Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

fish and plants are a great way to make the most of your garden space. bees however take up such a tiny amount of space and make the most of other peoples gardens. Does anyone else here keeps bees?

I have looked into it, but I dont have place to install it as per my council's guidelines. It needs to be a certain distance from fences and neighbours.

oh ok, in my shire it is 1m from fence... you can usually set them up on your roof... thou if anyone what can see your hive gets stung then you will be to blame...

Best bet is have the hive out of view from neighbours was what i had been told.

lol, the dpi recommends that you keep backyard beehives... they also recommend that you dont let your neighbours see... damn nosey neighbours!

I had a couple of topbar beehives one year. (Both got hit by colony collapse and I haven't gotten around to putting up new ones yet.) Topbar hives could be made to look like a really big bird feeder or something, so as to not attract quite as much attention.

lol, good idea...

I had one in inner city Melbourne
still umming and ahring about whether to get one again now I live in the bush.

I love the activity and the sound

@ajy - I was going to suggest having a go at Aussie stingless bees, but VIC is considered too cold.

For others that are keen (and live in the warmer parts of Aus), check this site for info and a list of hive sellers in your state.

i would like to get some native bees. They wont produce down here and even in Qld you dont get much honey from the hives, its more a speciality honey. I would prefer quantity over quality.

We keep 2 in a residential backyard in Bunbury. It isnt as easy as it may seem however.

Bee hives need to be licenced in WA by DPI and we also needed council approval (required written approval from 5 of our neighbours) and an agreement that we would remove the hives if there was any problems.

We have done OK so far with no major problems, but it can be trying at times. Mowing the lawn can be challenging some days, and keeping hives on a roof isnt so easy as it seems, frames of honey are heavy, and climbing ladders in a bee suit while carrying 20kg of honey, surrounded by a hundered bees isnt for everyone.

It can of course be worthwhile and rewarding, bees are fascinating animals. My wife loves our bees, she gets loads of honey, and I seem to get all the beestings!.


My best advice if you want to go ahead with it is to join a bee association like WAAS to learn the correct method of keeping hives. Hives kept in suburban areas need to be managed diferently to commercial hives to keep them quieter and not allowing them to swarm.

Good luck!

I have 20 hives. Most on a farm but 3 at my home on the skirts of a small town. If you can find a safe spot for them. Preferably out of sight then go for it. I make a bit of pocket money from my bee hives but it is another thing on the long list of chores.

thats interesting that you have to register with the shire and get approval from 5 neighbours... here in Baw baw (vic) we just have to register with dpi... i only have one hive in town and 8 hives out at my mother in laws... How long have you had your hives Mark and how much honey do you get from them?

coming from the flip side, are there beekeepers who are willing to remove a unwanted beehives?
I had a hive in my rental house and had to call in a pestie to spray. Was a bit of a waste. The tenants said the house smelled of honey on warm days.

This can be difficult.
You need access to the hive, if in a wall, this can be destructive.
If the queen can be caught most of the bees can be moved
Once transferred into a man made hive they must be moved a fairly large distance to stop them returning to the same spot. I think it's 20 or 30 metres.
I know some would be interested, but unless it was in a tree, most would consider it too much work.
I guess if you were paying them like you paid the pest killer, you may have some luck.
Some may be willing to simply requeen their hives, but this would result in most of the bees dying.

Also: my house smelling like honey, for free? Yes please!