New bee sponsorship as of July 2022

Times change and with them the needs and requirements of our projects. At the beginning of the year, we therefore sat down with Jürgen Amplatz from the organic apiary Amplatz and evaluated our cooperation project for the protection of the native honey bee.

After careful impact analysis and close consideration of the current circumstances, as well as taking into account the forecasts for the coming months, we have jointly decided to adjust our bee sponsorships. The adjustment is mainly based on the fact that the co-financing of new hives will no longer be necessary as of the second half of 2022, thus eliminating this part of the costs. This welcome development means that it is now also possible to focus more on creating and protecting habitat for bees, as well as other important insect species.

Das Wunder Biene
Honigwaben

As of July 2022, a Greenfinity/Amplatz bee sponsorship costs 170€ and funds the following important areas:

 

  • A young queen: Cost about 30 - 40€.
  • Court: The queen needs a court as a basis for a healthy colony, which is about 0.5kg bees on 2 to 3 brood combs. These are taken from the existing economic colonies and the cost for this is the equivalent of about 30€
  • Feeding: Young colonies must be fed in the first summer otherwise they will not develop properly. It is important that they focus on caring for the brood during this time so that the colony can grow. In order for them to spend less time foraging and not to spend all their energy on honey collection, the bees are supported with organic sugar solution. In preparation for the winter, they need a slightly lower fall feeding like the "big" colonies. Total need about 15kg of organic sugar for the whole first year. Cost: approx. 25€
  • Six 250-gram jars of the finest organic honey. Cost: 30€

 

The remainder of the donation enables other smaller, but therefore no less important expenses, such as, besides others, the treatment of the bee colony in case of parasite infestation by the Varroa mite, the transports of the bees to various flight areas throughout Austria, which take place several times a year, are appropriate to the species and are carried out at night to protect the animals, the lease for the respective installation sites and the care on site.

Bee sponsorships continue to be an important part of our work, as they enable us to strengthen and protect the population of the native honey bee. However, to ensure their long-term survival, it is also important to preserve their natural habitat or restore it where it has already disappeared. This is exactly what we will increasingly focus on in the future. From July 2022, there will therefore also be an opportunity to support the creation and protection of natural habitat for our honey bees and other important insects. For this purpose, we have created the new donation package Bienenfreund together with the organic beekeeping company Amplatz. With a contribution of 45€, bee friends cover part of the costs for

 

  • Creation of water areas
  • Planting of flowering treesPlanting of flowering trees
  • Creation of flowering meadows
  • Construction of dwellings for insects, birds, bats and other natural inhabitants