Articles

Bees, our food supply, and a clever supermarket campaign A Sydney supermarket recently stripped its shelves of fruit, vegetables and even coffee, in a bid to showcase what a life without bees would look like. And it was a shock...

What It Means, And When To Take Action Bees are complex creatures. There’s a lot to learn – and even old-hand beekeepers need guidance from time to time. If you’ve noticed bees hanging around the front of your hive more...

All the buzz on safety equipment and practices It’s unavoidable: if you’re keeping bees, sooner or later you’ll get a sting. It’s just what bees do: the safety of their hive is of the utmost importance, and they’ll use their...

Spring of Swarms – How To Safely Capture a Bee Swarm. Bee swarms have an undeserved reputation. They’re seen as dangerous, and non-beekeepers often find them pretty scary. In fact, bees are usually at their least threatening and most docile...

Monitor, manage and minimise swarms Keeping your bees happy, healthy and swarm-free. Swarming may be natural bee behaviour, but it’s not popular with most beekeepers. When a colony swarms, roughly half the population, including the queen, leaves the hive in...

Minding your beeswax There’s more to beekeeping than honey Honey is great, but it isn’t the only useful thing you can get from your busy bees. Beeswax, propolis, and royal jelly are just some of the other substances produced by...

How to identify and help native Aussie bees When you think of a bee, you probably picture a classic, yellow-and-black striped honey bee, or its furry cousin the bumblebee. You’re probably not imagining metallic green, shiny red, or blue-polka-dotted insects....

Why beginners should join a beekeeping club 5 reasons to find your local beekeeping buddies Beekeeping isn’t something you get right away. Like any hobby, it takes trial and error to find out what works and what doesn’t. Newbie beekeepers...

How Climate Change Is Affecting bees Bees are tough little creatures, able to thrive almost anywhere – the only place in the world without beehives is Antarctica. But as climate change brings on extreme weather patterns, temperature changes and rising...

The fascinating world of honey bees We all know that bees make honey, but how many of us really understand the inner workings of a beehive? Honey bees are fascinating creatures, living in huge colonies with complex social structures. And...

What new beekeepers get wrong And how to get it right There’s a lot to learn when you’re a brand-new beekeeper. You have to get your head around hive positioning, inspections, feeding and harvesting, not to mention managing pests and...

Bee-friendly pesticides are one step closer to reality after breakthrough research A new study has found that insecticides could soon be developed that can target pests without harming beneficial insects such as bees and bumble bees. Pesticide use is a...

About AFB American foulbrood disease (AFB) is a disease of honey bee larvae and pupae caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. It is the most serious honey bee disease in New Zealand and has a major impact on bee populations....

Honey: Honey is sweet and delicious, and raw honey contains powerful antioxidants, vitamins and enzymes. Pollination: Flowers, fruit trees, and crops in your neighborhood won’t grow without pollination, so help them thrive by providing natural pollinators. Learning Experience: Many things...