Category: Uncategorized

  • Being a successful beekeeper

    I heard someone recently say: “The secret to being a successful beekeeper is to have at least two and a half hives”. The thinking behind this statement is that you should always have one spare hive and one on the way. Let’s face it, while it’s possible for undisturbed colonies to endure for many decades,…

  • Do I need to split my bee hive?

    The short answer is: No, you don’t ever NEED to split your hive. The bees will live happily in the hive box for many years undisturbed. However, should you want to split your hive to expand your bee empire and have more hives, then that option is available too. Will my bees leave if they…

  • An explanation of the OATH hive

    Parts of a Native Stingless Bee Hive Brood boxesThe brood boxes are where the hive stores brood, as well as some honey, pollen and resin stores. Honey superThe honey super is an extra storage space where the hive will usually store honey exclusively. This is where you will harvest your honey. Brood excluderThe brood excluder…

  • Do native bees make honey?

    Of the approximately 1700 species of Australian native bees, only 11 are classes as ‘highly social’ bees, which means they live as a community in a hive. These highly social native bees produce a small amount of honey, called ‘Sugarbag’. One Australian native bee hive can make up to 1kg per year; in comparison, european…

  • Understanding the terminology

    As with any hobby, there is a little bit of jargon you will need to know when buying your first hive and I hope to cover all the major terms here. As always, get in touch with me if you have a question. What are TC, TH and AA? These are popular abbreviations for the…

  • Keeping native bees at home

    Keeping native stingless at home is easy, and like most pets, you need to do a small amount of preparation before they arrive. Where can I get a hive of native bees? There are a number of good suppliers of hives in Brisbane and you can even find them on Gumtree. However, I would highly…