While the cyclone wasn’t as damaging as expected the wind and rain will be a set back for the bees. Many solitary and stingless bee colonies will be lost due to flooding in NSW and Qld, and most areas will lose resources like pollen and nectar.
I’ve had a few enquiries over the last six months about splitting and transfers and I’ve been advising just to keep your colony strong and avoid splitting or transfers as the poor conditions have contributed to many colony losses over the last year. Even in 2025 Redcliffe Qld has had 766mm of rain in the first three months.
I’d hate to be all doom and gloom but I thought we’d turned a corner and conditions were improving until this cyclone turned up so we might be back to square one here. It will be another major set back for many hive owners, researchers and sellers. I have articles for ’22, ’23, ’24 and now 2025 so we’re at four years of poor conditions.
The impact from the cyclone may take a while to recover from but we’ll remain hopeful for better conditions.
Should you try feeding? I’m not a great fan of feeding because I think most of the time it’s not necessary. During times of ongoing storms and rain it’s possible it might have some benefits but admittedly I haven’t done much research on it besides my <Feeder Article> . There’s a few issues with feeding. During rain you might have to make an entrance feeder because the bees can’t get out to find your yard feeder. All feeders and especially entrance feeders require regular cleaning and refilling with fresh solution. You may want to do that every day. You are only adding sugar solution which is a poor substitute for nectar and you’re not providing any pollen or protein.
After the extreme wind has died down, a good roof or shelter is important during heavy rain. Water can enter any gap in your hive box and cause problems inside the box. If you have a strong colony the bees should be able to deal with a bit of water. Once the sun comes out and there’s a high moisture environment there will be higher risk of mould.
I had 104kph gusts at my place but around one metre off the ground it was pretty well protected by the surrounding gardens and trees so the hives weren’t effected at all.
