Tag Archives: Australian Native Bees

Macarons and Native Bees

01 Friday Mar 2013

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What a great weekend I just had! Day # 1 was a polka dot filled day spent celebrating the upcoming wedding of a friend, with gorgeous company and wonderfully bright coloured macaroons at a Hen’s Tea. Yes, a Hen’s Tea, afternoon tea with gooey, nutty cheeses, sparkling wine, sweets, treats and tea in proper tea cups. Did you know you can hire tea cups and saucers for such an occasion? Some of us are lucky enough to own beautiful tea cups and saucers but if you don’t, there’s someone out there that will share theirs with you.

Brightly coloured Macarons and other goodies

Brightly coloured Macarons and other goodies

Day # 2 was spent at a solitary bee workshop where Dave and I learnt about Australian native solitary bees that live in the Sydney area, where they like to live and how we can provide those spaces for them in our own garden.

It was a great workshop. Dave and I were almost the youngest there, believe me that doesn’t happen much these days. But more surprising was the amount of people present who have a stingless bee hive in their garden. Yay!

We got to have a rear look into the hive of the Stingless bees.

We got to have a rare look into the hive of the Stingless bees.

The workshop was run by Wild Things NSW, with guest speaker Megan Halcroft. In April Megan will receive her award for a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy for her dissertation “Investigations into the Biology, Behaviour and Phylogeny of a Potential Crop Pollinator: the Australian Stingless Bee, Austroplebia australis”. She said she knows all there is to know about Austroplebia australis species but, like the workshop attendees, is learning about solitary bees and how to encourage them into her garden. She has made many bee homes for various species of native bee and has them placed around her garden. The result is an increased number of bees making her garden their home.

That is exactly what we want for our own garden, more visitors and not just the human kind. More bees, butterflies, birds, lizards and frogs. Unfortunately the frogs are unlikely to visit me because I don’t have a body of water in mygarden, I just don’t have the opportunity for that, although… maybe I should work on that.

During the workshop we learnt some interesting facts like:

  • Most Australian native bees are solitary (or semi social) and live in burrows in the ground or in wood
  • All Australian native bees are pollinators
  • The nectar from flowers that the bees visit is a source of carbohydrates for the busy little workers
  • Some bees have little baskets where they pack and store the pollen until they return to the hive
  • Mass planting species is a great way to attact bees to your garden
  • Australian native bees will not be effected by the Mite, should it make its way to Australia
Reed Bee Bundle

Reed Bee Bundle

We were then shown how to make homes for native solitary bees: a Reed bee bundle and a Resin bee drilled wood block.

To make the bundle you will need to collect branches from plants such as Hydrangea, Bamboo, Lantana or grape vine (this is not an exhaustive list). These are suitable because they have a pith centre – a soft centre within the bark that will allow the bees to easily burrow. Cut the branch into even lengths, about 15cm long. Next get some soft wire, something like Bonsai wire, bundle the branch lengths together and secure them togther with the wire. Make sure you have enough wire around the bundle to make it into a hook so that you can hook the bundle onto a tree branch. It’s as easy as that! Megan has more detailed instructions on her website, which can be found here.

The pith in the centre of the branches. Before hanging the bundle in your garden use the end of your secteurs to burrow out a tiny bit of the pith. This will give the bees a little head start.

I could go on to explain how to make the drilled wood block but I’ll be sensible and give you the link to Megan’s ‘how to’ page.

To encourage Resin bees to your garden click here.

Don’t worry if your fabulous, made with love, bee homes don’t attract any bees immediately – it may take a couple of years. You have to remember that the bees probably have a nice little home already and they will move into yours when the time comes to upgrade. Don’t move the hive to find the bees let the bees find it. We all know the saying, ‘if you build it they will come’, it’s the same for the bees, provide for them and they will move in and pollinate.

For more information visit the following websites, they are a wonderful source of information, pictures and publications.

http://www.beesbusiness.com.au/

www.aussiebee.com.au

Until next time, happy bee keeping.

Carmel

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Our Bees

08 Friday Feb 2013

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We have pets, actually we have hundreds, maybe thousands of them.  No I haven’t relocated to my dream country cottage with hobby farm and no I haven’t moved to a zoo. Are we busy? Not really, just the usual, work, play, gardening, yoga. Curious? Well, I’ll tell you. We have a colony of native stingless bees living in a purpose-built hive on our sunroom windowsill.

Native Stingless bee hive

My husband has wanted a stingless bee hive for many years now.  A friend of ours who has had native stingless bees for a number of years offered to split his hive with us.

‘Splitting a hive’ is the most common method used to propagate a hive:

“the splitting method of propagation involves dividing the hive horizontally at its midpoint and equipping the old top part with a new empty bottom and the old bottom half with a new top. The bees are then left to furnish their new basement or attic depending on which side of the split they find themselves”. Taken from p60 of Australian Stingless Bees A Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping by John Klumpp.

The Queen is left on one side and as long as there is a viable queen in the other side of the split, the new colony will be successful.

So, early one Saturday morning before the day got too hot, Dave went to collect his new hive. Sorry, Dave didn’t take any pictures of the split, I think the upheaval of happy bees and the splitting of the colony was all a little to much to capture.

Fast forward two months and the bees are happy in their new home and position. We have put the hive on our sunroom windowsill (outside of course) with the tiny opening facing east so that it gets the first sun in the morning. What’s not to love about that situation?

Here you can see the opening of the hive. The bees had put resin on the top half of the opening since being here.

You can see the opening of the hive. The bees have put resin on the top half of the opening since being here and the yellow around the opening is pollen.

They are the most delicate little things you can imagine. Ok, I’m sure you can imagine a far more delicate ‘thing’ than an insect but trust me, they are cute and tiny. If they are flying solo you have to look closely to see them.

One day not long after we had them I walked in front of the hive, to be honest I forgot they were there but I could feel these little things touching my arm, like they were flying into me and pinging off me in all directions. Instantly I remembered them and stopped but they just kept pinging. I held out my hand hoping some might land but they weren’t interested in that. So cute! I promise no bees were harmed in the construction of this paragraph.

Here is the openginog the hive, if you look closely you can see a bee underneath the opening and you can see some just inside too. To give you an idea of the size of the bees, the opening is about 1.5cm diameter.

Here is the openging of the hive, if you look closely you can see a bee underneath the opening and you can see some just inside too. To give you an idea of the size of the bees, the opening is about 1.5cm diameter.

It seemed to take the tiny bees a few weeks to settle in. We often saw them swarming at the front of the hive (that is what I walked into). Perhaps they were voting for their new Queen and having a few heated discussions, we aren’t sure why they were swarming. But I think they were settling in and arranging their hierarchy. Thankfully that behaviour has stopped and we just see them coming and going now.

The bees are most active during the morning, but we do see them coming and going throughout the day. This will be their busiest time of year while the weather is warm, because they avoid flying when the temperature drops below 18˚Celcius. Even during December when we had a few cool days (a rainy, cool Christmas day for example) they were nowhere to be seen.

I guess that leads us to your burning question, what about the honey? Well, our tiny bees do produce honey, but no, we do not harvest it. You see, they don’t make a lot of it and what they do make they store and use during winter when they can’t leave the hive.

This prompts another question, what’s the point of having bees if we don’t harvest the honey? We have the bees to help with pollination of our plants, our neighbour’s plants, the street plants and maybe even plants in your garden. The Australian bee population, both native and Australian, is in decline. Without bees there is decreased pollination of our flowering plants which results in less fruit and vegetables.

A pink flowering gum with some visiting Sugarbag bees.

A pink flowering gum with some visiting Sugarbag bees.

So apart from providing us with so much joy and fascination as we watch them leave the hive and return with an array of brightly coloured pollen, we are also helping increase their population and rate of pollination in our neighbourhood.

You can find my previous blog posts about Australian native bees here (Australian Native Bees) and here (Australian Native Stingless Bees). You can also see more wonderful pictures and bee footage here (My Adventures in the Real World).

Until next time

Carmel

p.s. My husband and I got confirmation that we’ll be doing a native bee workshop in a few weeks. We are so looking forward to it and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, stay tuned. C

Australian Native Stingless Bees

19 Thursday Apr 2012

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Following on from last weeks post ‘Australian Native Bees’ I’d like to tell you about another little native bee that visits our garden – the Australian Stingless Bee. We don’t see these little ones quite as often as the Blue Banded Bee or the Teddy Bear Bee but I think it is possibly because they are so, so tiny and silent.

There are about ten species of Australian Stingless Bees in Australia, they are just 3mm to 4mm long, black and produce honey, although it is a small amount compared to the European honeybee. We have mostly seen this little one in our neighbour’s Crepe Myrtle. It is such a beautiful sight. They are so quiet and so very busy. I have also seen them hovering around tree hollows when I have been out bushwalking.

The Stingless Bees live in colonies, which means that they have a queen, drones and worker bees. They live inside tree hollows or purpose built wooden boxes (you can purchase these boxes). Aboriginals have used the honey from the nests for centuries for food and for medicinal purposes and the resins from the nests as glue to make tools and weapons.

The picture below is of an Australian Stingless Bee visiting a gorgeous flowering Eucalyptus. I was lucky to get even this picture, they are very quick as well as being small so a zoom on a smart phone is not an ideal way to capture such an image.

An Australian Native Stingless Bee visiting a gorgeous flowering gum.

You can just see the silent little bee hovering around a flowering gum (in the yellow oval)

At the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney there is a great example of a Trigona carbonaria species nest near the Maiden Theatre, I’m sure if you asked at the information desk they would happily guide you to where it is.

Australian Native Stingless Bee (Trigona carbonaria) hollow in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

You can just make out the little Stingless Bees around the hole

A friend of ours has had a Stingless Bee hive (also known as Sugarbag Beekeeping) for many years now and we are excited about receiving half of his hive when it is ready to be split. I am so looking forward to that and will keep you posted on the progress of it, how we do it and where it will live once we have it in our garden.

Are you a Sugarbag Beekeeper? I’d love to hear how it is going.

Click here to read my previous post about Australian Native Bees and for links to further information on Australian Native Bees and Sugarbag Beekeeping. 

Australian Native Bees

13 Friday Apr 2012

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For many years now my husband has had a fascination with Australian native bees. His enthusiasm is infectious and I too now love these gorgeous little insects that come to visit our garden and pollinate our flowers, vegetables and herbs.

There are over 1500 species of native bees in Australia. Most of these are solitary bees that live without queens, workers or drones. They build their nests in tiny burrows in soil, wood or in clay crevices (like in the side of our building). It isn’t possible to harvest honey from them, but they do contribute to the pollination of our domestic and some commercial produce which is hugely important.

The Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata) and the Teddy Bear Bee (Amegilla bombiformis) regularly visit our garden. If you think the Teddy Bear sounds like it might be big and furry well you would be right. One day I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I heard what sounded like a blow fly in the room. I tried to ignore it and hoped it would find its way back out the window but when I turned around I discovered a big furry bee not very happy with it’s choice of flight path. The Teddy Bear isn’t an aggressive bee so I decided that it would appreciate being guided out the kitchen window since that was where it was now headed. After a little persuasion and a run in with the glass it managed to escape back to the garden. I now often hear it pollinating the plants outside my window and I just love it, it is such a busy little worker and I appreciate its visits.

Blue Banded Bee

You can clearly see the iridescent bands of blue on the Blue Banded Bee

Click here to see a Blue Banded Bee buzz pollinate a tomato flower.

Teddy Bear bees are found in all states except Tasmania. They range from 7mm to 20mm but you’ll usually find them to be around 15mm. Many Teddy Bear bees nest in shallow burrows in clay soil but more and more of their native habitat is being destroyed due to land clearing.

Teddy Bear Bee

The golden fur of the Teddy Bear Bee. This is how they sleep.

Blue Banded Bee and Teddy Bear Bee Images from: http://www.aussiebee.com.au/

Click here to see a Teddy Bear Bee buzz pollinate a Senna flower.

The Blue Banded bee can also be heard from inside our home. It seems to love the basil flowers and tomato flowers and because we have so many they tend to visit most days. They have bands of beautiful iridescent blue fur across their backs but it can also be green, reddish or white. Blue Banded bees and the Teddy Bear bees are excellent at buzz pollination. Buzz pollination is where the bee has the ability to take hold of the flower and vigorously vibrate her flight muscles resulting in a loud ‘buzz’. This action releases the hidden pollen from within the flower. Tomatoes, capsicum and chillis hide their pollen this way as well as some natives, such as Dianella and Hibbertia to name but two.

We’re pretty friendly around these parts and as they say all creatures great and small tiny need a home – even if they already have one somewhere else. We were having so many visits from these friendly little critters that my husband decided he would make a lovely home for them. One from clay and one from wood. So one Saturday afternoon after acquiring all the required materials:

  • 2 x Bessa blocks
  • 1 x bag of clay
  • 1m of mesh

He made a clay home complete with burrows.

Bricks to keep the hive off the ground. Mesh to keep the clay from pouring through. Bessa blocks to give the hive structure.

Making the clay, following the directions on the side of the bag

Pouring the clay into the bessa block. When the hives were almost dry but still soft they were poked with a pen to leave holes for the bees to start building their nests.

As you can see there was a lot of clay required to fill all of the bessa block holes and as you can imagine the drying time was long. Within days of pouring the clay we had heavy down pours of rain and very mild weather (rather than the usual heat expected at that time of the year) which meant that the clay took longer to dry. But the clay did finally dry a few weeks later. I was concerned a curious little critter might like to make their new home, only to discover that they were stuck head first in wet clay, probably, never to be seen again.

The wooden bee-home was made from reclaimed wood and drilled at even intervals.

Well, it is a few months on now and so far no critters have taken up residence yet, but we keep checking. We know they visit and we know some of the solitary bees search the side of our building looking for holes in the brick mortar, some may even be living in them. As our north facing wall cools down over the next few months we may notice more arrive and think our clay or wood burrows are pretty appealing. Let’s hope so!

Here you can notice the holes in both the wooden board and in the clay. These holes are where the bees enter to make their nest and lay an egg. The mother usually dies before the young bee emerge from the nest.

The clay and wood burrows are usually shaded by a basil plant growing in a pot placed in front. They are more likely to reside near plants that they are attracted to.

Anyone interested in learning more about Australian native bees can go to www.aussiebee.com.au They have lots of available resources plus books and publications to purchase.

To get us started my husband and I purchased Australian Stingless Bees A Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping by John Klumpp and Introduction to Australian Native Bees *second edition by Dr Anne Dollin. I would recommend these resources.

Bees are such wonderful little creatures and we need them to continue to pollinate our food and flowers. If the bees, native or not, disappear many of our food crops will not get pollinated. Encourage bees back to your garden with flowering plants and shelter, you’ll notice an increase in produce and be able to enjoy the sounds of nature outside your own window.

If anyone has any native beekeeping or native bee spotting stories I’d love to hear from you.

p.s. As I was getting ready to post this blog Teddy Bear Bee came in for a visit. I have seen and heard him/her outside a number of times today. So exciting and very serendipitous!