Fraser Coast Native Bee Rescue

Fraser Coast Native Bee Rescue Rescuing and saving Australian Native Bees through the removal of their nests from inconvenient loca

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

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 lo...
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).

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...
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.

A bit of effort went into these beautiful hollow hardwood logs over the last couple of weeks. The ends were routed to re...
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 :)

I was recently asked how to identify Austroplebeia Australis (AA) from Austroplebeia Cassiae (AC) by looking at the work...
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)

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, ...
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 🐝🐝🐝

Something as simple and cheap as a feather.. this is my tool of choice for when I need to isolate and capture a Queen be...
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.

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Maryborough, QLD

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Sunday 7am - 6pm

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