QUESTIONS

About Bees & Beehives

Q:- Can I have a hive in my backyard?

We do not place hives in backyards. We encourage you to plant bee friendly species to attract wild bees into your garden and connect with local beekeeping organisations if you wish to become a beekeeper at home.

Q:- If I adopt a hive, how do I get my honey?

Your honey will be delivered by courier or Australia Post.

Q:- Can I visit my hive?

Of course! We will advise you when we will be conducting an Open Day where you will be able to see hives, speak with the Apiarists and taste various honeys from the current honey harvest. Learn more about the benefits of adopting here.

Q:- Where are your bee hives located?

We have several bee sanctuaries located on the South East Queensland hinterlands, starting in the Sunshine Coast through to Northern NSW. We are currently evaluating other locations where bees can thrive. If you have a property and would be interested in hosting bees please gent in touch through the contact us page.

Q:- What does an Apiarist do?

The Apiarist or beekeeper’s main role is to assist the bees to live in a healthy environment and to harvest the excess honey from the hive while maintaining an ethical and sustainable approach to caring for their bees.

Q:- What happens if its a bad year for bees (drought, floods, pest etc)?

Jason & Natasha are seasoned apiarists and with all primary production there are risks. Jason & Natasha practise sustainable, ethical and organic methods and will always put the health of their bees before profit. In saying that even in the hardest seasons their bees have been fortunate enough to still produce enough honey surplus to the hive’s needs enabling them to harvest and send honey to adoptees. Jason & Natasha will also keep the adoptees up to date with news and videos of the bees and how they are tracking throughout the year.

ADOPT A BEEHIVE

You can make a difference to the bee crisis!

Enjoy the flavour and health benefits of pure, chemical-free honey while giving bees a safe sanctuary to live, feed and produce!

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Q:- What sort of training does the Young Apiarist Program offer?

Our Program provides the young apiarist or budding hobbyist with an insight into hive life and the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to establish their own hives. We provide them with an opportunity to become an assistant to the head Apiarist working in the field at various bee sanctuaries. You can help by adopting a beehive or donating to the training of a new beekeeper.

Q:- Is your honey pure?

Yes, it is pure and raw. There are NO additives in our honey. We practice artisan style beekeeping, being old fashioned, hand crafted with no heat treatment, additives, chemicals or antibiotics. The honey is hand spun using cold extraction. All the techniques and processes from assembling the hives to making the honey frames and harvesting are all done by hand.

Q:- What is the difference between honey sold in a store and your honey?

Predominantly the honey on the shelves in retail outlets is rarely pure honey. This means they may contain additives and are usually heat treated. Our honey is cold extracted, hand spun and pure. See Is That Real Honey You’re Eating? for more information or read why Honey – raw is best.

Q:- How do bees pollinate our food crops?

Bees visit thousands of flowers and focus on collecting either pollen or nectar, depending on the demand of the hive. The bees collecting pollen are the effective pollinators, whereas bees collecting nectar are accidental pollinators.

Q:- What are some of the problems bees are facing?

All bee populations are under constant attack from human intervention through the use of chemical sprays that poison them. Chemicals are foreign substances, alien to bees. When forager bees return to the hive with pesticide-laden pollen, sadly it is consumed by the other bees in the hive and eventually this leads to weakening of their immune systems and bee die-off.

Monoculture (one crop) farming practices also create malnutrition in the bee population due to a lack of biodiversity.

The European Union recently banned the use of harmful sprays

Q:- What is Colony Collapse Disorder?

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, and were known by various names (disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease, autumn collapse, and fall dwindle disease), the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in late 2006 in conjunction with a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honeybee colonies in North America. European beekeepers observed similar phenomena in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain and initial reports have also come in from Switzerland and Germany while the Northern Ireland Assembly received reports of a decline greater than 50%. (Source – Wikipedia)

Q:- How are honey bees different from native bees?

The honey bee is the main pollinator of agricultural crops and nature has designed the honey bee for this particular purpose. Whereas, the native bees seek out native plants and do not visit every flower on the plant.

Q:- How do bees make honey?

Bees collect nectar and pollen (protein) from the flowers of plants, trees, weeds and grasses. Pollen and honey are stored in the hive in the honeycomb cells and this is used to feed on as needed. Honey bees have a strawlike tongue and they suck the nectar from deep within the flower. It is stored in a honey sac and regurgitated when the bee returns to the hive, where it is processed by other bees. Dedicated bees in charge of reducing the moisture content in the nectar, transfer it mouth-to-mouth transfer to each other until the moisture content is around 18%. It is then called honey.

Q:- What are the roles of the queen bee, workers and drones?

The Queen is the mother in the nest and her life expectancy can be up to 5 years. Her role is to provide a continuous supply of eggs to maintain the hive’s population. The Worker bees are all female and make up the predominant number of bees in the hive. They are a city of united workers, all knowing their role. Throughout the worker bee’s life she progresses from one role to the next, such as attending the Queen (feeding and bathing her); feeding the nursery; cleaning the hive; fanning the honey; etc. Drones are males and represent a small ratio of bees in the hive. Their role is to mate with a Virgin Queen when she emerges from another hive. They do not perform a maintenance role within, but their presence is vital for male/female stability.

Q:- How do honey bees carry pollen?

The female bee collects pollen in special pollen baskets on their legs. Sometimes when bees are completely coated with the bright yellow pollen they have difficulty flying away. They can usually carry their body weight in pollen.