Aussie Bees

[philinacoma]

I thought this was a good thread on it's own so I've moved it here.

yea westmar her
                       I'm at flinton qld got few hives,plus the native bees.last couple days we had 30ml rain cooled of for awhile.

Hey Westmar

Natives huh? How do you find them? I heard that they don't produce much honey...

Phil

hi all  [philina coma]
                                i normally find natives with in 150m from water.they are hard to spot most entry's i found out her are facing south west.no more than 15ft of ground.i like to have sun over my shoulder makes them easier to spot.i used make the mistake looking up all the time .i have found them nesting on the ground in water meters all so.i allway es get out after a storm check an branches or trees Thai come down.if you save any in a storm make shore cut 3 ,4ft each side the entry ,normally take something over both ends.make sh oar you stand it up the right way.look before you cut.so9 you no what the top of tree what the bottom .if you put them up side down you drown them.no they don't give much honey.some people tell me 1kg season.I'm yet to take that the most i taken is250gr.i made small boxes up for my natives transfer them over to rob them .you got do crush strain with them.

Hey Westmar,

What do the native hives look like? Are they something hanging from a tree or are they a hole in a branch?

Phil

hi all
       the native bee bees have a small entry in hollows , they take bit finding.the native bee got he is the[australis]little black bee with white marking on his back.at night they close there entry up ,then take it down next day.some people say the honey bee is taken over there nest sites .i don't find that out her i seen them nest in the same tree.

Hi Westmar,

How many bees are there usually in a native hive?

Have you got any pics of the natives you could post?

Phil

[westmar]

hi all
      i have no idea how many natives to a hive,i had weak hives  feed them sugar water to build them up same as honey bees.they are late starters in the morning , some times you don't see them till pub o'clock time.wast time looking for them till mid morning,they have guarders same as honey bees.as the brood hatches the old cells are torn down.new ones are built,if you look close you can see them bringing old material out.they are very clean in the hive,the austral is entry is tube that leads back to nest.they store there honey in pots.sorry no photo of them

[Lone]

Here are some native honeybees on a sunflower.  They are hard to spot, I know!  Are they the same as the Flinton variety?  I don't think they have white on them.

Lone

[philinacoma]

Hi Lone, you don't know where their hive is do you, to get a pic?

As you know we don't have them down here, I find them fascinating.

Phil

[Lone]

No, but I'll pay ya a buck if ya can find the nest, Phil.

[Pete]

We noticed a few blue banded bees this week, had a different buzz to other bees. I am guessing they are some kind of stingless Aussie bee?

I would love to keep Aussie bees, purely from an interest point of few. I didint think they were any good for down Vicco way? Any thoughts?

[philinacoma]

A whole buck? Nice.  :lol: If I ever get up your way I'll take you up on that offer!

Hi Pete, welcome! From all I've read, most aussie bees are solitary. There are a couple of the native bees that do form a hive which you can buy, but they say that it is too cold for them down here for most of the year. As Westmar said they are pretty slow to get started in the morning, late risers. I would imagine down here during autumn, winter and spring they wouldn't venture out at all.

If you hear of any hiving aussies this far south let us know. I'ld love to give them a try too.

[westmar]

hi all
        the natives on the sun flower might be trigona carbonaria.or trigona hockingsi.the hocking found in central QLD.the trigona carbonaria behaviour if the nest is disturbed ,they crawl all over you up the nose in the ears in the hair.the trigona have a black abdomen. they don't hurt you.you are better of with a Vail on.i don't no any thing about the hockings.if you find a fire wood cutter or tree lopper they might be able to help you get a hive.

[philinacoma]

So, Westmar, is there much involved in working the natives?

[Lone]

Hello Westmar,
Looking at pictures of the two types of bees, it is very hard to tell which ones they are around here.  I tried to examine one more closely this morning, and they seem to have that white on the thorax like the Trigona carbonaria.  They are just so small it is hard to tell.  Or maybe there are both kinds here.  They often have their little pollen sacks full - they are small enough to go into places my pets cannot!

Pete, this is a decent website about native bees. http://www.aussiebee.com.au/beesinyourarea.html
It seems the blue banded live in all states except tasmania.  I find it hard to imagine that Australia has no bumble bees, though, as the website says.  I know there are some imported ones.  But there are lots of bees that look and sound like bumble bees, and old timers have always called them as such. 

Lone

[philinacoma]

I saw bumble bees in Tassie when I was down there a couple of years ago.

[westmar]

hi all
        with natives it the crush and strain. no frames in hive they store the honey in pots.they rebuild new ones,same as poll an pots.handy if you got a magnify glass to look at them ,you must have a nest handy up there i never seen so many natives on a flower before .thanks for the native web sit. I'm of to big smoke for treatment be of line for awhile.

[Lone]

Westmar, I suppose I won't find the source of those bees till Phil comes to claim his dollar.  Sorry you have to go to Brissy.  Hope you come back soon. 

Phil, maybe you and I will never be scientists because we can't define bumble bees.  Or the one you saw could have been an imported one.

Lone

[westmar]

hi
  we don't have bumble bees in Aussie. have any one seen the teddy bear bee he is brown quite big makes allot of noise,they are solitary bee.

[philinacoma]

"...The large earth bumblebee has established in Tasmania but is restricted to that State. ..."

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nreninf.nsf/LinkView/823E3E9A7566B26CCA256C40001AE6A3A5F56BB1473442224A256DEA00282268

Apparently the bumble was was accidentally introduced into to Tassie in 1992. I don't know what everyone else defines a bumblebee as, Lone, but this link is sufficient for me.

Westmar, good luck and speak to you when you get back

[westmar]

hi all
       I'm not quite sh oar if it was last year the farmers out her.were trying to get the bumble bee in to country to pollinate .it was hit on the head .

[Lone]

I saw a native bee the other day, not much longer than italians, but broader in the back.  It had thin white and black stripes I think but was a bit fast to examine well.

Lone

[westmar]

hi
    lone i think their is something like 1630 native bees in Australia.a native bee that size is probably a solitary bee.have you ever looked at pot plants and you see a half moon piece taken out of leaf .normally done by leaf cutter bee.came across this web site www.zeta.org.au/-ambrc/. let us no if it wrong .we have the blue-banded bee is approximately 12 mm long it has four blue bands on the abdomen it a solitary bee.

[Kathyp]

is pot legal there?

[Lone]

Hello Westmar, no I haven't seen leaf cutters here.  From the pictures of blue banded bees I've seen it looked a bit different, but maybe it was one..it was moving a bit fast.

Kathy...refer to topic "Cindi's learning strine" http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,25669.0.html


Maybe we need to start up a "Kathy's learning strine"  :)  ...and of course an "Annette's liking vegemite"

Lone