Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Throw all the plastic starters away they are useless and dont create as much honey as normal ones.....I would suggest if anyone is looking at getting into bees get the 3/4 boxes as We have 25 beehive here we pulled off a 44 gallon drum worth last time...and the full framed boxes are bloody heavy when full and i am a fit 38 yrs old and used to picking up heavy things
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If anyone wants any of my experiencejust pm me I am only too happy to help out

burnsy how are you dealing with hive beetles?
We had 2 hives back east and had tonnes of hive beetle problems until we learnt to move the hive around every few months and to leave it in a sunny location.

Timmy, I may be wrong but I don't think small hive beetle is in WA. I have found some chalkbrood in one of my hives though.

nope, unfortunately some idiot brought infected hives in and it's been discovered up north. only a matter of time before it's spread all over WA now.

their little bastards, anything that kills them also kills the bee's. your only option with a bad infestation is to move the bee's to a new location and burn the hive.

My main problem is wax moth. I froze all my comb over winter last year , used newspaper between stored boxes but still had a small infestation this year. I know there is chemical to use but am a bit wary of doing this.
I have 8 hives and have been keeping bees for about 15 years but am still very much a beginner :-)
Not much of a crop this year.
Rick.

Has any one tried this for the hive beetles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

100% all natural no toxic insecticide, just have to use it in a way that the bees don't come into contact with it?

see above simo - the beetles are perfectly adapted to the bees.
god help us if varroa mite makes it to australia.

australia is lucky to be without a lot of pests. but there are so many stupid, inconsiderate morons that come and go from our shores it's only a matter of time. we spend far too little on securing our borders from biological threats.

There are floor traps that beetle can fal through but not bees that you can put a tray of DE under that are supposedley pretty effective but hopefully I will not have any need for it. That is a real bummer that despite our quarantine they still got in.

So do you guys feed your bees during the winter? I started a top bar hive 4 months ago and the bees have filled 10 of the 23 bars up with comb so I reckon I'll have to provide them with food at least during this winter. From what I've read most winter feeding methods involve a feeder in the hive filled with sugar water, honey, or some other liquid. That wouldn't work for my bees since it would be frozen solid in no time. Would one of those solid bee patties work for winter feeding in a top bar hive?
I was also wondering whether it's possible to collect pollen from a top bar hive like some do with langstroths?

You have a lot of collecting time yet: lots of summer flowers remain, then golden rod and aster in the fall. You may find they have plenty when winter rolls around..

I have been feeding intermitantly during Autumn and the start of winter this year as it was such a shocking summer season here and my hives had no stores. Now that we have lots of different flowers coming on I have stopped but probably should give them another one or two feeds just to get the population up before spring really kicks in. I use a ratio of one part raw sugar to two parts hot water and put this in an inverted jar that has small holes punched into the top. This sits on a ring of 7mm ply so the bees can get in under it and suck the liquid out through the holes. Costs nothing and is easy to make.

Do you have issues with the bees stinging you? Im interested in keeping bees but i dont want people to get stung and so forth whilst in the back yard either.

Not sure you can keep them in your average suburban back yard Zman. I think you will find that Burnsy will have a fairly large block in Kalamunda (although I would be very happy to be wrong as I would also like to keep Bees on my suburban block)

I think i saw someone post they can have up to 2 hives in melbourne so im guessing it should be ok depending on council rules.

I have mates with bees in Mt Hawthorn and Victoria Park. They call them the ever blooming suburbs, always something in flower and great honey production.

As for being stung, if you stand right in front of the hive, say 1 metre away bees will fly into you as they come and go, if you sant there long enough eventually one of these will sting you just because of the way its hits you, just like walking past a rose garden. Bees are everywhere and as long as you don't go messing with the hive you will be fine. You can place your hives facing a wall or surround them with 6 foot of shade cloth, this will cause thees to fly up and then they will stay at that height until they get where they want to be. Some people put them on their roofs. I think you would be surprised how many backyard beekeepers there are in Perth.