Solar Wax Melter Recently I had a talk to John Klumpp and asked him his thoughts on cleaning native bee wax. He told me that he uses a solar wax melter to do the job. I had a look online and found a few different types, in fact I did not see two the same.…
Details
Fighting swarms Guest post written by- Dean Haley Fighting swarms occur with our Tetragonula hockingsi and Tetragonula carbonaria bees. These fighting swarms occur with another colony of the same species, or sometimes between different species (e.g. hockingsi attacking carbonaria or vice versa). Fighting swarm in flight Fighting Swarm on box Fighting swarm on box …
Details
Natural hive duplication Natural hive duplication is a nice way of slowly getting native bees to move into a box. While this method has been around for a long time (probably originating in brazil), it is not commonly used. I thought I would give this a go and share how I did it. I have…
Details
Native bee hive design I thought I would do a little post on native bee hive design. There are so many designs of boxes out there and new ones being created all the time. I myself have made at least 4 different native bee hive designs. I wanted to make a design I was happy…
Details
The other day I recorded a queen bee mating flight.. Well not the flight but her leaving the box and returning. This is pretty exciting because this is the only time when the queen leaves the hive in a 3-5 year period. Not much footage exists on this topic and its good to have something…
Details
Today I visited my friend Deans house to watch him transfer some bees from a log. I thought this may interest some people as there is a method. Prep work First thing he did was to lay out an area to work on. This log had come from a tree that was leaning up against…
Details
When I first put some queen brood in a native bee hive I wanted to watch their progress. I used a router to fit a sheet of perspex to the top so I could see what was going on. I was amazed to see how busy these little girls are. It did not seem to…
Details
A while back I had the chance to rescue a hive of bees from a meter box. This particular bee was Tetragonula Hockingsi. One of the main ways that people differentiate between native bee species is their brood structure. I wanted to write about an interesting comparison I had between two Hockingsi bee hives. The…
Details
Make a native bee feeder Make your own Bee feeder! Feeding bees isn’t something I recommend all the time. Bees should do their thing and collect their own nectar of their choice. However when humans decide to take responsibility for the care of a wild animal or insect they should see to it…
Details
One of the first things I wanted to learn was how to start a bee hive. What do bees like in a home? Where should a bees be placed? What’s too hot for bees. I hope to answer some of these questions for people by writing about my own experiences I researched a few designs…
Details