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To control swarming, hives need to be checked regularly- once a week, in early spring. Swarming is the bees’ natural method of reproduction. The old queen leaves with some of the bees to look for a new location and the remaining bees in the hive raise a new queen. Swarm control techniques are best learnt from experienced apiarists. Beekeepers are also the best people to contact if you see a swarm. They will collect them to re-hive whereas pest controllers will just kill the bees.
Moreland Bees on sunflowers |
I have heard it said
that bees are the new chickens and the amount of urban bee keepers in Moreland
definitely seems to be growing. There is a wealth of information about bee
keeping on the web and in books but like most practical things it is best to experience
it first hand.
There was some recent
discussion about stating local bee keeping group but it would have needed
experienced bee keepers for support. Barry Cooper local bee keeper of 20 years
and member of the Victorian Apiarists Association attended our last meeting. Barry has
a wealth of knowledge about local groups that already exist
such as the Ceres Bee Group, Collingwood Children's Farm Apiary and Victorian
Apiarists’ Association.
(Further groups are listed on the pdf. link at the end.)
Honey Bees have it
tough in the world at the moment with loss of biodiversity, monoculture crops
and the chemicals used in farming. They have been ravaged by disease such as
colony collapse disorder and varroa mite. The two main issues in urban areas
are swarming and disease.
To control swarming, hives need to be checked regularly- once a week, in early spring. Swarming is the bees’ natural method of reproduction. The old queen leaves with some of the bees to look for a new location and the remaining bees in the hive raise a new queen. Swarm control techniques are best learnt from experienced apiarists. Beekeepers are also the best people to contact if you see a swarm. They will collect them to re-hive whereas pest controllers will just kill the bees.
Australia is the only
county left in the world with out varroa mite. The Department of Primary
Industry Website (DPI) states
“Varroa
mite (Varroa destructor) is a
parasite of adult honey bees and honey bee brood. It weakens and kills
honey bee colonies and can also transmit honey bee viruses. Varroa does not
occur in Australia. Should it become established in this country, it will
be a major problem to commercial and hobby beekeepers.” DPI
pest insects- varroa mite
Around 60-70% of members
of the Victorian Apiarist’s Association are hobby bee keepers, the cooperation
and participation of hobby beekeepers is essential for disease detection and control.
Barry mentioned that Victoria is very organised with an early detection system
in place for when varroa inevitably makes it to this area- most likely through
stowaway bees arriving in the port. It is very important to keep bees
responsibly. All owners of Hives need to be registered with DPI to help with this control- it is free if you
register online and have less than 6 hives and includes information to assist with
the prevention of disease.
Bees are extremely
important to gardeners because of their pollination of fruit and vegetables. If
varroa mite were to come to Australia yields of fruit
and vegetables would be drastically reduced.
Barry Cooper encourages
local bee keepers to link in with existing groups.
If you don’t have your
own hive another way to support bee populations is to plant
trees that support bees through the production of nectar and pollen in hard
times. This way bees will be around when they are needed for fruit and
vegetable pollination thereby increasing production. Barry has observed that in
many Moreland streets this has inadvertently already been done. The many mature
Winter and Summer flowering eucalypts that we have in our streets and parks
playing an essential role in supporting local bees. There is a great new
resource out - Bee
Friendly: A planting guide for European honeybees and Australian native
pollinators" It can downloaded for free.