Graded posts

Removing bees from a water meter Bee Basics     Water meters, walls , pipes and even compost heaps are places native bees love to live. Re-homing them is quite simple if you know what you’re doing. If you have done it before and it has failed do not feel bad as there is a…

Stingless Bee Basics- Boxes   I thought I would put together some videos to help stingless bee keepers who are starting out answer questions they might have. Feel free to post questions below so I can get an idea what people want to know.   The first video is on a couple of box designs…

Stingless bee basics- Types of stingless bees Types of stingless bees most commonly kept One thing people might want to see is a few of the types of bees that people keep in boxes. Have a look in the video below as Dean Haley takes us for a tour inside some of his hives.  …

Stingless Bee Basics- Hive Make-up What’s the make-up of a native bee hive? Some of you may not have seen inside your native beehive. In this video I will take a quick look inside a hive. Basic componets to a native bee colony are: -Honey pots -Pollen pots -Brood (Where the queen lays) -Different types…

Stingless bee basics- Where to locate your hive   Where to locate your hive is something you will need to consider when you get your first hive. Have a look at this little video for a few tips on where to place your hive when you bring it home. Some people build special stands with…

Bee basics- Moving hives   People often ask about moving hives. How far should I move it and what about swapping my hive from the back yard to the front? Here is a little video on moving hives and relocating them to a completely new area.   Native bees can cope a lot better than…

Stingless bee basics- Monitoring bee hives     Monitoring bee hives is one way to learn heaps more about your bees. From seeing queens do dances to new bees hatch. If you have the time I recommend installing a panel to see your bees. Check out the video to see inside some hives and a…

Stingless bee basics – Hive rubbish removal Hive Rubbish Removal Knowing what your bees are throwing out of your hive is a good way to see the health of the hive in the beginning stages of its growth. It can tell you if your hive has pests, is cleaning, is growing in bee numbers or…

Stingless Bee Basics – Swarms   Swarms are something you can expect when you own a hive of stingless bees. While swarms can be a nuisance they have a role to play in the life cycle of the Australian native stingless bee. Check out this brief run through of 4 different types of swarms both…

Stingless Bee Basics – Chemicals Chemicals that are harmful for bees Something people want to know when first purchasing a hive is what chemicals could possibly hurt their new friends. Because there are so many chemicals kept in and around the house, it’s hard to know which ones are safe. In this video I will…

Stingless Bee Pests Pests are something that anyone keeping bees will encounter. Figuring out which one you have can be a problem if you have never seen them before. This video shows you what to look for so you can identify your own pests. Hopefully you can prevent an attack around your hives.   …

Winter Hive Care Intermediate Winter hive care is an important thing to consider when keeping your stingless bees in a cold climate. Because as bee keepers we choose to keep them in hives outside of what they would naturally live in, some consideration is required. Here is a video I made with some things that…

Ventilation of Stingless Bee Hives   Something that I have been excited about is the ventilation of stingless bee hives. I thought I would do a little video about the topic to explain a little better.  Switch the “CC” button on base of video for subtitles. Tips and tricks for good ventilation Drill both…

Keeping Hives Close Together Intermediate Keeping hives close together is something most Native bee keepers will face once they get a few hives together. Small urban blocks don’t allow to much space for city bee keepers and this is a good way to accommodate housing more then 1 hive in a small place.   Have…

Stingless Bee Intermediate  Natural hive duplication 2     Hive duplication is something I have always been interested in. The ability to make a new hive from an existing one means you can use any hive box to start your new colony in. The support offered by the mother colony means your new hive will…

Stingless Bee Intermediate – Hive split Performing a hive split is not something that I do often. However, it is an important thing to know how to do successfully. An unsuccessful hive split with leave you with one of two things. A) A hive that appears to be working for the first 3-6 months and…

Stingless Bee Intermediate – Building a Hive   Building a hive is a great thing to do when working with stingless bees.  The satisfaction of housing bees in something you have created is wonderful.   This video is about building the hive I am currently using for my bees. I normally start bees off in…

Stingless Bee Intermediate – Removing Brood Removing brood Removing brood from stingless bee hives can be a useful tool for many reasons. It can be used for transfers, boosting hives, making new colonies with the help of existing colonies and of course swarm capture. Removing brood from hives can be difficult to do without causing…

Stingless Bee Intermediate – Solar wax melter Solar wax melter Making a solar wax melter isn’t something every stingless bee keeper is going to want to do, however, I have found it to be super useful for collecting and recycling wax. In this video you will see how you can build your own. Solar wax…

Sometimes after a log transfer or a rescue you are left with a lot of pollen and honey in a mish mash. I thought about this problem for a long time and how I could possibly remove the bees without killing them. I asked myself the question “what things would make me leave my home…

Making Simple Bee Feeders   When working with micro colonies, sick colonies or weak colonies, feeding stingless bees can come in handy. Check out the video below before I go into some more information about it. Click the “CC” button at base of video for subtitles.       Feeding Stingless Bees Tips and Tricks…

Bee Psychology Bees definitely have a way of doing things that they like. Some studies have shown a bee’s brain is amazing. Quote: The honey bee brain can figure out about 10 trillion computations in a second, which is 625 times greater than what the most advanced computers can do. There most certainly are patterns…

Trap hives for stingless bees Trap hives or lure hives are not commonly used in Australia for stingless bees. The main reason for this is our cold winters. It can be quite difficult for keepers to provide places for bees to live in a hope they will move in when cold weather prevents the bees…

Micro Colonies Making micro colonies is something I have done since the beginning. I love working with little colonies to help learn about stingless bees and watch them grow. This is a short and very brief run through on what I like to do when making my own micro colonies. There is much to learn…

Marking stingless bees Advanced Marking stingless bees is a way that we can gather information for future stingless bee keepers. What we know today about how long a queen lives for in Australia is because of this method. Here is a video showing how I mark my bees.  Why mark bees? Marking bees has…

How to tell if you have a Queen Bee Advanced   One of the things that people often ask is “How do I tell if I have a queen in my hive?” Take a look at this brief video below before I go into more detail on how I check my hives.   Clues on…

Reviving pest infested hive Having a native bee hive come under attack by pests can be a very disheartening thing. Prevention is better than a cure but sometimes things do not go to plan. The following video will explain what you can do to help your pest infested hive. How does this fix an infested…

Exchange worker bees between colonies Advanced Exchanging workers between colonies is a great thing to learn how to do! You can boost weak colonies, help create new colonies and provide more help to colonies that need it.   This method requires knowledge and understanding of bees and for this reason its placed under the advanced…

Wayne has been keeping stingless bees for over 60 years. While the world of stingless bee keepers has been growing he has always been out there doing his thing. Wayne Allen used to cut timber for a living and it was during this time that he realised that he could collect these little bees. A…

When I first saw Spicer Hollow Native Bee’s Instagram page, I immediately liked it. It was his effort in quickly understanding stingless bees and making unique hives to match their needs. I thought to myself, “This guy is quite inventive!”. Later, I saw the quality brackets that were ordained with beautiful welding. I know from…

I have been meaning to get out and meet so many of our seasoned stingless bee keepers. One in particular is Doug Irvine. I remember when I first saw one of his hives at a wild life sanctuary and I was immediately taken with its appearance. Having worked with timber all my life I knew…

This is an interview that has been in the back of my mind to do since I first started. John Klumpp and I have talked about many things over the years and met through Allan Beil a long time ago. Through these chats I have gained so much insight into these little bees we love…

Paul Anderson- Interview Paul has been into the bees since 1982 which puts him in the old school group of keepers. You know, the knowledgeable bunch! What I like about him is he is himself. He is humble and doesn’t put on a show for anyone. I went to have a look at his super…

Tom Carter- Interview   I drove up to Rockhampton to meet with Tom carter. Tom has been keeping stingless bees for over 30 years and is a pioneer in the realm of stingless bee crop pollination.   He has conducted pollination services to people with 70-100% increases in yields. Tom Carter worked on the natural…

  Bees are declining in numbers every day. Maybe one day you will have a story of a bee that doesn’t exist anymore. What is truly in decline is our native pollinators.  Let’s do what we can to provide homes for them and teach our children about them.

Interview with Dave Jensen Recently I went up north to collect some samples of bees for scientific purposes and visited a friend of mine Dave Jensen. Dave’s story Dave has been into stingless bees for many years now and his passion for them has recently had a revival. Dave rang me to talk about hive…

Interview Tye and Neal From The little black bee Tye and Neal from Little Black Bee are stingless bee keepers who are uniquely first nations peoples to Australia. I sat down with them and asked first up what Little Black Bee is about? Here is their answer…    Tye happily met me at the…

Interview with Bob the Bee man Bob the bee man or Robert Luttrel is one of Australia’s more involved stingless bee keepers. Bob is always looking for new ideas and innovations to help people have a good idea how things can be done. I decided to make the trip out to his house and talk…

Special thanks to Lisa for taking the time to answer my many questions and share your knowledge. Links. Pictures of Malaysian bees taken by Geeshariff   Abu Hassan Jalil Twitter

Interview with Ailton Fontana     Ailton Fontana Recently I conducted an interview with Brazil’s very well respected stingless bee keeper Ailton Fontana. I asked him his story of how he got started and quizzed him about indigenous stingless bee keeping in Brazil. As a part of furthering knowledge, I wanted to interview people from…

Interview with Alan and John Waters       Today I had the pleasure to meet with two long time stingless bee keepers who happen to be brothers, Alan and John Waters. Both Alan and John keep a variety of species including Tetragonula carbonaria, Tetragonula hockingsi and Austroplebia australis. Alan and John demonstrated a vertical…

Interview with Kevin Stiller     Today I met with Kevin Stiller! Kevin is a man who I can tell has a lot of native bee knowledge. He has kept honey bees for 48 years and only recently given it away. His interest with native bees however remains strong and it shows. Kevin is retired…

  Interview and lessons from Allan Beil     Recently Dean and I went to visit Allan Beil. We spent a couple of days learning from this very kind, helpful man. Allan is a conservationist and has helped many scientists find the information they need about native bees. If you have read a scientific article…

Interview with Russel Zable     As a part of my bee journey I thought it would be nice to interview some of the bee keepers I have met along the way to not only let people learn a little about them but also get maybe some insight into the people who have the same…

Redirecting stingless bee swarms can be a challenge. When you have 9+ hives in a group, a swarm can be quite large. Just like people crowded in a street, if a big fight broke out it would be chaos! Bees have a great visual sensor as one of their many sensors. Although scent is a…

When Leonard Francis first rang me I was intrigued and excited. You see he explained that he had tried to get a hold of a stingless bee hive from Queensland but no one would sell him one because the bees would die in his climate. This is the story of keeping stingless bees in Canberra.…

Wayne has been keeping stingless bees for over 60 years. While the world of stingless bee keepers has been growing he has always been out there doing his thing. Wayne Allen used to cut timber for a living and it was during this time that he realised that he could collect these little bees. A…

For several years I have been watching the evolution of these tiny Bluetooth trackers. The idea of tracking a stolen bee hive has always sparked some joy in me. Stingless bee hives in Australia are expensive and each one is a labour of love for both the maker of the hive and the keeper who…

When I first saw Spicer Hollow Native Bee’s Instagram page, I immediately liked it. It was his effort in quickly understanding stingless bees and making unique hives to match their needs. I thought to myself, “This guy is quite inventive!”. Later, I saw the quality brackets that were ordained with beautiful welding. I know from…

Sometimes after a log transfer or a rescue you are left with a lot of pollen and honey in a mish mash. I thought about this problem for a long time and how I could possibly remove the bees without killing them. I asked myself the question “what things would make me leave my home…

Recently the local council called me and asked if anything could be done about some bees nesting in a wall. I went to investigate and found a nesting site home to many blue banded bees. I talked to some locals who told me the garden bed that the bees were nesting in would soon be…

Bee hotels are great to draw solitary bees to your garden and help with the pollination of your plants. Solitary bees are an important part of our world and in some parts of the world becoming extinct. That’s right! Extinct. Building a bee hotel is one way that you can help solitary bees in your…

Bee Psychology Bees definitely have a way of doing things that they like. Some studies have shown a bee’s brain is amazing. Quote: The honey bee brain can figure out about 10 trillion computations in a second, which is 625 times greater than what the most advanced computers can do. There most certainly are patterns…

Paul Anderson- Interview Paul has been into the bees since 1982 which puts him in the old school group of keepers. You know, the knowledgeable bunch! What I like about him is he is himself. He is humble and doesn’t put on a show for anyone. I went to have a look at his super…

Stingless Beeswax Soap There are many products and uses for wax and propolis taken from stingless bee hives. Something I felt would be useful that is an essential in everyone’s lives is soap. I set to work trying different recipes until I came up with a really simple way that everyone can make their own…

Tom Carter- Interview   I drove up to Rockhampton to meet with Tom carter. Tom has been keeping stingless bees for over 30 years and is a pioneer in the realm of stingless bee crop pollination.   He has conducted pollination services to people with 70-100% increases in yields. Tom Carter worked on the natural…

Series Supers   Series honey supers are a creation that came from a need to harvest honey without killing lots of bees. Traditionally we have used very deep supers in Australia which often contain pollen. Pollen ferments the honey and it also attracts more pests post harvest. In many ways our methods are still quite…

Trap hives for stingless bees Trap hives or lure hives are not commonly used in Australia for stingless bees. The main reason for this is our cold winters. It can be quite difficult for keepers to provide places for bees to live in a hope they will move in when cold weather prevents the bees…

  Bees are declining in numbers every day. Maybe one day you will have a story of a bee that doesn’t exist anymore. What is truly in decline is our native pollinators.  Let’s do what we can to provide homes for them and teach our children about them.

Stingless Bee Pests Pests are something that anyone keeping bees will encounter. Figuring out which one you have can be a problem if you have never seen them before. This video shows you what to look for so you can identify your own pests. Hopefully you can prevent an attack around your hives.   …

Interview with Dave Jensen Recently I went up north to collect some samples of bees for scientific purposes and visited a friend of mine Dave Jensen. Dave’s story Dave has been into stingless bees for many years now and his passion for them has recently had a revival. Dave rang me to talk about hive…

Micro Colonies Making micro colonies is something I have done since the beginning. I love working with little colonies to help learn about stingless bees and watch them grow. This is a short and very brief run through on what I like to do when making my own micro colonies. There is much to learn…

Winter Hive Care Intermediate Winter hive care is an important thing to consider when keeping your stingless bees in a cold climate. Because as bee keepers we choose to keep them in hives outside of what they would naturally live in, some consideration is required. Here is a video I made with some things that…

Marking stingless bees Advanced Marking stingless bees is a way that we can gather information for future stingless bee keepers. What we know today about how long a queen lives for in Australia is because of this method. Here is a video showing how I mark my bees.  Why mark bees? Marking bees has…

Bee Cones Artificial entrance tubes I saw a picture in Malaysia of stingless bees on a really amazing entrance tube. I researched it and decided there were too many reasons not to make an artificial one. Here is a video containing some of the reasons I wanted bee cones.  Entrance tube info When stingless…

Ventilation of Stingless Bee Hives   Something that I have been excited about is the ventilation of stingless bee hives. I thought I would do a little video about the topic to explain a little better.  Switch the “CC” button on base of video for subtitles. Tips and tricks for good ventilation Drill both…

Interview Tye and Neal From The little black bee Tye and Neal from Little Black Bee are stingless bee keepers who are uniquely first nations peoples to Australia. I sat down with them and asked first up what Little Black Bee is about? Here is their answer…    Tye happily met me at the…

Removing bees from a water meter Bee Basics     Water meters, walls , pipes and even compost heaps are places native bees love to live. Re-homing them is quite simple if you know what you’re doing. If you have done it before and it has failed do not feel bad as there is a…

Powell Hive Box   When I first started stingless bee keeping I wanted to stick to one box and or hive design that I liked. Over time I learned that lots of different designs had come about by people’s own preference to what they thought was important. The Powell hive has been born from what…

Conservation of Stingless bees When you think about conservation in our society it is almost absent. This is something that when you think about is very concerning to me. No native culture threw away the idea of conservation, in fact each culture used to have a way to preserve what they had. When I thought…

CARBONARIA IN SUN AND SHADE When people buy bees from me they usually ask ‘What can hurt them? Should I be worried about flies or ants?’. My answer is always The Sun. The Sun is one of the biggest killers of native bees in the boxes we choose to house them in. The following article…

Powell Split Frames – Hive split Powell split frames are a little invention I have put together to make the propagation of Austroplebeia australis easier. I believe they will  also work for other species of stingless bee also. Watch this video to see what they are all about. About Powell split frames. I took my…

  Swarm capture 2 Mark is a Friend of mine who asked about capturing a swarm of native bees. I talked him through Dean Haleys method of capturing a swarm. Since then Mark has caught a few swarms and keeps me updated on his progress. I asked Mark if he would write a short article…

Bees of North Queensland   Recently I went north to have a look at the stingless bees that live in northern Queensland. I found a few that we do not have down south and saw differences with the ones we do. I also got the chance to interview Lewis Roberts, a local naturalist. Check out…