I have a friend whose dad has bees. People pay him to take his hives near their crops so they can be pollinated. I'm not exactly sure how much money he made, but i know he made a little money from it. Unfortunately 2 days ago someone vandalized and destroyed some of his hives.
Here is a video on how I made my top bar hive. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePs-EGTtyI[/youtube] It is long one but very much step by step And here is how I weatherproofed the hive. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWyzPbNKR1U[/youtube] I hope they are helpful
ive been wanting to get into beekeeping for years now as my uncle used to do it when i was a kid and we lived on massive land. my only problem is finding a place to set it up. anyone live on acreage here by any chance? there will be fresh organic honey as a reward
In victoria at least its reasonably easy, you are meant to register with the DPI, which is free if you keep less than 15 hives IIRC. the setup costs are rather large and the ROI with a small number of hives is not there for any potential economic gain, not without a largish number of hives. May clubs allow members to hire out extractors, de-capping knives and alike rather than buying them, in my case I purchased them as I hate having to rely on other people and not knowing if it has been looked after correctly and to my standards. having said that this year has sucked for honey production, I am going to extract in the next couple of weeks as the hives are closed down for winter, but I am expecting from what I hear around the traps (that it is the worst year for honey production in more than 40 years) that I will get two fifths of fuck all from them, and considering I refuse to feed the bees and would rather leave extra reserves for them to be able to use the "real stuff" I take less than most people as I need the extra for the bees
My dad keeps bees. We used to have three hives in our 600 square metre yard in Sydney. It was fine. I was never stung and i would garden around them all the time. They get used to your odour and learn to ignore you. Funny thing is my dad would get stung all the time. Sadly though his mate died and now has lost all interest and has given away most of his stuff. I was never interested as it is a funny business. Always spending money and spending hours and hours for little return if any. He had hives down at Otford and the apple farmers didn't offer him anything... Not even a few boxes of apples. I always thought they were pretty ungrateful but my dad never said anything bad about anyone. I suggest you join a club and then get mentored. It is a funny game. Funny story... He was transporting a hive in his boot of his ford sedan and the lid came off... He and his mate had a few seconds to respond and they put their hats on just as they swarmed inside the car. They had to open the back seats and then wait for night time till they all went back in before they could do anything.... Was so funny hearing them tell the story!!! Good luck, but it is a love job, not a money job if you know what i mean. Shiny
I got hives about 2 years agnly a little honey.Expensive to set up. For honey you have to move them four time a year following the blossom. I 'm getting rid of most. Interesting hobby though.
If there is anyone interested.I have some headlands on a farm that is very secluded and adjacent to native serpetine timber and other timbers.It is between Childers and Bundaberg in Qld. If anyone wanted to use the area for bees I would do it rent free to assist. We grow sugar cane only and use limited weed killer each season. Would also share bee farm with hard investment from us if the person was solid. Pls PM if anyone out there has interest.
I read recently that Australia had just lost the approval to send replacement bees to the U.S. as a result of reclassifying a new a asian bee as indigenous to Aust.
I havent seen anything about that. They cant realy afford to restrict their sources of bees in the US as they are having so much trouble keeping them alive at the moment. If you can find the url for the article I would be interested in reading it.
I finally got my first hive with bees today. I also have a topbar hive waiting for bees but that will have to wait for spring. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CvM3PvXlhE[/youtube]
We own an apiary and it is like any other form of agriculture - you get a good year followed by a couple of ok years followed by a couple of bad years followed by a really really bad year! The future doesn't look great for bees worldwide. Australia is currently the only country in the world that doesn't have varroa mites (which devastate the hives) and we are expected to get them within the next 5 years. Govt in it's wisdom has decided that it is so inevitable that they have stopped the funding required to stop it coming in and have said we'll deal with it when it arrives! Yeah right! Top that off with Colony Colapse Disorder, high levels of pesticides being used inside and outside the hive, increasing monocultures, disappearing farm land, heavily restricted access or outright banning from forest areas, increasing cases of vandalism and theft, imported honey being dumped on Aust via NZ, pure honey being blended with High Fructose Corn Syrup and the list goes on and on! When you hear and see 60-80% hive loses in Europe and the US during winter you know that we are doing something drastically wrong. I know of several large apiary operations in the US that now kill all their hives at the end of autumn and then buy new bee packages at the start of spring because it is far more economical that trying to keep them alive over winter and suffering large losses anyway. Exporting Aussie bees to the US was stopped a couple of seasons ago due to political pressure. Apparently the Yanks were worried about "importing a disease" but considering they have all of our diseases and far more - it really didn't make sense on a practical level. It has started up again recently due to their lack of numbers. On the upside - we have seen a large resurgence in hobby beekeeping over the last 3-5 years which is increasing people's awareness of some of these issues. malachii
Thanks malachii, we have got only two hives and the wife enjoys the harvest. Our place currently is littered with the snapped off branch tip s containing the budding flowers after the cockatoos have had a some fun. But seriouosly, things aren't looking well for the honey situation if people do not accept that using pesticides does have detrimental impacts on ecology, and money should be spent on keeping the country disease free instead of the free trade agreements.
I agree malachii. We have the benefit if distance so why not maintain that benefit for as long as possible. It is a shame governments are just so short sighted these days. Deal with it when it gets here, I would like to know what there plans for dealing with it are other than sticking their heads in the sand. I will just do what I can to keep my handful of hives nice and strong.
As I live near a port, I am on the DPI's list for bio security re varroa mite monitoring with the usual sugar shake etc. Whilst I cannot confirm the accuracy of this, there have been unconfirmed rumours that varroa has been reported in North Queensland.
As I am allergic to bee stings I never really thought twice about bee keeping myself, but recently I saw a news article about bee keepers keeping hives on restaurant roof's and right at the end of the piece the owner of the business recommended beginners to start with non-stinging bee's. Has anyone had much experience with these bee's? I have about a dozen fruit trees and a small veg garden and would like to consider the feasibility of a small hive on both increasing fruit production and honey. Cheers
How do you know that your allergic? Most people, who get a sting, have some swelling and pain and say that they are allergic. A true anaphylactic reaction is very different. Just for the record, when I first started beekeeping and got a sting, would collapse and have what medical professionals would call a terminal reaction ie can't breath etc. Now I get stung all the time with minimal reaction. The body, in my case, just built up a resistance.
Perthsilver - look into native bees. You can buy them online. Easy to keep depending on the variety but they don't make much honey. Your garden will benefit though
That is true. I don't go all anaphylactic, but when I got stung on the foot a few years ago I couldn't put my right shoe on for a few days and that would effect my ability to work. Sounds like you REALLY like honey then.
That sounds like what I am after. I want to try it more for the fruit and veg yield than the honey. Honey harvesting would be a fun project with my son once or twice a year though. Teach him more about where our food comes from. I'll look into it. Thanks
