When you see Jim’s yard you can tell he’s in to a bit of everything, vegies, chickens, european honey bees, solitary bee hotels, stingless bees and the compulsory workshed for making boxes with some home brew in the corner.
On his beautifully lush property at Bonny Hills – Mid North Coast NSW, Jim has an old hollow log with a stingless bee colony nesting inside standing in the chicken coop. The log is rotting away so he invited Tim Heard, Diane Norris, Will, Leon and myself over to check it out and see if we could transfer the colony in to a box.
The log was laid down and Jim chopped a fair bit of rotten wood away but it was hard to tell how big the colony inside was, and with a decent amount of solid wood still remaining it was decided it might cause a fair bit of damage to the colony trying to transfer it out, so it would be better for the bees to leave them for a while longer. The log was patched up and returned the upright position.
The wood should rot more over time making it easier to remove the colony sometime in the future. So we might return for another coffee or some beers one day.
Thanks to:
- Jim and his wife for the hospitality, coffee, cakes and honey! – Instgram https://www.instagram.com/bonnybeehaven/
- Tim Heard – Sugarbag Bees – https://sugarbag.net
- Diane Norris – https://www.beewildbees.com.au
- Mid North Coast ANBA – https://www.anba.org.au
