flux of the Save The Bees brigade.
Many of the postings do appear to be cyclic e.g. currently including members of the public wanting someone to uplift a swarm, newer beekeepers requesting help with their Certificate of Inspection (COI), or ‘why has my caught swarm got two queens?’.
I was interested in how many hours per week Hodson dedicates to administration duties. Amazingly, he says its only approximately one to three hours weekly, or five to ten minutes a day. The role is shared with his co-administrator, Taranaki-based horticulturalist and long-time beekeeper Vance Hooper, who Hodson has never met in person.
Hodson is not paid, regarding his input as his volunteer effort to the beekeeping industry. In the past he has been approached by commercial backers, but likes that the Facebook site is an independent voice. There is no financial cost to running the page.
Hodson says he is fortunate in that, generally, the Backyard Beekeeping NZ community is “self-moderating”. Individuals posting do have the luxury of deleting their posts. Sometimes there are a few polarising personalities that get people fired up, and, unsurprisingly, these provocative posts garner the most interaction. Occasionally, Hodson will silence the most provocative for 30 days, and postings within that period go via the administrators for clearance before appearing on the page.
“Those banned include a lot of people who have nothing to do with beekeeping or New Zealand and have tried to post videos,” Hodson explains.
“There are a few people who have repeatedly posted non-beekeeping stuff. Those that constantly have a bad opinion of everyone, get a short shift! Marital splits, with one party trying to sell gear, are also a no-no, along with reports of stolen beehives. I don’t regard this page as an opportunity to have a trial as to whether hives are stolen, and those attempting to post these accusations, rightly or wrongly, are told to report the matter to police.
Also, unless impacting on beekeeping, this is a non-Covid and non-1080 page,” he says, referencing topics which often drawn unsolicited online opinions in abundance.
Despite this, Hodson says threats have been made to his life on another page because he deleted posts regarding 1080 on Backyard Beekeepers NZ. He contacted the administrator of that Facebook page and was told the perpetrator had been banned.
The Beekeeper Behind the Beekeeping Page
While now an advocate for Langstroth hives, Hodson’s beekeeping career began in Dunedin after a topbar bee hive building course.
“This was in the period that the save the bees and topbars are more natural voices were everywhere,” he says.
The topbar hive was populated and Hodson soon learnt the various pros and cons associated with the space constraints of this type of hive.
“Somehow, in the how do we get bees?, exercise I ended up talking to Murray Rixon who was recently returned to Dunedin, and in the process of setting up a hive rental business. I ended up being his test customer, and basically got a lot of valuable in-the-hive tuition from him for next to no cost for our annual rental fee, along with our guaranteed annual honey whenever it suited.”
Hodson then obtained his own bees in a Langstroth hive, and watched a lot of beekeeping videos and hassled his bees a fair bit.
“I was active on the Backyard Beekeeping NZ FB page, and I viewed many videos. Trevor Gillbanks, Trevs Bees, are an amazing source of informative videos aimed at beginners. I think Trev should be knighted for his services to the industry with these videos!
I was also cavalier about the need for bee suits or a smoker, and eventually learned the lesson that most such beginners learn – involving a bee that got stuck a long way up my nostril. Subsequently I started wearing a veil and using a smoker more often. An older beekeeper at the local hobbyist bee club reiterated this practise totally sagely stating ‘at least wear sunglasses, you are a long time blind!’.”
For a couple of years Hodson helped out a small-scale commercial beekeeper in Otago, which provided a lot more time in beehives and an accelerated learning curve. That included a lesson on carrying out full hive inspections in a large apiary full of big hives, during rough weather, wearing sneakers and a half suit only!
In 2015, along with being made an administrator of Backyard Beekeepers NZ, Hodson moved to Wellington. His Dunedin hives, other than those on his rental property, were sold. These hives were run remotely from Wellington with his tenants’ help, while also coming and going a bit!
There was an urban apiary in Wellington. Plus, a Taranaki apiary on land owned and farmed by his father. This site is at the end of a gravel road where commercial beekeeper and uncle Arthur Hodson from Fielding, previously had an apiary.
More than Just Bees
Hodson, age 47 years, holds a BA in Maths, BSc in Ecology, along with some Post Graduate study in ecology. Now “between jobs”, he has been a policy and data analyst since 2015, working in emissions trading related teams at the Environmental Protection Authority and the Ministry for the Environment.
If something spins Hodson’s wheels, he gets obsessive, and from 2009 to 2015 that was playing online poker.
“At first the online poker was lucrative, enabling a living which gave me time for beekeeping! However, with the rise of artificial intelligence in Eastern Europe, coupled with the declining US dollar, I started to earn less than the minimum wage. Initially poker only required a few hours to be lucrative, then not so, and increasing hours to earn less did not appeal. In Eastern Europe, one US dollar goes a long way, but not so far here, where there is a higher cost of living,” Hodson explains.
Complementing the online activities, Hodson is also a keen fisherman and relishes catching delicious sea run brown trout in the tidal range near river mouths, particularly when they return for spawning. Earlier in his working life he also spent time living in Golden Bay, fruit picking and working as a wilderness guide.
Such adventures in the New Zealand outdoors and inside his beehives will soon be in the rear vision mirror though, with Hodson’s German partner Svenja pregnant and the couple have decided to live in Germany for the next two to three years, departing 29 November. All but the Taranaki hives have been sold, and this site will be handed over to his father Rex, an ex-shearer who is looking forward to registering as a beekeeper and continuing the Hodson family tradition on their farm.
However, Dave Hodson’s administrator duties and Backyard Beekeeping NZ posts will continue, albeit from Germany – likely in the middle of the New Zealand night.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of this story with Dave Hodson PM via Backyard Beekeeping NZ on Facebook or email dave.hodsonz@gmail.com
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