Australian Native Bees | News & Info

Hive Box Design Elements

Photo: Thin plywood bird house with a very strong stingless bee colony inside just south of Coffs Harbour Is there an Industry Standard? There’s currently no industry standard. The most common design made and used around Australia is the OATH

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Plywood Boxes

A slightly controversial material is Plywood, and here I’m adding to the controversy by using 12mm thick Ply (*for testing purposes only – I’m not recommending it). This article might show how the material lasts and also generally I’d like

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Paulownia Boxes

A few native bee keepers are using this at the moment, I’ve heard some good things and some bad things. This article is just for testing purposes. Alex from Spicers Hollow Native Bees dropped in some Paulownia for me to

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Cypress Boxes

Cypress is a very popular wood for making native bee boxes because it’s cheap and the boxes look good when freshly made. There are a few things to be aware of for the maker and buyer, especially for the buyer.

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Does paint cause condensation?

The rumour: “If you paint your wooden hive box it will be like covering the box in a plastic bag and cause condensation” What is condensation? Water vapor in warm air colliding with a cold surface returning the moisture to

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Accoya Wood

Alex of Spicers Hollow Native Bees dropped in some Accoya offcuts. I plan to make a box with it and do some of the usual basic tests over time. The box might kick around the shed for quite a few

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Hive Designs – Photo Gallery

All original concepts and designs by Steve – unique to nativebeehives.com Designs – All designs on this site are my original designs unless stated otherwise. I’m happy for people to use my designs for personal use but not for commercial use

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What kind of box should i get?

There’s so many different designs of native bee boxes out there? When starting out you might notice a lot of different boxes, even natural logs with bees available for sale. People get excited and want the fancy box first but

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Camphor Laurel Native Bee Box

Can I make a native bee box from Camphor laurel? That questions comes up every now and then. Some say you can’t and some say you can, though I’m not sure if it’s just the usual third hand information spread

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Observation Windows

If you keep looking you wont be able to see! Observation windows have become quite popular in the native bee community, though not necessary and you shouldn’t let the lack of one turn you off a hive sale. They can

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Wooden Pegs

Wooden Pegs / Dowels for Native Bee Frame Construction Wooden pegs or dowels can be used to pin frames together for that fancy box you’re making if you’re trying to get away from the exposed screw look. You can use

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Wood Sample Test 2020 – 2022

Wood Sample Test – Exposure to the elements I thought i’d throw a few samples of different wood together for some weather exposure tests. Alex of Spicers Hollow Native Bees is trialing some Paulownia and donated a few left over

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Honey Super Designs & Testing

Stingless Bees can create their honey pots everywhere within the hive but it’s commonly thought they will store their honey further away from the entrance, and place Pollen nearer the entrance. (See photo below that displays this) For “optimum” pure

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Build or Buy Empty Boxes?

Should you start building your own boxes or just buy them? Many new hive owners contemplate that question and probably never work out what to do or waste money heading in the wrong direction. Buy boxes? If you’ve just got

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OATH Internal Volume

A lot of box designs use the same outside measurements of 200mm x 280mm and then use different thicknesses of wood, so it changes the internal volume. If you’re using thicker than 35mm you should probably increase the outside dimensions

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Splitting Plates and Bars

There’s a lot of theories and personal opinion around Stingless Bee Box designs, here I give some thoughts on Splitting Bars and a Plates. Some people prefer the full dividing plates but i’m undecided because i think there’s positives and

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Moisture Content & Wood Hives

This article is about moisture content and wood only, not humidity conditions for bee colonies. Woodworkers will want their timber to be well dried before making furniture. They’ll aim for a Moisture Content (MC) around 6 – 10% in the

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Painting Gaps

Gaps between frames can be a real problem with bee hives as they allow pests easier access. Once your frames are together the bees will seal the inside join with their wax/resin mix. The bigger the gap the more work

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