Which event had the greatest impact on your  honey production?

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The event which had the most impact on our honey production was when gum trees flowered as we had a lot of hives in that area. When there was suspected AFBs in the area our honey went down quite a lot which goes to show how important bio security is!

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What would you do differently to minimise or maximise the impact if you played the game again?

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We would put the hives near natural environments and water and also make sure that all the hives aren't really close to each other. If we spread them out then if some hives get infected not all of them will be diseased and you wont lose all your colony.

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Identify one of the events that beekeepers cannot influence?

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One thing a bee keeper can not change is the weather, the amount of rain was limited and a very little amount fell.

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How can they manage the impacts of that event on their bees and honey production?

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For weather, something we learnt about is sugar water that helps tired bees trek on through hot dry weather, maybe bee keepers can put those around and also add shallow troughs of water with little floating devices so the bees can rest on things when they drink and wont drown.

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What did you learn about the role of beekeepers from playing the Honey Game?

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We learnt that it is important where you place your beehive. Don't use pesticides because it can kill and poison your hive. Spread out your hives too, if some get sick they wont all get harmed. Check on your bees regularly too so you can pick up on sickness before they become really bad..

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We learnt that if a bee hive is placed in the wrong place where there may be changes such as drought or pesticides it sets back production of their honey. Bee keepers need to find the perfect place for the bees and think about all the different factors because it can be hard to control diseases and pesticides.