Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: TheFuzz on June 16, 2020, 06:57:01 pm

Title: Apiary near riverland SA doing bad
Post by: TheFuzz on June 16, 2020, 06:57:01 pm
I know someone who has half a dozen or so hives near the riverland in South Australia. He told me how his hives haven't produced any honey in three years, and wanted me to look at them to see what I thought.

The hives were starving, they're incredibly light and there's barely any honey in there, not much more than a few frames per hive of honey frames.

This person I know wants to keep the bees there, because he likes having them on his property, and they were doing really fantastic five years ago. It seems like locations around South Australia are not producing nectar and bees are starving. This person was telling me that, he thinks it's going to get better soon and the bees will be alright, because we have been having a lot of rain in South Australia, and he thinks it's going to cause the local flowers to produce nectar for the bees.

In the area, the bees mostly rely on Mallee, onion weed, potato weed and pig face flowers.

I'm concerned that the beehives are simply going to perish and not survive this year. He was asking how much sugar would need to be fed to them to sustain the colonies and give them a chance. What do you guys think?

I suggested they need to be moved, but we don't know of a suitable location to move them to. I've noticed numerous locations where people have kept bees, where it used to be good for bees is not resulting in bees starving and not surviving. I don't know of any available locations where bees can produce a decent surplus.

What should I tell him? What do you guys suggest?
Title: Re: Apiary near riverland SA doing bad
Post by: Garigal on June 16, 2020, 07:39:20 pm
Can't comment on conditions in SA as I'm not there but if there's nothing flowering for the bees to forage on then yes you should be feeding in bulk if they are light on stores.

This is how they are going in QLD: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-05-20/world-bee-day-bees-starving-drought-feeding-sugar-honey/12263374
Title: Re: Apiary near riverland SA doing bad
Post by: crispy on June 17, 2020, 08:34:00 am
Gday mate i am in south aus as well see if you can contact the bush bee man (mark decaux ) he is also up that way he may be able to help or give you some ideas .I know his latest video he shows how to make pollen patties for th bees over winter sounds like he is in a bad spot where trees only flower if conditions are right but from what have read and watched he needs to feed the or they may die ,another thing are they producing brood does he do regular checks on them for brood ,spotting the queen ect anyway good luck .
Title: Re: Apiary near riverland SA doing bad
Post by: Honeyeater on June 24, 2020, 06:59:35 am
bush bee man (mark decaux )

I looked the guy up and found his YouTube channel. That was a great find, thanks.

Typical aussie bloke, and very resourceful too. I liked how he used the back of his wagon parked in the sun... as a frame warming box! Awesome!!!
Title: Re: Apiary near riverland SA doing bad
Post by: crispy on July 02, 2020, 10:32:49 am
Gday mate yep he is a nice guy and has a lot of info to pass on ive just about watched all his videos he has lst a couple to afb and goes right through it with you as he deactivates his hives . One f the first ones i saw was when he was buying a used truck and nearly blew himself away opening up the radiator cap he was very lucky that day anyway enjoy his videos .