Bees

[Dennis Ayliffe <>]

There’s certainly no shortage of bees around the wisteria that is flowering on my back verandah at the moment. 

Dennis Ayliffe

On 6 Oct 2014, at 6:58 pm, Ian Baird <> wrote:

As an amateur beekeeper (currently also a member of ACT Beekeepers Assoc) plus also as a long standing birdwatcher, I can add something to the discussion on bees.  Non-native Canberra honeybees (Apis mellifera) whether wild or in managed hives can take some time to build up numbers of foraging young bees in spring after a cold winter, so that may explain a local temporary lack of honeybees in some backyards in Sept/October. I have noticed this myself. However numbers should build up rapidly as the season advances. This is now swarming season in Canberra, although some local beekeepers have been saying it has been slow start to the swarming season this year.

While the Varroa mite potentially poses a severe threat to the Australian honeybee industry, it is not present  in Australian wild or domestic/commercial apiaries, so happily we are not yet affected. However, it is only a matter of time (it is feared) because the Varroa mite is already present in the NZ and PNG honeybee population. If and when the Varroa mite arrives here, it will probably decimate wild honeybee colonies and seriously affect managed hives leading up to potentially  50% or more losses in a typical season (as it has throughout parts of  Europe and North America). This  will probably mean pollination of many agricultural crops in Australia will no longer be largely a free service provided by wild honeybee colonies. Many commercial beekeepers will likely turn to providing pollination services (at a cost) to the horticultural industry instead of honey production – a trend which has already happened overseas. It is expected that concerted research may eventually lead to the breeding of Varroa mite resistant honeybee strains for commercial production, but success is not guaranteed and may take some time to be achieved.

Rgds,

Ian A. Baird

15 Fairfax Street

O'Connor ACT  2602

 

From: Margaret Leggoe [m("gmail.com","m.leggoe7141");">] 
Sent: Monday, 6 October 2014 5:46 PM
To: m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">
Cc: Rosie - Internode
Subject: [canberrabirds] Bees

 

Thank you everyone for coming in on this discussion.  It seems only Rosemary and I, so far, have been ones to notice a dearth of bees in their garden.  Hopefully this is due to some local factor, e.g. someone using pesticide a bit carelessly rather than an infectious agent with the potential to spread.

It would be great if people could keep this issue in the back of their minds as spring progresses.

Cheers

Margaret Leggoe