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…
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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…
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Growing weak colonies Guest post by Dean Haley I’d like to share a range of strategies for growing weak colonies. Some of these I’ve copied from others and some I’ve tried by myself. None of this is rocket science and I think these are all methods tried by a lot of people…
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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…
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Cross species graft Guest post by Dean Haley I have successfully converted 2 hockingsi hives into carbonaria hives in a process I’m calling a ‘cross species graft’. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time this has been attempted in stingless bees. T.carbonaria and T.hockingsi are closely related species. It is…
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Marking bees for experiments Guest post by Dean Haley Marking bees for experiments Nick came up with an ingenious method for watching native bee behaviour. Non toxic pigments are put in a jar, which catches bees leaving a nest. The inspiration for this was the tales of Aboriginals coating bees in flour to track…
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Native Bee Resins Other Native bee Resins (Substitutes) A conversation with John Klumpp reminded me of all the odd things I have heard native bees collect. Here is a small list of odd things: Types of bitumen based products used in waterproofing and automotive Different types of grease Paints Blue-tac Silicone-based products Resins…
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Catching Native bee swarms Guest post by Dean Haley With the right bait and a bit of luck it is possible to capture fighting swarms. My first fighting swarm occurred when I had just separated an eduction hive from its mother. At first I did not know if I had some sort of…
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Native bees robbing mother hive Recently my friend Dean was out and about and discovered a Native bee hive that was starting a new colony. There is a bit of information out there that suggests when native bees are setting up a new hive, they send out the workers,…
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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…
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