Thread: Beehive - Horizontal Long Langstroth

I did not know that the stingless natives had such a restricted range.
Geelong have an active beekeeping club. Maybe you can get your beekeeping fix by mentoring newbies learn more.

Geelong Beekeepers Club

Regards

Pete.

Originally Posted by Pittwater Pete

Maybe you can get your beekeeping fix by mentoring newbies.

My thoughts exactly. When I was an Apiary Officer in the 80s I had a counterpart in Geelong (same job different state department). He was nearing retirement and I was a young bloke.
To my surprise he is still going strong in his mid 90s and we have reconnected after a 30-year break.

Originally Posted by Pittwater Pete

I did not know that the stingless natives had such a restricted range.
Geelong have an active beekeeping club. Maybe you can get your beekeeping fix by mentoring newbies learn more.

Geelong Beekeepers Club

Regards

Pete.

Pete

Up this way native bees are an option: Something I wish to pursue, but have only investigated a little. There are two native bee hives (as in made by humans) within a hundred meters of our house and we see the bees feasting on some of our plants. These bees are tiny and the native bee species that create hives are small in numbers ( six Tetragonula and five Austroplebia making eleven species in all) as well as physical size. Even more species of native bee are solitary.

This is one of the palm trees at the front of our house. You will need to click on the pic to stand a chance of spotting these tiny little bees.

P1070071.jpg


I think the European bee is of the order of twenty five times the size of the natives bees, although they too vary considerably in size. Consequently honey production (sugarbag) may only be around 0.5kg per year!

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul.

Hope you are well and a Very Merry Christmas to you.

Yep they sure are small.
I will start a native bee hive in the future but need to get the new hives going first.

There is good news on this front; the Italian honey bees that I had ordered in February are finally ready for me to collect on Sunday. Yay!
I have ordered two nucleus hives from a particular beekeeper that breeds for calmness. He is a popular breeder and hence he has a long waiting list. Anyway, patience has paid off.

Note: A nucleus of bees is five frames of bees with a mated queen. The frames include brood and honey to get the hive started.

I will be ‘installing’ the two ‘nucs’ on Sunday. I have never done this before so it could be interesting. Anyhow, I’ll try and take some pics or video for posting. Hopefully none of me being stung.

Till then,

Pete.

I’m happy to report that the two hive nuclei have been installed into the two hives and are doing well so far. They are busy doing their thing.

With the nuc boxes removed.

A couple of years down the track and just wondering if you would care to share an update of how the long bar hives are going.

I have just replaced several supers on my hives and have seriously considered the long bar as an alternative. Any feedback or suggestions on what you would do differently welcomed.

George