Welcome to Brisbane Native beekeepers

Bee keeper- the words generally conjure up images of people in white suits with mesh vales and a smoker in hand fending off swarms of agitated bees. Beekeeper seem somehow foreign and a little bit crazier than the rest of us.
I admit I would love to keep real bees, but I remember running through clover and being stung as a child and I just can’t see how you can get used to that. Most of us know of European bees and the honey we can buy but not a lot of people in Australia are aware of our native bees, some of which are social and can also be kept in small hives. 
 Australian native bees are much smaller and produce far less honey then their European counterparts but what sets them apart and makes them so enticing to many of us is the simple fact that they are stingless. They still get cranky, they will defend their home when you want to steal their treasured honey. But for those of us who live on standard sized house blocks or who have inquisitive small children native stingless bees might be right for your garden. I have kept 4 hives in a standard Brisbane back yard for the last 7 or so years and find their behaviour fascinating.

Native Australian bees are hard working little insects about the size of a green ant you may already find them in your backyards collecting pollen from native flowering plants or fruit trees over the warmer months. They are particularly fond of small white flowers and have even been trialled as a commercial crop pollinator for macadamia, lychee and mango farms. I have found in my yard they seem to really love the palm flowers.

We see fewer European bees in suburbia due to many factors in our environment but two major factors are people spraying off clover and large chunks bush land being removed for housing and development.  A native stingless beehive in the vege patch is great way to improve fruit set and pollination, good for your local environment and in time will give you a sweet little treat.

 Native stingless bees are found through out Brisbane often in places and spaces you would not believe, from water meters to cracks in a brick wall. As this blog develops I hope to provide some useful information on how to keep native stingless bees in hives in the backyard, how to split boxes and rob the hive for some delicious native honey.