Fraser Coast Native Bee Rescue

17/11/2021

A busy Tetragonula Hockingsi Queen bee can be observed doing a great job - laying an egg into each provisioned brood cell before the cells are sealed by worker bees. The overall brood volume in this weak colony continues to grow everyday.

It is currently being revived from the verge of failure, through being connected/budded up to a stronger colony to provide additional bees and contribute towards growth in the weak colony.

It will be disconnected from the supporting colony in the the coming weeks, and they will both return to functioning as independent colonies once again. Happy days 🐝🐝🐝

20/09/2021

Our Bauple/Macadamia nut tree flowers tend to be predominantly visited by our T. Carbonaria bees. The bees can be observed collecting pollen before they intend on returning to their nest sites. There are debates around the effectiveness of native bees in cross pollination and ongoing studies aim to prove whether native bees contribute towards increasing nut yield or not.

19/09/2021

True story - Went out on a dinner date on Saturday night, as we were leaving the restaurant, I semi-seriously asked her, 'would you like to come see my bees?'
She asked 'is that one of your pick up lines?'
I replied, 'sorry, I've already got a Queen'

12/09/2021

The weather is heating up again, and the bees are becoming increasingly active collecting pollens, nectar and resins. Unfortunately these ideal temperature conditions have also been beneficial for arguably the most destructive arch nemesis of native stingless bees - the phorid fly.

The speed and agility of the phorid fly is far superior to that of bees allowing them to quickly travel across surfaces and zip past guard bees. The female phorid fly is plump compared to the smaller male. The female phorid fly will lay her eggs basically anywhere inside the bee nest before phorid larvae hatch and begin to feed on food stores. A bee nest affected by a phorid fly infestation has a unique and distinctive scent, attracting additional pests to the site.

While phorid flies can enter past the guard bees and lay their eggs inside, a strong bee colony with plenty of bees patrolling the inside can typically defend against an invasion attempt from a few phorid fly, by removing thier eggs before they hatch in about a day's time.

19/08/2021

Stainless Native Stingless Bee Vents - pack of 5 units for $20 ($4 per unit)
*Aus-wide postage available at additional cost

15/08/2021

I’ve been a bit quiet of late but things are going to heat up pretty quick I think. I'd like to share a bee box/small log hive steel bracket that I have decided to use to replace milk crates and some stands which have been very difficult to deter ants from. I wanted a design that was strong, and able to be applied to a variety of boxes and small log hives (with the addition of “feet” this can generally be achieved) and most importantly for me, moving to a star picket/post set-up allows a better opportunity to combat black ants from taking up residence under the box lids and cracks or crevices and star pickets have a small footprint which saves space in the garden.
The brackets aim to distribute the weight centrally and downwards onto the star picket to maintain stability, and the brackets feature a locking bolt to secure it onto the chosen picket or post. They will fit star pickets but also square hollow section up to 45mm and 50mm pipe. They feature tie down points for the use of a strap or rope, etc (I like to use fasty straps) to secure the log hive or box to the bracket.
The brackets are fabricated marginally larger than the OATH box footprint to accommodate OATH boxes and are coated in cold gal paint. If anyone is interested, these brackets are made to order and fabricated by a qualified welder for $165 each (excluding postage).

06/05/2021

I took these photos the other day, it was a beautiful day but not so good if you're a drone/male bee. As the temperature cools and Winter continues to approach, the bee colonies continue going about their daily business, gathering and preparing their food stores to survive the coldest days of the year until Spring.
Unfortunately drones aren't known to make any contribution towards the collection of pollen, nectar or resins. Instead they are more of an expense to the colony by continuing to consume vital food stores especially during times when flowering of plants is typically less and the daylight hours are shorter and cooler. This leads to drones typically being evicted from the nest, where they are expected to finish their life cycle outside. Pictured are drones just before dusk, settling down to roost for the night.

16/04/2021

A bit of effort went into these beautiful hollow hardwood logs over the last couple of weeks. The ends were routed to remove the chainsaw marks and provide a perfectly flat mating surface for the hardwood base and a flat top. The end grain was also clear coated to seal and reduce future cracking. I personally prefer the natural appearance of log hives, they suit the bees well. I've also included a pic of the simple router setup I used to do the job for those who are curious :)

28/03/2021

I was recently asked how to identify Austroplebeia Australis (AA) from Austroplebeia Cassiae (AC) by looking at the worker bees. So I've attached a few pics to help identify bees that can be found in the local region.

Firstly you need to identify whether the stingless bee is from the Tetragonula or Austroplebeia species. Tetragonula bees including Tetragonula Hockingsi (TH) and Tetragonula Carbonaria (TC) have a raised/more pointy looking rear thorax, their thorax is usually noticeably more hairy which gives it a rough appearance and the rear of the thorax is more triangular (Pics 1 & 2)

Austroplebeia on the otherhand, have a thorax that is rounded and noticeably less hairy, smoother and shinier. Their rear thorax area resembles more of a 'U' or 'horse shoe' shape in appearance (Pics 3 & 4)

If you've identified you have an Austroplebeia species, you can further examine the bee/bees to identify if you have A. Australis (AA) or A. Cassiae (AC). A. Australis bees typically show a light coloured marking on the 'U' part of the thorax. A. Cassiae tend to be a blacker bee, with the absence of obvious coloured markings on the 'U' area of the thorax and the bee also presents with a more whitish face compared to A. Australis (Pics 5 & 6)

21/03/2021

Not Native Bee related.. but a bit of a flash back for me of when I was 16 and some pics Mum took back in 2002. My Dad, Sis and myself were involved in harvesting honey from our European Honey Bees to sell both locally as well as by the 44gal drum full to Super Bee on the Sunshine Coast. Dad liked to move the bee hives to different locations always chasing the flowers to increase the honey yield and as a result my weekends were spent helping with the harvest. It's safe to say, some locations were probably more fruitful than others, but the bees weren't always safe from joyriders in the bush.

15/03/2021

🐝🐝🐝 The bees knew the rain was coming, they were on a mission to make it back home in time 🐝🐝🐝

07/03/2021

Something as simple and cheap as a feather.. this is my tool of choice for when I need to isolate and capture a Queen bee while she is scurrying across the brood cells. The feather is soft and pliable enough that it creates minimal damage to any exisiting brood cells and provides a decent surface area for the Queen to scurry onto and contribute to her capture.

26/02/2021

A good news story for this Friday. Well done to all the researchers involved in revealing this bee as still in existence. As humans, we destroy too much of the environment and too many animal species go extinct for short term gains. A greater awareness towards sustainability and implementing sustainable practices will benefit us all.

Species which targets specific rainforest flowers was last seen in 1923

28/01/2021

Bees need to defend their nest against common attackers such as hive beetles, phorid flies and syrphid flies which can destroy colonies. The most obvious and typical access point for phorid flies and beetles is through the nest entrance.
I like to put the old step-up drill bit to good use, and I'm so glad I've actually got a use for it! I start with a smaller drill bit (eg. 10mm) to drill completely through the wall before switching to the step-up drill bit to enlarge the opening to the size I want. It creates a funnel-like opening and reminds me of a stadium with more bees being able to see potential attackers, before reducing down to a smaller hole.

18/01/2021

Just whipping up some more boxes, glued and screwed ironbark and gum timber. Got a few more entrance holes to drill and some sanding before I can start on the exterior clear coat. The hardwood timber is tougher on the tools than pine and takes longer to assemble, but they'll be expected to last many more years in the long run. Happy bees, happy me

24/11/2020

If you have a keen eye, you can spot the Queen laying an egg into 3 provisioned brood cells. After the egg is laid, the brood cell is capped by the nurse bees and after 50 days a new bee will join the colony.

22/11/2020

The young workers started to develop brood cells for the newly mated T.C Queen to lay eggs into, however the first brood cells were being created in the corner of the box which was amongst the pollen and honey pots. This wasn't ideal and could potentially limit the size of the brood in the future. I decided to take a small amount of brood from the advancing front from a different colony and strategically placed it in the centre of the 200mm x 200mm box. This provides the best chance of getting a nice amount of brood in the future, with food stores on the outside. It didn't take the workers and Queen long to accept the new brood and focus their building efforts in the new brood's location. Below is a pic of the brood "seeded" into the box.

22/11/2020

The lucky TC princess chosen by the colony to fulfill her job - to lay eggs and contribute towards the survival of the colony (the larger bee in the top left of the video). Taken 6th of November

19/11/2020

Tetragonula Carbonaria Species - The unfortunate life of a young princess/unmated queen.. There were 3 newly emerged princesses (1 day old) that I saw in this box which was budded up to a mother hive as part of a colony reproduction process. With these bees, they decide which princess becomes the future queen of the colony by allowing her to live, while other princesses suffer a much different fate. This video is the lead up of a princess that didn't make the cut, with worker bees pulling at her legs and wings. Much more progress to come for this colony in the coming weeks.

04/11/2020

This is an awesome initiative towards removing invasive trees from both our community and backyards and replacing them with a free native tree.

02/11/2020

The Austroplebeia genera are so interesting, I've seen this a few times this spring and thankfully I've managed to catch a video of it this time - an Austroplebeia Australis worker bee returning with pollen on its rear legs as per normal, however it also appears to have pollen on the top of its thorax. Austroplebeias have been reported to be quite efficient in nest construction and survival methods so it makes sense to observe this activity, but I'm also interested to hear if anyone else has observed this before as well?

09/10/2020

Inspected one of the T. Carbonaria colonies today, they were almost as aggressive as some of the T. Hockingsi colonies. Very happy with the progress in this one!

08/07/2020

The Tetragonula Carbonaria (TC) has one of the most visually satisfying brood cell orientations of the Social Native Bees. More pics in the comments section, of the TC colony in the process of being relocated from a decaying log, destined for a box.

03/07/2020

There's a bit more land development happening around the place, maintenance of fence lines, and general land clearing. Also being the cooler season, it's time for some people to do some wood burning as well.

Please put the word out, I'm offering to locate, rescue and remove any native bee colonies at risk of being destroyed or burned. If you are unsure, I'm happy to have a look. Feel free to get in touch with me or forward people on. Cheers

25/06/2020

Being winter, the lower temperatures below 18-20 degrees result in seeing less bee foraging activity outside of the hive, however they are still busy bees on the inside.

21/06/2020

Some bright new editions to the garden. Hopefully the bees like them as much as I do

12/05/2020

I'm a hobbyist Native Bee keeper with 30+ colonies, rescuing and saving Australian Native Bees by removing nests from a variety of inconvenient locations, like fallen trees, logs water meter boxes. I currently offer rescues around the Fraser Coast area for Free/No Charge typically outside business hours or on weekends. Having had a father who was an apiarist, I was exposed to European bees for quite some time but my passion lies with the Australian native bees. Native bees are much smaller in size and produce a much smaller quantity of honey per year which the colony generally relies on to survive during winter and times of drought. I generally don't believe native bee honey should be harvested for human consumption, there is plenty of honey being produced by European bees in Australia. If you think you have a native bee colony that needs relocating or is in danger of being harmed or killed please send me a message. Cheers :)

09/05/2020

The cooler weather has slowed the bee activity down over the last few days in all the colonies.

Took a short video and followed-up of the new residents that finally started moving in today following the fighting swarm, and a euro bee just scoping out all the activity. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but all is well and expecting more bees to arrive tomorrow :)

27/04/2020

The native bee version of 'survival of the fittest' - a Tetragonula Hockingsi fighting swarm to be a takeover swarm from a nearby colony that has more than likely gotten too big for its original nest cavity and is ready to expand before winter comes. Rather than choosing a totally vacant nest site, strong colonies often overpower weaker colonies and take over their nest (in this case a bee box) including the brood, pollen and honey stores and killing the existing queen in the process. This invasion saves the expanding colony weeks of work in nest preparation. Unfortunately the bees fight to the death, biting and chewing wings, legs and antennae of each other. The aftermath often results in thousands of dead bees depending on colony sizes and bees numbers. I'm disappointed this didn't happen on the weekend while I was at home because so many bees died today. On the upside, a new queen should arrive in the next few days.

20/04/2020

This tetragonula hockingsi colony set up home in this inground water meter box. At some point it was attacked by another colony in the neighbourhood resulting in a pile of dead bees at the entrance hole. They fight to the death! This colony was successfully rescued and relocated from the water meter box to provide access to the tap again.
If you have a colony taking up residence in your water meter box and want it gone, I'll come and rescue it for free. Dont kill it or spray it, send me a message first :)

20/04/2020

Some of the foraging bees can be seen returning with pollen on their rear legs :)

20/04/2020

Photo of bee brood in a Tetragonula Carbonaria (TC) colony.