A wonderful relationship exists between humans and the honeybee. It's one that benefits both - we provide the bees with a home and (in the case of commercial apiaries) transport the hives around the countryside to where the trees are in flower, and the bees provide us with honey, wax and other products. Each bee colony consists of one queen, a number of drones (male bees) and thousands of workers (female bees). The drones' sole job is to fertilise the queen. The queen lays the eggs, and the workers do everything else including guarding, cleaning, feeding and harvesting.

Click here to download a list of our Beekeeping products and prices

There are two main ways to acquire bees. Either buy them from a beekeeper or collect a swarm. Either way you need to buy and prepare your hive equipment first. Swarming is the natural way the bee colony divides. Most swarms appear from mid-September to mid-November.

We sell beehives that you can assemble yourself to reduce cost. Timber boxes and frames need to be glued, set and nailed and the outside of the boxes at least must be painted. (We recommend white, Bio non-toxic, enamel lacquer undercoat & paint.)

Boxes must be in standard sizes, either:

8 frames on each box (8 Frame Super)
or
10 frames on each box (10 Frame Super)

Boxes are sometimes called brood chambers or supers. Once you decide on a size, stick to it!

The hive also needs a lid (with vent holes and a metal cover) and a base (with a landing strip and special risers to create the entrance).

Inside the hive are frames which support sheets of foundation wax. One sheet of wax is used per frame which encourages the bees to build worker cells. With timber frames, wire needs to be strung tightly across the frame with the aid of eyelets (so the wire doesn't cut into the wood). The wax is then embedded into the wire with a spur wheel (or electric) embedder. To stop the queen laying in the top boxes a queen excluder is used. These can be made of plastic, or (preferably) metal, which allow only the workers to pass so that only honey will be stored in the top boxes to allow for easier extraction.

• Contact Department of Agriculture to register your hives. Victoria (03) 5430 4444.
• Light smokers with paper and pine needles.
• To move swarms, cut the branch with the swarm or scoop them up in cardboard box and deposit them into the previously prepared beehive.
• Uncapping of the bee frames is done with special knives or scratchers. The knives may be heated with hot water, steam heated or electrically heated. Remove the wax cap of the cell and put the frame into an extractor so the honey can be spun out.

Click here to download a list of our Beekeeping products and prices

For more information on our beekeeping supplies, kindly contact our Retail Division.

Phone: (03) 9348 1000

Fax: (03) 9348 0077

Email: retail@goingsolar.com.au

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