A Bee Expo in Dunedin on Saturday was a hive of activity.
Beekeeper Murray Rixon, of Mosgiel, said people were asking questions as soon as the expo opened at Otago Farmers Market.
''We barely got the covers off the display hive and we were swamped with interest. People are fascinated by how bees live and how bees are doing.''
Mr Rixon owns commercial hives and rents hives for use in domestic gardens, and helps his customers harvest the honey.
For many southern beekeepers, last year was ''shocking'' for honey production, because after a good Dunedin spring, the weather ''collapsed'' on December 18 and heralded the beginning of seven weeks of bad weather.
The bees, thinking it was winter, stopped production and stayed in the hive, surviving on the hive's honey stash.
Unpredictable weather, and varroa mites had changed beekeeping from a ''laid-back, easygoing'' industry to ''hands on'' work.
Beekeepers needed to regularly treat hives for the destructive pest.
Genetics Otago director Peter Dearden, of Dunedin, speaking at the market on Saturday, said it was National Bee Aware month - a time to ''worry'' about bees.
Varroa had been attacking bees in Dunedin for the past two years and had destroyed the feral bee population.
Feral bees used to pollinate places beekeepers traditionally avoided, such as the Town Belt and high country farms.
''All those wild bees, which provided an important service, have all gone and it is something we need to worry about.''
Another invader in recent years was clover root weevil, which fed on clover root and destroyed bees' food supply.
''Clover is in a bad way and we really need to worry about clover, because it produces nitrogen for pasture.''
Genetics Otago research at the University of Otago included honey bee genetics and bee breeding programmes, Prof Dearden said.
