Managing your hives Archives - Professional Beekeepers

published - 19 September 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Fire safety for beekeepers

Smoke causes bees to stop guarding the entrance to the colony, move inside and gorge on honey. Just like humans, bees are easier to deal with when they have full bellies. The smoke also masks the smell of alarm pheromone. The use of a smoker is necessary to work responsibly …
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fire, hive management, safety, smoker

Managing your hives, Policy and compliance

published - 16 September 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Honey testing: more to the story

Laboratory testing of honey.Source: http://www.chemcentre.wa.gov.au/Our-Services/Primary-Industry-chemistry/Honey-analysis
There have been a few media reports about honey adulteration in Australia in the past year. This has resulted in a 15-30% decrease in honey sales, translating to losses upward of $10 million. A recent AgriFutures Australia study reports that there are inherent problems with the …
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acacia, banksia, bioactive honey, honey, honey standards, leatherwood, Leptospermum, NMR, red gum, supplementary feeding

Managing your hives, Policy and compliance

published - 12 September 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Spring management

Spring has sprung, and it is time for beekeepers to spring into action to ensure a good season.
Early spring inspections

Is there a laying queen?
Is there a good brood pattern?
Inspect for brood diseases – chalkbrood is a particular problem at this time of year
How much food is left? Do you need …
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chalkbrood, hive management, honey, queen bees, spring, supplementary feeding, swarming

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases

published - 3 September 2019
By Nadine Chapman, Tom Gillard

American Foulbrood

American Foulbrood is a highly contagious and fatal disease caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. This bacterium can survive for extended periods by forming spores which are resistant to both environmental and chemical stressors. These spores can survive for decades (current estimates at more than 60-80 years) and still initiate …
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American foulbrood, barrier management, biosecurity, hive management

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases, Policy and compliance

published - 23 August 2019
By Nadine Chapman, Dr Doug Somerville

To feed or not to feed

By definition honey is a “natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from the nectar of blossoms … which honey bees collect, transform and combine with specific substances of their own, store and leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature”: Australia New Zealand Standards Code.
Feeding sugar and sugar …
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biosecurity, hive management, nosema, nutrition, pollen, sugar, supplementary feeding

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases

published - 19 August 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Chalkbrood

The fungus Ascosphaera apis causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees. The disease occurs in honey bee larvae fed fungal spores by nurse bees. The spores germinate in the gut and the larvae die of starvation, before the fungus grows throughout the larval body turning it into a hard “mummy”.
Chalkbrood is …
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barrier management, chalkbrood, hive management, spring

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases

published - 30 July 2019
By Nadine Chapman

The queen is dead. Long live the queen.

The queen is the most important individual in a honey bee colony. Having young, quality queens is an easy way for beekeepers to maximise their hive populations and get the most out of available nectar flows.
Queens should be replaced every 1-2 years and more frequently if the colony is aggressive …
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Managing your hives, Pests and diseases

published - 22 July 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Barrier management systems

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Biosecurity Code of Practice recommends the implementation of a barrier system that divides the apiary into one or more isolated sub-units and restricts movement of hives and hive components between these sub-units.
The use of a barrier management system will reduce the risk of spreading pests …
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AFB, American foulbrood, barrier management, biosecurity, community of practice

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases, Policy and compliance, Uncategorized

published - 15 July 2019
By Nadine Chapman

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC)

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC) vision is a sustainable and profitable Australian honey bee industry providing food security and market opportunities. AHBIC’s mission is to represent the best interest of the Australian beekeeping industry through advocacy and the prioritizing of research, development and education.

Video: In this video, Peter McDonald, …
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AHBIC, biosecurity

Beekeeping on public land, Managing your hives, Pests and diseases, Policy and compliance, Pollination, Registration

published - 4 July 2019
By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney

Almond pollination: hive management

Every year in August over 200,000 bee colonies are taken to New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia to pollinate more than 30,000 hectares (Almond Board of Australia 2017-18 Almond Insights) of almond trees.
Honey bee pollen foragers perform most pollination of almonds. To increase the number of pollen foragers brood …
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almonds, biosecurity, hive management, pollination

Managing your hives, Pests and diseases, Policy and compliance, Pollination