Australia has an amazing array of native bees and is home to around 2,000 species of native bees. Although they are not used in honey production, native bees play a vital part of Australia’s unique flora and provide valuable pollination for our unique bush. Infact some native bees are the only known pollinators of certain native plants. Most Australian bees are solitary creatures and only a few live in colonies similar to the European honey bee with a queen, infertile female worker bees and male drones which fertilise the queens. Having evolved in the more temperate climate in Australia ..read more

A queen excluder is a selective barrier inside a beehive that limits the queen’s access to parts of the hive. The idea behind a queen excluder is that the smaller worker bees can easily pass through the gaps and the larger queen and drone (male) bee cannot. The below image shows the three types of honey bees within a hive: the queen, the drones, and the workers. The main use for a queen excluder is to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers. The below diagram is a “typical” Langstroth beehive setup with 1 or 2 boxes for brood, a queen excluder and t ..read more

What is wax moth? There are two species of wax moth active in Australia, the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella) and the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella). As the name suggests, the lesser wax moth is the smaller of the 2 with adults reaching 10-13mm long, whereas the greater wax moth adult can reach 13-19mm long. Both species are considered pests of active hives, however they most commonly cause damage to unattended combs in storage, especially in areas that are dark, warm and poorly ventilated ..read more

We all know honey as the thick, sweet golden liquid produced by clever bees, but how exactly do bees make honey? The starting point for honey is nectar, the sugar rich liquid produced by flowering plants and trees that attract bees and other pollinating animals. For plants to reproduce, they need to get pollen from one flower to another, but since plants can not move they produce the sweet nectar to attract bees and other pollinating animal to act as couriers to transport the pollen that sticks to them when collecting nectar. The bees coll ..read more

What is a Honey Extractor A honey extractor is a piece of equipment used by beekeepers in the extraction of honey from honeycombs. A honey extractor works by using centrifugal force to flick the honey from the honeycomb without destroying the comb. A large plastic or stainless steel drum or container holds a frame basket, which spins and forces the honey out onto the inside of the drum. The honey then hits the drum wall and drains to the bottom of the drum ready for filtering and pouring. With this method the wax comb is not damaged within ..read more

What is the Bee Space The "bee space" is the term to describe the gaps within a hive that bees will not fill with propolis or wax. In a natural hive, bees create this space themselves so they can move around freely between the layers of comb. More specifically the bee space is defined as a gap size of between 6–9 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) in which bees would neither build comb nor cement closed with propolis. If the gap was larger than 9mm (3⁄8 in) the bees will fill with comb. If the gap was smaller than 6mm (1/4 in) the bees will fill this space wi ..read more

What is Propolis? Propolis or bee glue is a resinous mixture made by bee-released and plant-derived compounds. Propolis is produced by honey bees by mixing saliva, beeswax, pollen with exudate gathered from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is produced and used by bees in their hives to fill small gaps (approx. 6 mm or less). Propolis varies in makeup and colour depending on the region and time of year it is produced by the bees. However in general, raw propolis is composed approximately ..read more

Beehives can be located just about anywhere. They can be kept in a wide range of situations and will survive and flourish. You can keep them in the country or city, garden corner, by your backdoor, or even on your rooftop. Bees can easily adapt to most situations but better neighbourly relations as well a larger honey harvest can be obtained if you follow the 3 important considerations discussed below: Local rules & regulations Access to food & water source Your neighbours Local rules &am ..read more

With consumers becoming more informed and demanding in their food choices, we look at what is involved to gain organic certification for beekeepers. In Australia organic farming certification is issued by one of several organic certification organisations, such as the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA) or the Australian Certified Organic (ACO). Organic certification involves one of these organisations auditing a beekeepers methods to ensure that they comply with the guidelines ..read more

Smoke has been used to calm bees since prehistoric times. It is not exactly clear when this practice started, but bee-smoking has long been used to help collect honey in the wild. Early uses of smoke being used in beekeeping would probably have been similar to the death-defying antics of Nepalese honey-hunters, which was documented by a photographer on National Geographic recently. Needless to say, it makes modern day beekeeping look very tame! Before we look at the best fuels, it’s important to better underst ..read more