Urban Bee Project Australia

22/03/2022

Two tucked away hives.
You would be surprised where hives can be placed and how well they can do. Our host in Westmeadows takes advantage of their sprawling wild veggie patch to help our hive. Thanks to the bees, our host has delicious fresh veggies and sweet honey all from their backyard.

16/03/2022

Checking in on one of our first hosts!
It’s been a tough year for the bees. One would think that the extra rain this year would be better for the bees. But bees all around the country have struggled to bring in enough nectar to begin storing honey for winter. This means that most beekeepers have had little to no honey to harvest. At UBPA, our goal is not honey production. We have always been focused purely on increasing the urban bee population and raising awareness on more sustainable practices we can all utilise in our lives. Our hosts share that goal. We are so lucky to have hosts as focused on the greater good as we are and appreciate their true care for our bees.

10/02/2022

Carlton North Urban Gold™️ Pure Raw Honey Now available
Parco is our favourite place in Carlton to grab a coffee and great food. Now you can grab our pure, raw, urban gold honey from our Carlton North hive from them too. Coffee, lunch and a jar of great honey all in one place prepared by passionate people.
Support local businesses and bees at parco! 😀

07/02/2022

Days like these.
Melbourne can really put on a show and when it’s like this there’s no better place to get a coffee than Argyle Square is a great example of a bee friendly park and if you are in Melbourne, grab a coffee and enjoy the sound of bees in the nearby gardens. Bee as local as you can. 🙂
🐝

28/01/2022

The next generation.
It’s been a tough season so far for Melbourne’s beekeepers. With La Niña beehives have either needed feeding and only a few are producing honey. But at UBPA we are about the bees, not the honey and the season hasn’t stopped us from trying to increase the bee numbers in our city sustainably.
We have been working very hard on the net generation of bees and getting these hives ready to go out to new hosts. Although we haven’t been able to add the numbers we would like, we have still had some success. We are looking forward to seeing how these hives do in their new homes.

17/01/2022

Another slowmo!
We just love watching our bees fly in and out. The slow motion video let’s you see how they line themselves up and pick a landing spot. And sometimes miss. 😂
With our wetter than normal season it has been harder than usual on our bees. With the cooler, wetter weather there is less nectar out in the environment which means we have to work hard to make sure the bees have enough.
You can help by planting bee friendly plants like lavender and rosemary which helps bees get through tough times.
We can all do a bit to help the bees.

04/01/2022

You don’t need much space.
Most people associate beehives with wide open fields on farms or in the middle of lush dense forests that extend for eternity. But what many people don’t know is that beehives don’t need a lot of space. Typically, as long as you have enough space to work the hive and be compliant with the Australian Apiary Code of Conduct, then you can squeeze a hive almost anywhere. This opens up a whole lot of opportunities for bees in our urban environment. Is there somewhere in your yard you think bees could make home?

21/12/2021

Queen Bees.
Queen bees are bred by specialists breeders like who select bees based on their genetics, temperament and productivity. When a breeder raises a queen, she is mated and then sold on to other bee keepers. These bees are part of a batch we ordered to help us increase the number of hives we have in our amazing city. They are sent to us via post and we use them to create a new hive. Each one of these wooden blocks represents a new hive!

08/12/2021

Summers treats!
Fresh Payne’s Orchards 🍒 🍑🍎🍏 PYO] cherries, delicious yogurt and Aussie bananas. Top it off with a drizzle of our pure, raw, 100% true blue Aussie Urban Gold Honey. A sweet, light and refreshing desert at the end of the day.
Nothing says summer like fresh cherries drizzled in local honey.
If you want to replicate this at home you can grab some honey from our website and some cherries from Payne’s Orchards 🍒 🍑🍎🍏 PYO]
What’s your favourite dish with honey or cherries?

01/12/2021

Hi-Vis Bees!
We love to “bee” seen. Our hives may look a little different to other beehives but we can’t help but embrace our Aussie HiVis culture. Our hives can easily be seen with the least amount of light making them great to have in the backyard and safe enough to avoid accidental bumps. Plus we think it makes the hive look iconic.
This is a before and after of a new bee host who joined our program with an existing hive. We did a full change over and dressed up the colony in their new UBPA Hi-Vis boxes. Pretty schmick!
Do you have any decorative hives to share with us?

24/11/2021

The cast swarm!
This small clump of bees is the result of a cast swarm. What’s a cast swarm I hear you ask. Well, normally when a colony swarms, the original queen will leave with half the colonies bees and half its resources. She leaves behind swarm cells which contain new, young virgin queens. Normally, the first to emerge from her cell will kill the others to take control of the colony. Sometimes, instead of killing her fellow queens, she decides to leave. This takes half the hives resources and bees again.
This leaves a small hive behind and a small cast swarm looking for a new home. Without intervention, many cast swarms won’t survive on their own.
But don’t worry, we rescued these ones, and they have a happy new home and are doing well.
Have you ever noticed a small swarm like this around your neighborhood?

23/11/2021

https://www.urbanbeeprojectaustralia.com/shop-local-honey/urban-gold

Pure, Raw, Urban honey. 100% Austrlian Honey. Just they way nature intended from a loaction near you.