Hawke’s Bay beekeepers are in for a busy weekend as they rush to remove thousands of bee hives from orchards which are about to have their first spray of the season.

Ian Berry, Director of Arataki Honey in Havelock North told Country99TV that the pipfruit industry had placed ads warning spraying would begin on Labour Weekend.

But with flowering running more than a fortnight late this season, the bees have not finished their work.

Beekeepers supply pollination services to growers around the country, but with the late flowering, bees still pollinating now face a serious risk of being wiped out by the spray.

Not a good idea with bee numbers generally on the decline.

Mr Berry says there are still around 7,000 beehives spread around Hawke’s Bay orchards and the risk is that they may not be able to remove all of them until the end of next week.

He says the bee industry is urging orchardists to hold off on spraying until the bees have finished doing their job, and have been evacuated from the orchards.