Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

The plan's simple - we're setting up a bee hive next to the chicken coop to get some honey flowing. Oh yes and making mead, candles, and getting some pollination happening in the neighbourhood along the way. Now there's lots to do. We've got to find the best location for easy access to nearby flowers. We've got to avoid getting stung and the perils of bee excrement on the neighbours' washing!

Then we've got to build a hive, move the bees in, catch a swarm to boost our population and (hopefully) move into honey production before too long. From past experience there will be lots of challenges along the way. Are we going to get the bees through winter OK? Will we get a bit too greedy and take too much honey out of the hive? Or is our queen bee going to flee the hive and desert with a swarm?

But whatever happens, we'll take you inside the world of the apiculturist, meeting urban beekeepers, mead-makers, professional pollinators, bee heads and some of the other colourful and interesting characters who share a love of bees. We'll look at the etymology of the bee, the intricate social life of the hive, the amazing story of "bee space", how honey and wax gets produced, and what makes a bee sting, sting.

And best of all you'll be able to do it all for yourself with the help of our bee resources page, just click on Bee Guided and you'll have access to tons of information on beekeeping.

Over there on the right you'll also find Bee News plus a gallery for photos and videos, and if you've got any questions then we'll get them answered by the experts at the National Beekeepers' Association.

So join the backyard bee team - it'll be a great buzz!