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
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 Buzz on Honey Provenance
Location, location, location! We hear this statement so often in real estate and yet habitually do not connect the importance of location to the food we eat. In our heavily industrialised world, modern humans yearn to understand the importance of connections and explore their food’s natural or
Marketing a beekeeping business – Part 2
Have you thought about trying something new and were unsure, or maybe even too scared to try it? I know how you feel; I felt the same when Peter asked me to boost our beekeeping business. As described in Marketing a Bee Business – Part 1, Peter asked for further suggestions on areas of our op
The Buzz on Honey Quality
There has been chatter in the press lately on the importance of honey quality and what is in honey these days. It is only natural the discerning consumer will ask a manufacturer about the ingredients in their honey products, question how natural the honey is, or perhaps the consumer will take the ti
Summertime Extraction – delayed
The ever-present rain at the end of 2022 and early 2023 impacted the hives in our apiaries. The rain caught us by surprise in that the best did not have the amount of honey we would have expected for the Spring/Summer season of honey extraction. In my December 2022 La Nina and Its Effects on [&hel
Marketing a beekeeping business – Part 1
When Peter’s interest in bees commenced, his initial thought process was the same as most people – buy a hive or two and go from there. As Peter researched more and more, he found a great deal of fascination and awe at what an insect could do, and his idea of running a bee business […