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Australian Native Bees | News | Information | Research | Since 2015

Failed Small Tc Hive

There was a swarm for a few days which seemed to have lead to the colony decline. Bee traffic dropped to zero and then I noticed the grubs. This box was made in 2016 and has housed bees from 2019 for four years and has never been split or opened. It has always been a very strong or active hive. Upon opening the box and investigating further… If we pretend

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Failed Small Tc Hive

There was a swarm for a few days which seemed to have lead to the colony decline. Bee traffic dropped to zero and then I noticed the grubs. This box was made in 2016 and has housed bees from 2019 for four years and has never been split or opened. It has always been a very strong or active hive. Upon opening the box and investigating further… If we pretend

Read More »

News

Stingless Bee Industry 2023

So how’s the stingless bee industry going in Australia? Mirroring the tough times the bees have had the last couple of years, business has taken a big hit as well. With lots of rain and a very long cold winter in 2022 many colonies were lost. This caused a bit

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Hunter Valley NSW – Workshop 2023

Photo above: Paul and Greg splitting a hive Photos from the Hunter branch – Australian Native Bee Association workshop – 25/11/2023. This was held at Weston, west of Newcastle NSW. With 30 attendees, Tim Heard talked about native bees then there was a series of hive split demonstrations. A few

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Pollination Workshop – Tocal College NSW

Held at Tocal College just north of Newcastle, this workshop was the last one for 2023. Funded by Agrifutures, The Department of Primary Industries NSW, supported by ANBA and presented by Tim Heard, these workshops have been aimed at providing farmers with better information on crop pollination using native bees.

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Warwick’s Novy Hives

While passing through Port Macquarie Tim Heard and I took the opportunity to drop in and see Warwick who had an article published in a recent ANBA Cross Pollinator Newsletter. It was also great to meet Chelsea of Sticky Tips Bees when she dropped in. Chelsea owns a Honey Bee

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Another Tough Year For The Bees 2023

In July 2022 I wrote a short article titled “Tough Year For The Bees“. Quote “With extended heavy rain and cold periods, native bees have had it pretty rough for the last year. Foraging times have been short and food resources low. It’s likely there will be quite a few

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Native Bee Supplies

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Building & Tests

Accoya Wood

Alex of Spicers Hollow Native Bees dropped in some Accoya offcuts. I plan to make

Painting Gaps

Gaps between frames can be a real problem with bee hives as they allow pests

Coatings Test 2022

I’ve added a couple of new products to the list. Doug Irvine uses the Intergrain

Temperature Tests 2024

Article under construction! I’ve been fine tuning the testing methods over the last couple of