A year 13 pupil at Maniototo Area School, he was second in the recent Young Enterprise Scheme’s (Yes) Otago regional finals for his Pete’s Bees business.
His five hives produced 158 jars of honey last season which he sold at a market under the Pete’s Bees Liquid Gold brand, as his hives were kept around the old Hamilton gold-digging site. He also manages another 25 hives for a neighbouring farmer.
Peter always had an interest in bees and established the company as part of his business studies class in 2017.
"I hand-built the hives from scratch, using wood milled from a local farm. People contact me if they have a swarm in their garden and I go along and pick up the bees and take them away," he said.
A swarm was more docile than bees in a hive, which were protecting their honey so he has hardly ever been stung.
He was able to pick them up by hand from where they landed and put them in a box.
They then crawled into the frames and settled down.
Sometimes he will pick up a queen as part of the swarm, but if he misses it, he requeens the hive.
"I condense the bees down so they think they need more space so need to split and start growing new queens."
He sells raw and creamed honey and gets it processed either at Middlemarch or Allanton.
"I bought the processing gear last year and was able to process it in a certified kitchen.
"This year they brought in new restrictions and now I have to have it processed at a certified honey processor if I want to sell it."
In addition to the hives, he also builds and sells bee hotels, as well as growing trees for planting on farms.
"New Zealand has 28 species of native and endemic bees and many are solitary and don’t make honey.
"They are under threat.
"They lay eggs in holes so I make little bee motels for them and sell them to nurseries and garden centres in the area."
Peter started the Yes programme at the beginning of the school year and had to complete five challenges.
He was second overall from 38 finalists and won a community impact award and a joint best annual review award during the formal function in Dunedin last month.
As well as carrying on beekeeping after he leaves school, Peter also wants to go to Wanaka to study an avalanche safety and snow patrol course during the winter.
"I have so much to learn and bees are fascinating creatures."
