Jacob's Native Bee Rescue

27/02/2021

I had a weak hive in dire need of help, so I hooked it up to a strong TC hive. 1 week later we have brood. Phenomenal! 🐝 🚨For any native bee rescues or services please call me on 0450 328 002🚨 🐝

18/01/2021

Water meter rescue in Shorncliffe by the sea. Location, location, location! 🐝 🚨For any native bee rescues or services please call me on 0450 328 002🚨 🐝

14/01/2021

An impressive Cadaghi seed build up in front of my Tetragonula carbonaria hive. In the process of harvesting resin from the gumnut, the bees ‘snag’ the seeds on their hind legs and bring them back to the hive or drop them along the way. If my theory is correct, this is a method of seed dispersion employed by the Cadaghi tree.
🐝 🚨For any native bee rescues or services please call me on 0450 328 002🚨 🐝

01/11/2020

Have you ever seen a stingless queen bee lay an egg? Watch for when she pauses over a cell.

06/10/2020

05/10/2020

I was asked to split a hive yesterday. It was a 5-year-old Tetragonula hockingsi colony, with the queen right on top!

30/09/2020

Clean and easy split today at the advancing front, where the newest brood cells are being built.

27/09/2020

Spot the queen! I was recently asked to transfer a colony from an old box into a new one, and was relieved to find that I had indeed got the queen.

10/09/2020

The other day I was called out to relocate a colony from this outdoor light fitting, and upon opening it a key structure was revealed in amazing detail. Shown here is a striking vertical cross-sectional view of the defence tunnel that native bee colonies set up!

03/09/2020

Spring has arrived!

12/08/2020

New toy: the bee-vac 3000! Inspired by A Green Soul’s design.

05/08/2020

Thanks A Green Soul for the great quality boxes!

30/07/2020

Today’s split of a Tetragonula carbonaria colony, which are renowned for their spiral-shaped brood...

16/07/2020

On average, honey bees produce a whopping 75 kg of honey per year; whereas Australian social native bee colonies produce a minuscule amount in comparison, at around 1 kg of ‘honey’ per year. Although, native bee ‘honey’, often referred to as sugar bag, is completely different. It has a higher water content and thinner consistency, strong lemon and eucalyptus flavours and excellent medicinal and antibacterial properties. Interestingly, it was also prized by Aboriginals who collected it from wild nests. If you ever get your hands on some, be sure to drizzle it over vanilla ice cream, but make sure you can control yourself!

13/07/2020

The bees mix resin with wax to form propolis, their nest building material. I had an old honey super (glass jar) that the bees had used to deposit resin collected from trees and placed this jar near the rescue hive to help it along. They love it!

10/07/2020

Busy as a bee today! Massive thanks to Harcourts Inner East Harcourts Queensland Harcourts International for calling me about this native bee hive that required removal from a water meter box. They play a critical role in our ecosystem and deserve to be preserved and protected. The bees will sleep inside for the next few nights because they need time to rebuild their insulating structures. Call me at 0450328002 if you have any native bee hives that need to be removed.

08/07/2020

Full swarm mode activated!

04/07/2020

After a hive split in winter, the brood disappears from view because the bees build an involucrum sheath around it for insulation purposes. This video shows the progress made by the bees over a three week period following a hive split, including the new involucrum sheath. You can also see honey pots being built, indicating good nectar flow.

01/07/2020

A hive of mine was attacked by a nearby colony and subsequently left in a weakened state. While the hive was weak, some opportunistic thieves arrived on the scene! The native fire-tailed resin bee is notorious for taking resin from stingless bee hives to use as nest building material. This video shows two cheeky fire-tailed entering my hive to take resin.

28/06/2020

A follow up video from my last post, showing the attacking swarm entering the empty bait box.

28/06/2020

26/06/2020

A hive of mine recently came under attack, but I didn’t want to lose it. So I moved the hive at night and replaced it with an empty trap hive (thank you for the great quality boxes A Green Soul), attempting to capture the attacking swarm. Adhering to advice provided by Sugarbag Bees, which is that a box ‘furnished’ with propolis and food stores stands a much better chance of capturing an attacking swarm, I inserted a glass jar filled with food stores from another hive into the trap hive. The next day I successfully captured the attacking swarm! Shown in this video is the princess from the attacking swarm being tended to by her workers. Unfortunately, the princess seemed injured and soon died, meaning the capture was a failure.

24/06/2020

Greetings everyone,

Welcome to Jacob's Native Bee Rescue! From spiral-shaped brood to sugar bag honey, I am enchanted by the world of Australian stingless native bees. Many years ago I purchased my first native beehive and gradually built my numbers from there. I firmly believe in preserving and protecting all native bee colonies for the sake of our ecosystem as a whole, which led me to the rescue aspect of native beekeeping.

When native bee colonies grow strong enough, they will reproduce by establishing themselves in other locations such as hollow logs or water meter boxes. Water meter boxes and other man made cavities need to be accessed and an established native bee colony will make that difficult. Additionally, water meter boxes and other man made cavities do not provide the best shelter for native bee colonies.

I will come to your property and rescue the native bee colony completely free of charge. I have kept many native beehives for many years, and believe I have the skills necessary to safely rescue them and ensure that they thrive in their new home.

If you have native bees that need rescuing, message me on Facebook, phone 0450 328 002 or email [email protected] today!

24/06/2020

24/06/2020