Hi all.
So I've been wanting to keep bees for years and have now reached a living situation stable enough to do so. The problem with this is that this particular living situation is on a sheep and cattle station 40 minutes' drive from Coober Pedy, which you might recognise as deserving of descriptors such as 'the middle of absolutely nowhere', 'the actual desert are you crazy' and 'so hot that the heat itself makes it a tourist attraction'.
Basically, the temperature in my area ranges from average daily maxes of around 20 degrees in winter to 40 degrees in summer. This, I am aware, is not ideal bee weather. I am confident in my ability to provide the right kind of flowers and enough water (we have good bores here), but I am very concerned about the heat. I can find very little information on how honeybees deal with heat -- the internet says they stop work in the 30s and focus on cooling the hive, so are they going to be able to feed themselves? Are they going to be able to keep the brood cool enough or will it die? It looks like the only time of year they'll get to be really active is in winter, when nothing is flowering. Is this a viable climate to try keeping bees in and if so, what sorts of things should I do do help keep them cool and comfortable?
Has anyone else tried raising bees in climates like this?