The Backyard Beekeeper

01/11/2026

🐝 TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE… THAT IS THE QUESTION! 🐝

🔥 THE RESULTS ARE STARTING TO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES! 🔥

For those following our journey, you may have noticed we’ve been a little quieter on social media lately…

And for good reason!

As promised, we’ve been putting our energy where it matters most — OUR BEES AND OUR CLIENTS! 🐝

The past few months have been relentless. Long days, endless challenges, plenty of trial and error, and a whole lot of determination.

But something exciting is happening…

WE’RE STARTING TO CRACK THE CODE OF BEEKEEPING IN THE VARROA ERA! 💪

And not just any Varroa — we’re dealing with mite populations resistant to the synthetic treatments beekeepers have traditionally relied upon.

But rather than surrender to the challenges, we’ve been learning, adapting and evolving.

And now… THE RESULTS ARE TALKING!

🎥 TAKE A LOOK AT THE HIVE IN THIS VIDEO!

Just FOUR weeks ago:

🔴 Varroa mite wash count: 22

Fast-forward just FOUR weeks:

🟢 Varroa mite wash count: 1

🐝 Healthy bees!

👑 Healthy, productive queen!

💪 NINE FRAMES OF BEAUTIFUL BROOD!

That’s not just a number. That’s a colony bouncing back and a glimpse of what may be possible when we rethink how we manage our bees!

And here’s the exciting part…

THIS ISN’T A ONE-OFF!

We’re consistently seeing significant reductions in mite numbers while maintaining strong, healthy colonies.

SO WHAT’S OUR SECRET?

There isn’t one magic treatment. There isn’t one silver bullet.

IT’S NOT ONE METHOD — IT’S MANY METHODS WORKING TOGETHER!

But perhaps our greatest strength is our team.

We share our wins, openly discuss what hasn’t worked, challenge our thinking and continuously learn from each other.

No egos. No secrets. Just a shared determination to become better beekeepers.

And we’re not stopping there!

🧬 THE NEXT CHAPTER — SURVIVOR GENETICS!

We’ll continue focusing on breeding from colonies demonstrating resilience and desirable survival traits, sharing those genetics with the wider queen-breeding pool.

Because the future of Australian beekeeping isn’t just about surviving Varroa…

IT’S ABOUT BUILDING STRONGER BEES, PRESERVING GENETIC DIVERSITY AND GIVING OUR INDUSTRY A FUTURE! 🇦🇺🐝

We’re not claiming to have all the answers. Far from it.

But we’re finding answers that work for us, and every successful colony brings us another step forward.

To our fellow beekeepers doing it tough — KEEP GOING!

Keep learning. Keep adapting. Keep sharing.

And remember, if you need a hand, advice book us in.

WE’RE ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP!

🐝 Healthy Bees. Strong Queens. A Better Future.

The Backyard Beekeeping Team 💛

29/10/2026

🚨 ON THE RISE…… 🚨

🐝 HERE WE GO AGAIN!

As if beekeepers haven’t had enough to contend with!

VARROA, COLLAPSING COLONIES, DISEASE, RELENTLESS RAIN… AND NOW SMALL HIVE BEETLE!

After weeks of significant of wet weather across the East Coast, warm, humid conditions and saturated soils could trigger a massive surge in Small Hive Beetle numbers!

And thanks to Varroa, the collapsed hives from winter will have been a perfect breeding ground for SHB larvae who have waited patiently in the soil for this rain, now they emerge.

💥 BEETLE EXPLOSION!

⚠️ TIME TO BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS!

🐝 Mesh bases with oil trays

🐝 Apithor cassettes

🐝 Chux cloths

🐝 Beetle traps

KEEP THEM FRESH AND KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!

Whatever works for you — give your bees every fighting chance!

BE ALERT. BE PREPARED. BEE READY! 🐝

The Backyard Beekeeper

11/10/2026

Sound right up and wait till the end for an example of what to look for...

The Next Chapter......

Meanwhile as Varroa continues to destroy every Feral and unmanaged colony and devastates Every Beekeeper on the East Coast of Australia with huge losses.... there's another rising Killer in the midst....

The sound you hear is a strong colony being put out of its misery....
Suffering for an In-curable bacteria called American Foulbrood.... the spores spread through honey, whether it be fed by the unknowing human or robbed from collapsing hives.... Southeast Queensland has more of this than I have ever seen and it continues to surprise many unsuspecting or uneducated beekeepers.

How do you identify, you look for the signs, smell the hive odour and double check any cells that have pins holes or sunken cells. It's not easy to pickup early but a good beekeeper will and not let the colony suffer or impact other beekeepers .

This colony had two cells, initially thought it could be EFB or sacbrood but the odour was telling me to look harder - cell after cell being checked until we found what I had suspected.... AFB........
that evening when all the bees home.... the result is euthanising and burning the frames and gamma irradiation of the equipments...

Don't assume your hives are suffering from varroa!!! Poor beekeeping will continue to spread this ugly disease.

More could be done to monitor and inform beekeepers of areas that are impacted by this and other diseases but yet again it's "Too Hard" has been the communication from government authorities....

Goodluck out there, bee vigilant ! Don't Assume....

Rick and Team

24/09/2026

🐝 THE A CURRENT AFFAIR STORY…

Why do we do media stories?

If you’ve been around Australian beekeeping for any length of time, you’ll know this industry has been undervalued and mis-understood for generations.

And now, as Australian beekeepers face one of the biggest challenges in our history, that lack of understanding has never been more concerning.

So why go on television?
Why keep talking?
Why keep pushing?

Because silence changes nothing.

My motivation has always been simple — increase awareness, support our farmers and help Australians understand just how important they are to our food security.

And that means ALL farmers.

To those doing an incredible job keeping a few hives alive — well done.
To those who love and protect our native pollinators — thank you.
And even to those who are critical of what we’re doing — that’s okay too.

But please… look at the bigger picture, it not about likes and shares or social media - this is just a platform for many voices to come together to support others....

Farming isn’t a 9-to-5 job.
It’s a lifetime commitment.

Like a Doctor cares for their patient, or a vet for their animals -Our farmers care for the very thing that keeps all of us alive — our food supply.

Yet while many professions can be rewarded for their expertise, a farmer can work relentlessly for an entire year… only to have that year’s success wiped away by circumstances completely outside their control. Right now diesel costs, fertiliser costs and now pollination costs.... adding stress to every farmer out there...

And beekeepers are farmers too.

There are just over 1,300 commercial-scale beekeepers supporting an agricultural system that relies heavily on honey bees for pollination.

This isn’t just about honey.
It isn’t just about bees.
And it certainly isn’t just about beekeepers.

Its valuing The Farmer

Please don’t let Australia become another first-world country that forgets the people who produce its food until it’s too late.

Because when we undervalue our primary producers, eventually we have to ask:

Who will produce our food?

And if we become dependent on imports, we also become dependent on the standards, regulations and production systems of countries we don’t control.

You really will get what you pay for.

So please don’t just watch the story and move on.

Talk about it.
Share it.
Ask questions.
Support Australian farmers.

And if you believe they deserve to be heard, write to your local Member of Parliament. Write to the Prime Minister.

Because farmers can be resilient.

But resilience isn’t infinite.

At some point, even the strongest people need someone to stand beside them.

🐝 Thank you to everyone who has supported us, shared our story, asked questions and simply cared enough to listen.

❤️🐝🇦🇺

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1FPwD9Rk7o/?mibextid=wwXIfr

14/09/2026

🐝 I’M CURIOUS… WHY?

With 50,000+ registered recreational beekeepers and around 1,300 commercial beekeepers across Australia — and tens of thousands of us connected through beekeeping groups online — you’d think getting 10,000 signatures to simply ask Parliament to talk about the future of Australian beekeeping would be… well… super doopy easy.

Edit
Well I stand corrected, super dooper easy when everyone gets involved. In just over 24hrs over 7,000 signatures have been added - that's incredible and very unexpected - Amazing and Thankyou from all beekeepers. Really hoping to see some action now and not just all talk as usual.

Thanks again for your support keep sharing and maybe in the next 24hrs we can break a record to 50,000 Aussies that care about our bees and farming future.🤞🤞🤞

3,300 signatures. Now 10,700 as I re-write this
1 day left.

So I genuinely want to ask:

If you didn’t sign… WHY?

I’m not angry.
I’m not judging.
I’m genuinely trying to understand.

Because if you think this petition doesn’t affect you, maybe these points will make you think again.

💰 THE COST

Treatments that seemingly cost recreational beekeeper a few dollars can quickly become expensive.

For example, OA strips can cost around **$127.50 + postage for 60 strips and have to be used within 24hrs of opening. **

Yet you could make around 150 strips for roughly the same cost, with the potential for them to last up to 12 months.

Formic treatment? Around $38 + postage for two treatments — compared with roughly $2 to make two treatments yourself.

These aren’t exotic ingredients. They’re products available here in Australia.

So why are beekeepers paying so much?

Why didn’t you sign?

⚠️ THE RULES

Did you know there are restrictions around how some registered treatments can be used?

OA strips are currently registered for one application per year, while OA va**ng is permitted on two occasions under the relevant permits.

And we are hearing that the enforcement side of DPI is preparing to increase warnings and fines for off-label use.

We already know of a beekeeper who has received a warning letter.

If you use treatments differently from the label — and then openly discuss it online — could you be putting yourself in the firing line?

Why didn’t you sign?

🐝 AND THEN THERE’S RESISTANCE

Resistant mites are here.

And our treatment toolbox is already limited.

For many beekeepers, there are only a handful of permitted treatment options remaining — with restrictions and limited coverage — and no clear long-term roadmap for what happens when those options stop working.

What happens then?

Why didn’t you sign?

This petition was never about one beekeeper.

It wasn’t about commercial versus recreational.

It wasn’t about Brisbane versus the rest of Australia.

It was about asking for our industry to be heard.

Because once the bees are gone…

Once the treatments stop working…

Once the costs become impossible…

Once beekeepers walk away…

you can’t simply flick a switch and rebuild the industry overnight.

So, if you didn’t sign — that’s okay.

But I’d honestly love to know why.

And to the 3,300 people who did sign, thank you.

And especially Jeff Wecker — thank you for making the effort to get this heard.

I just wish we’d been able to get it further.

🐝 Two days left.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence…

This is your chance.

Please sign.
Please share.
Please make your voice count.

Because the question isn’t just “What happens to beekeepers?”

It’s…

“What happens to Australia without them?” 🐝🇦🇺

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN10425

13/09/2026

🐝 ONE LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO MAKE AUSTRALIA LISTEN…

WHERE HAVE THE BEES GONE?

⏰ 4 DAYS LEFT
✍️ 7,000 SIGNATURES SHORT

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN10425

Why does this matter?

Up to 90% of managed hives and 99% of feral colonies are being wiped out by Varroa destructor.

We’re asking for HELP TO REBUILD — and the freedom to use Australian-made, readily available treatments, instead of relying on expensive overseas pharmaceuticals.

🇳🇿 New Zealand already allows beekeepers to use own use treatments.

🇦🇺 Why doesn’t Australia?

Why has it taken 3 YEARS to approve the more organic option for treatment — only for it to be allowed to be used once a year??

This is the incompetence of what we are dealing with 🤦🏼

Are we seriously expected to watch our bees die? That what the current government wants!

🐝 30 SECONDS.
Sign the petition.
📧 Click the confirmation email.
💪Share it!
✅ That’s it.

Please SIGN. Please SHARE. Please help us be heard.

🙏 From every beekeeper in Australia — THANK YOU.

09/09/2026

06/09/2026

🐝 VARROA UPDATE — WEEK ENDING 6 SEPTEMBER 2026 🐝
❤️ And Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

One Year of Sunday Updates

Tonight’s update is a little different.

One year ago, we started sharing these weekly updates with the Australian beekeeping community.

We started because Varroa was moving, suburb by suburb, across South East Queensland — and we wanted people to be prepared.

We wanted to share what we were seeing, what we were learning, what was working, what wasn’t, and hopefully help other beekeepers save even a few colonies along the way.

Every Sunday, I would sit down and write to keep the updates going.

It hasn’t always been easy.

Dealing with Varroa, colony losses, rebuilding and the sheer emotional toll of watching colonies disappear has been hard enough. Trying to stay motivated while dealing with the self-appointed social media experts has sometimes been another battle altogether.

But this was never about being right.

It was about helping beekeepers.

It was about giving someone another piece of information that might save a hive.

Another beekeeper who might recognise something early.

Another colony that might survive because someone read something here and acted.

That has always been our motivation.

Lessons Learned

Anyone who works with livestock or grows crops knows the reality.

It isn’t easy.

Every year is different.

It’s a rollercoaster of highs and lows.

You take the wins when they come, absorb the losses, rebuild and keep moving forward.

Because we do this because we love it.

We love the early mornings.

The hard work.

The uncertainty.

The thousands of bee stings. 😂🐝

We love these incredible little creatures.

For generations, beekeepers have looked after colonies, helped them thrive and passed that knowledge on. But where is the next generation, and why would they be motivated to continue?

Now we have a responsibility to rebuild.

To learn.

To adapt.

And to leave something behind for the next generation.

So tonight, I want you to think about something.

Did we do enough?

Did we share the message?

Did we send the emails?

Did we write the letters?

Did we speak up?

Did we sign the petitions?

Did we keep pushing when it felt like nobody was listening?

Did we do enough for our kids — and their kids — while we still had the opportunity?

Or did we eventually decide it was all too hard?

Because it’s very easy to say:

“Nobody is listening.”

“Nobody cares.”

But perhaps the most important thing we can do now is make sure we don’t become the people who stopped caring.

The Current Challenges

We are now seeing other states beginning to make more noise — states that weren’t facing the same battle last year and are now starting to experience the reality of Varroa and the losses that come with it.

We genuinely hope they are heard.

Nobody should have to go through what so many Queensland beekeepers have already experienced.

We have saved many, many hives.

But the truth is, so many more were lost.

And sadly, there are still more losses to come.

There are beekeepers rebuilding from the ground up.

There are families trying to work out how to keep going.

And there are farmers who have yet to see the full impact of what is happening to our pollination capacity.

That impact may become very real in the not-too-distant future.

We tried.

The media attention.

The political pressure.

The petitions.

The emails.

The letters.

The conversations.

But ultimately, we couldn’t generate the level of public or government support that beekeepers and farmers needed.

And perhaps that’s the hardest part.

The Final Sunday Update

🐝 This will be our last Sunday Varroa Update.

Not because we have stopped caring.

Quite the opposite.

After a full year of doing this every Sunday, it’s time for us to put more of our energy into rebuilding, looking after our own bees, supporting our clients and helping the beekeepers around us.

We have heaps of bees, nucs and also
re- starting our queen reeding program, so endless days ahead on the bees and helping those who need help and want ti start beekeeping.

We will still share information.

We will still talk about things we find in the field.

We will still pass on anything we believe could help another beekeeper.

And when there is something important that needs to be said, we’ll say it.

To every beekeeper who has lost colonies, lost income, lost sleep and sometimes wondered whether it was worth continuing…

Keep going.

Rebuild.

Learn.

Adapt.

And look after each other.

Because whatever happens next, we are still here.

And so are the bees. 🐝❤️

Thank You

To everyone who has followed these updates, shared them, commented, sent messages, offered support or simply read them quietly every Sunday night…

Thank you. ❤️

To those who have supported us with constructive feedback — thank you. It has always been welcome.

To those whose comments were less than helpful…

Well, as always, they get irradiated like AFB. 😂🐝

Thank you for one year.

Keep your bees safe. Keep learning. Keep talking.

And most importantly…

Keep caring. ❤️🐝

— Rick - just a beekeeper

Gracie - the southern beekeeping queen
Steve - Dr Drone of the Wild West
Wifey- Lady Linchpin - holding it all together.

30/08/2026

🐝 VARROA UPDATE — W/E 30/08/26 🐝
❄️ THE LAST DAY OF WINTER!

Well… winter is officially over, and the bees clearly didn’t get the memo! 😂🐝

They continue to show exactly what makes them so incredible — resilience, determination and an absolute refusal to give up.

🟢 THE GOOD

🐝 THE BEES ARE REBUILDING!

Swarming continues, and prosperous times are returning in many areas.

The bees are doing what bees do best — surviving, reproducing and keeping the species going.

For beekeepers, though, the swarms and rapid colony growth are once again putting our skills and knowledge to the test.

Spring has a way of resetting the scoreboard! 😜

As you can see from the video, we’re rebuilding strongly too.

💪 Strong nucs are starting to become available again from us over the coming months.

It’s been a long road — but we’re getting there!

────────

🔴 THE BAD

⚠️ BOONAH / MT ALFORD — VARROA IS NOW THERE.

We found large numbers of Varroa last week around the Boonah / Mt Alford areas.

Even more concerning, nearby beekeepers were unaware of what was happening.

Some were losing bees and couldn’t understand why — with no treatments being used in their hives.

This is exactly why vigilance is so important.

📈 Varroa numbers continue to climb in isolated pockets.

Regular alcohol washes are one of your best early warning systems.

🇦🇺 VIC & SA BEEKEEPERS — IF YOU’RE FOLLOWING THIS THREAD, TAKE NOTE.

The spread is likely to become very swift from here.

If you’re using synthetic treatments, monitor mite drop rates EVERY WEEK.

As a rough field guide during the initial infestation period, we’ve found that multiplying your wash result by around 30 can give you an indication of the potential mite population and what you might expect to see dropping following treatment.

For example:

🧪 Wash = 10 mites
📈 Rough guide = around 300 mites potentially dropping during the first 3–5 days of treatment.

BUT — this is ONLY a guide.

We’ve seen both ends of the extreme, so don’t treat the number as gospel.

If your expected mite drop isn’t happening, don’t simply assume everything is fine.

➡️ Wash again in around two weeks.
➡️ Compare the numbers.
➡️ Is the population going UP or DOWN?

💨 Vapourisation can give you a much clearer picture of the mite load, with the drop rate becoming apparent around 24–48 hours after treatment.

📧 Email us for an InstaVap coupon code.

────────

🟠 THE UGLY

🚨 THE VIRUS PICTURE REMAINS VERY CONCERNING.

We’re continuing to see what appears to be significant virus pressure visually across North Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and now in the Gold Coast.

If you’re seeing large numbers of bees dying:

🍯 KEEP NUTRITION UP.
🧪 CHECK YOUR MITE COUNTS.
👀 LOOK CAREFULLY AT WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE THE HIVE.

And importantly…

Mite counts don’t always tell the whole story when it comes to virus pressure.

One thing we’ve noticed in the field is that virus-related colony problems can look very similar to poisoning.

A pattern we’ve observed with suspected virus pressure is:

🐝 Hundreds of apparently perfectly formed bees
🐝 Crawling around on the ground
🐝 Unable to fly
🐝 Eventually dying

With poisoning, you may see:

🐝 Large numbers of dead bees
🐝 Bees being discarded from the hive
🐝 Often fewer crawling bees remaining around the entrance

They can look VERY similar — but the volume and behaviour we’re seeing can be dramatically different.

This isn’t a substitute for proper diagnosis, but it’s something worth watching closely.

────────

🐝 SO… SPRING IS HERE!

CHECK. WASH. WATCH. RECHECK

Don't forget to sing the petition from Jeff Wecker - it's really needs everyone's support to get on the governments agenda.

Hopefully this update helps someone this week.

As always, good luck for the week ahead! 🐝💪

The Backyard Beekeeping Team

🐝 Rick
🐝 Gracie — Gold Coast / South Brisbane
🐝 Steve — Kingaroy / Toowoomba regions
🐝 Wifey — On the clock EVERY day! 😂

Video -
Nice to see the bees flying again and not all dying. Nucs being readied for sale. Email us to be in the waitlist [email protected]

26/08/2026

🚨 THIS ISN’T JUST A PETITION — IT’S A WAKE-UP CALL 🚨
https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN10425

🐝 Beekeeping Update — 947 / 10,000 signatures

⏰ 22 DAYS LEFT.

947 people have signed.

That leaves 9,053 signatures still needed.

And that means, according to the numbers, there are potentially 27,999,053 Australians who haven’t signed yet — despite the fact that the issue directly impacts the bees responsible for supporting a huge portion of Australian agriculture.

And here’s the part that really concerns me…

🇦🇺 Australia has more than 50,000 recreational and commercial beekeepers.

If even a fraction of us get behind this, 10,000 signatures should be achievable.

This takes about 2 minutes.

👉 Enter your email address.
👉 Confirm your signature.
👉 SHARE IT.

That’s it.

🐝 WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Beekeepers don’t have armies of lobbyists sitting in Canberra fighting our corner.

We don’t have enormous political budgets.

And unfortunately, even with media attention, we can still struggle to be heard.

This petition gives us something we desperately need:

A collective voice.

A voice saying that beekeepers matter.

A voice saying that our farmers matter.

A voice saying that pollination matters.

And a voice saying that the future of Australian agriculture matters.

🇳🇿 Look at New Zealand — the average cost of Varroa treatment per hive is reportedly around $1, compared with the costs many Australian beekeepers are now facing.

And this isn’t just about beekeepers.

It’s about the farmers who rely on bees to help produce the food we put on Australian tables.

🐝 50,000+ beekeepers.
🌾 Australian agriculture.
🍎 Our food supply.
🇦🇺 Our future.

We have 22 days.

Please — if you haven’t signed yet, take the two minutes.

SIGN. CONFIRM. SHARE.

And then send it to every beekeeper, farmer, friend and family member you know.

Because if we can’t get 10,000 Australians to stand up and say “this matters”…

how do we expect anyone in Canberra to listen?

🐝🇦🇺 PLEASE SIGN. PLEASE SHARE. LET’S GET THIS OVER THE LINE.

Thanks to Jeff Wecker for organising the petition