Re-Queening – Canberra Region Beekeepers
We are affiliated with the Canberra Region Beekeepers. Recently, we supported the re-queening of their club apiary. Why Re-Queen Whether to re-queen honey bee colonies is nearly always a point of contention; this need not be the case. Instead, why not ask: ‘Why do you keep bees?’ I am
AQBBA March 2024 Newsletter
I write the regular newsletter for the Australian Queen Bee Breeders Association (AQBBA). I have shared the March 2024 issue here. If you are interested in joining the AQBBA, you can reach the web-site here. Membership is $50.00 per year. There is a lot going on in the queen bee breeding industry so
To Feed, or Not to Feed?
Today’s post is motivated by the number of recreational beekeepers contacting me to discuss whether and when to feed their bees. In the general to-and-fro across social media, a few beekeepers are committed to not feeding their bees. In their eyes, it is unnatural, perpetuates weak genes and d
End of the Season
Well, that’s it for the year. Our apiary is located on the western side of the coastal range, about 900m above sea level, so it starts getting cold in March. It’s time to assess the apiaries and see which hives need compacting for Winter – that’s another post altogether. This
AQBBA December 2023 Newsletter
I write the regular newsletter for the Australian Queen Bee Breeders Association (AQBBA). I thought I would share the December 2023 issue here. If you are interested in joining the AQBBA, you can reach the web-site here. Membership is from $50.00 per year. There is a lot going on in the bee industry
The Swarm Queen, Part 2 – The Rise of the Drone King
In our previous blog, The Swarm Queen – Part 1, we discussed how we would catch swarms to study the behaviours and traits of wild bees in and around our apiaries. As queen bee breeders, we are interested in understanding the characteristics of the wild bees – whether they have predominan
Varroa Checks in our Apiaries
So, as we potter through our apiaries doing our hive inspections and varroa checks, in comes the news……….eradication is over. Beekeepers need to prepare to live with the mite !!! I thought – finally, some common sense. Then, in the same breath came the realisation that from n
Warm Winter = Wiley Wasps
The weather of late in our region has certainly presented us with changes that we would not usually see this time of year. Particularly wasps in winter! We found the concentration of wasps heading into winter was higher than usual and as such, we placed wasp traps around our apiaries to mitigate any
Bees and Chickens
Have you run a chicken coop? Chickens are funny animals with their quirks and behaviours. Bees are similar; they do things that don’t make sense to us, yet to them, there is a perfectly credible reason. This hive in our backyard is one of those moments which gets one thinking – why is
Announcing ABON
In mid-July, I was back in Newcastle’s Varroa exclusion zones supervising the installation of bait hives for the Australian Bee Observation Network (ABON) administered by the Australian National University (ANU). The potential establishment of Varroa in Australia raises the urgency of understa