Bees in the cold part 3 Guest post written by Dean Haley In this blog post I dig deeper into the properties of wooden boxes and foam insulation. We build an insulated cover and I test this with bees in Applethorpe QLD with temperatures as low as -2.4C In bees in the…
Bees in the cold- Part 2 Guest post written by Dean Haley A comparison of two T.carbonaria colonies in a temperate climate. Two colonies of T.carbonaria were taken to Gulgong, a town located in the central tablelands of NSW at Christmas time 2013. This area is characterised by hot summer temperatures sometimes exceeding…
Mating behaviour of A.australis Written by Dean Haley Unusual mating behaviour of A.australis has been observed by Allan Beil of QLD Australia. Allan has hundreds of australis colonies in glass topped boxes set up for observation. Unlike other species of stingless bees in Australia, australis queens appear to mate in the box and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
FAQ about Stingless bees Dean and I decided to put together some of the common questions that we get about Stingless bees – both from new hive owners and in general. If you have additional questions, post a reply below, we would love to hear your queries and add them here. Swarms…
Tetragonula Sapiens Tetragonula Sapiens are a tropical bee that can be found in northern Queensland from Bowen to the tip of Australia. They can be viewed in some ways as a larger version of Tetragonula Clypearis. They are relatively fast builders. Tetragonula Sapiens make their nest in areas that are dark or very shaded.…