That sounds like a pretty typical reaction - most people get localised swelling and pain for a few days. malachii
They wouldnt sell them to me here in the Southern Highlands as they said they would die in our cold winters. Fair enough as I dont really want to pay a heap of money for bees that will die within 12 months anyway.
Native bees are something else. They are truly a cornerstone of the Australian landscape. A YouTube clip of an indigenous project up north showed how the regular grass burnings were part of a honey production cycle whereby fresh flowers would increase bee activity and then known hives could be sustainably raided for their honey. It's quite something really. They also seem to be quite resistent to the problems facing European bees and may eventuate as a fail safe in any demise of Europeans, if only for pollination. My job is in arboriculture and after rescuing a couple of hives I am always keen eyed to safeguard them if we are removing their tree. Keeping them is very simple and if in boxes there are means of harvesting honey but as mentioned it is produced in very small quantities. And besides kids love them as they are incredibly fasincinating creatures flying in and out, off for the hunt and then back with the loot.
Took delivery of a hive of Tetragonula hockingsi today. Peter Butler in Rockhampton is the supplier, his father-in-law designed the box for them, based upon old Wimmers soft drink cases. Peter was telling me his father-in-law had them stacked outside his house over 30 years ago and the native bees colonised them. They are called Tom Carter boxes. Up here I can expect to rob the hive twice a year
Interesting. I was under the impression that Tetragonia could only be robbed sporadically, and even then with very small amounts. Let us know how you get on.
We just added a third box to our hives, with the ironbark going off at the moment i'm expecting a good harvest soon.
I buy fresh pure honey from a local bee keeper and it was hard to get last year. They just didn't have any available. I also read that the bees are getting effected by cell phone towers. http://www.naturalnews.com/032417_honeybees_population_collapse.html ....."signals from mobile phones and masts could be contributing to the decline of honeybees around the world". Layer that with the recent grid smart of meters implemented all over the country. This could be reason why it's one the worst years for honey production in 40 years? .
I haven't seen you youtube video yet but from what i understand, the issue with that beekeeping strategy is that it strips the honey from the inside. The bees see the capped cells but don't know that it is empty. There are unknowns with this technology at present in my view. I'll stick to the standard harvest thanks.
By the looks of the demo, it looks like the caps will crack quite a bit. They have been doing for a decade or so but now perfected. I guess some maintenance would need to be done here and there, but the steps of capping and manually extracting have been removed.
My wife and father in law harvested our honey today. Lost one Queen from the two hives so that colony will die unless we intervene. Just tried to buy another queen from some suppliers and they have all run out. Not sure where all the queens are going.