A Wairarapa company specialising in beehive technology is taking its healthy bee products worldwide, and has plans to launch a fully automated hive.

Hive Doctor produces low maintenance beehive hardware that increases the health and productivity of bees by making the hives less susceptible to disease.

With the parts and devices largely plastic, they are easier to clean than traditional hives, and require no secondary setup processes such as painting or paraffin dipping.

The company is owned and run by Stu and Jan Ferguson, a South Wairarapa couple who also run a manuka honey operation.

Mr Ferguson said the inspiration behind the company came from a dream of happier, healthier bees.

"The whole philosophy behind the Hive Doctor was that the varroa mite had put huge stress on bees by weakening their immune system and leaving them susceptible to a range of other diseases, and we thought it would help if we could assist the bees in any way we could.

"So if we could create a nice, warm and dry atmosphere for the bees and remove humidity and other things that assist disease, that would naturally help the bees by providing a much better environment for them," Mr Ferguson said.

The couple have been beekeeping for 12 years on their Tauherenikau farm in South Wairarapa, with Mrs Ferguson a fifth generation beekeeper.

Currently running about 400 hives, the Fergusons produce manuka honey for the export market, with 10-15 tonnes annually heading overseas, mainly to Asia.

Mr Ferguson has been designing the Hive Doctor products for about seven years, launching the brand two years ago.

With a background in product development and mechanical engineering, he has come up with nearly 50 different products, including hive base boards, feeders, and boxes.

The products are mostly made of plastic or both wood and plastic, and are manufactured at Lower Hutt firm Uniplas.

"The next step is the frames, which is something we're working on," he said.

"Currently we make about 80 per cent of what you need for a hive, and with the frames that will push that up to about 95 per cent of what you need."

Not content with hardware, Hive Doctor is currently looking for investment partners for a joint venture with Auckland company imonitor, which specialises in remote management and monitoring technology.

The two companies have designed a fully automated hive management system, which will allow for "complete remote management" of hives.

"That's the latest and greatest project," said Mr Ferguson.

"What we're looking at is the very slick management of hives using satellite, wireless technology.

"It will be able to monitor all the vital statistics of the hive and report it back to an [internet cloud storage device]."

Last week Mr and Mrs Ferguson toured the top of the South Island meeting potential clients, and will travel to Australia later this year for a series of trade shows.

They currently export Hive Doctor products to Australia, the United States and Canada, and plan to expand into the European market.

"Our whole business plan is based on a global industry, so we have been patenting the products globally," said Mr Ferguson.

The company expected to grow substantially over the next five years, with the focus this year on expanding the product range and developing the website.

By the numbers