Species Takeover These two colonies are south of Brisbane in the Logan area. Both were Tetragonula carbonaria last time i was there. Since then one has been taken over by the species Tetragonula hockingsi. You can see the main difference in the brood structure, the Tc species have the spiral…
////\\\\ Article under construction ////\\\\ 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 honey it is best to…
Everything in this hive was in great condition with no pests, a good amount of resources and plenty of good looking brood. A strong healthy colony with lots of bees. Moisture levels are normally very high inside a hive, around 70 to 90% humidity. It looked like it just suddenly…
Things don’t always go well with Native Bees or anything with nature. Sometimes we have tragedies and we can learn from them and make changes. I called this box Project Octahive. I built the box in 2015 and put bees in to it around a year later. Here’s the build…
Want to build a bee hotel this weekend and encourage some native solitary bees in to your garden? Bee hotels provide individual artificial tunnels that entice female solitary bees to lay their eggs. About 30% of native bee species will choose to nest in pithy centred canes or branches and…
Hopefully this article will get you started in the right direction. This page lightly touches on everything from Bee species through workshops, publications and clubs. As a buyer you have a duty of care, once you have bees you should keep learning how to best care for them. Which bees…
Finally i have one of Tony Goodrichs’ boxes, supplied by Melissa at Sydney Stingless Bees. These boxes are the most sold boxes in Australia and I thought it’d be good to have a look at them and try it out for myself. Update: 20/01/2019 I split a hive box and…
Getting Bees in to a different shaped box I wanted to put Bees in to some of my pillar style boxes. The standard oath box is 280mm x 200mm, while the frames I want to transfer to are 175mm square. I’ve put a clear window on top of the smaller frame…
David at Northside Native Bees is a bit of a wiz with gadgets and has built his own monitoring system. The device measures outside temperature and also Brood temperature. The information is sent via wifi to his computer then updates his website every six minutes. Below: Previously the…
I recently purchased a new Pollination Box sold by Sugarbag Bees because i was interested in the design of the box. This box is designed with the purpose for crop pollination on farms. It’s a PVC construction and has no honey super top frame so isn’t intended for honey extraction. The box is…
Treasure Chest
Rebated & Pegged Join
Square Pillar Hive
Roofs for OATHs
Basic Observation Hive
OATHs with fitted lid
Fairy Door Hive
Split a Native Bee Hive – Video
Overheat & mould
Solitary Bees
Pests or not?
Budding – Hive Duplication Example
Weak Hive – No Queen?
Getting Bees in to a different shaped box
Wild Canary – Sarah Hamilton
Splitting with Rae
A visit to Krystal’s
Stingless Bee Workshop 09/03/2018
Bees & Honey Eumundi
Empty Native Bee Boxes available, with Honey Supers and viewing windows. Budding Kits with everything needed to try your own Budding/Eduction. Postage available. *Empty boxes do not include bees. **Please read the FAQs before buying empty boxes. www.nativebeehives.com/boxes-for-sale/
Boxes for sale - Native Bee Hives
www.nativebeehives.com
*Boxes do not include bees *If you are new to Stingless Bees please read this first before buying empty boxes www.nativebeehives.com/faqs/ . Click to see more++ Box Makers Tip ++
+ Start out by making boxes for yourself and monitor the build quality over years. You might think your boxes are great when you've finished them but in one/two/six months they could have all warped.
+ Wood like Cypress can be popular because it looks great new and is termite resistant but really needs plenty of time to "season" or dry out. It's very unlikely you will find kiln dried Cypress. Cypress boxes should be made over months and not over days or weeks. They will continue to warp over many months. The frames will twist and the top lid and base will cup.
+ Test test test: Make some single frames, get them perfect so they sit against each other with no gaps and no rocking, then leave them alone for a month or two, then sit them against each other again and check the gaps and rocking. This will give you an indication of how stable the timber is.
+ The same applies for the coatings. Testing should be done over a year or so. You'd want a good idea of what will happen to your boxes with bees inside and exposed to the elements.
Full timber article here: www.nativebeehives.com/more-timber/
Fairy Door Hive update. Three months Budding/Eduction progress photos. The hive is extremely busy at the moment! 😁👍. See more photos and info on the website: www.nativebeehives.com/fairy-door-hive/
12 week result from my wood sample test. I'd be interested to hear from anyone that uses Paulownia and has native bee boxes that are years old. www.nativebeehives.com/wood-samples/
Wood Sample Testing - Native Bee Hives
www.nativebeehives.com
Wood Sample Test I thought i’d throw a few samples of different wood together for some weather exposure tests. Some box makers have been trying out a wood called Paulownia recently. It’s a very li...