Guidelines For Rural Beekeeping In Queensland

Types of beekeeping activities
Migratory apiaries
Commercial beekeeping is generally conducted by moving beehives from one honey and pollen flow
to the next. Hives may be placed at an apiary site for the duration of the flow that may be only one
month or many months. This process of migration may be repeated five to six times per year over
considerable distances of more than 1000 km.
Permanent occupation of sites
Beehives may also be operated from permanent sites that yield well from a variety of floral sources.
This type of operation is common for sideline or hobby beekeepers. There can be significant advantages
for both the beekeeper and neighbouring crops by conducting apiary management in this way.
Queenbee rearing
Queenbee rearers or breeders require hundreds of small colonies in a number of different locations to
receive the queen cell, and so that the bees can mate. These apiaries are frequently permanent and
are utilised for the peak seasons of summer, spring and autumn.
Crop pollination
Bees are well known for their efficiency in pollinating crops. Beehives are delivered to the crop at the
required time and remain for approximately three to four weeks. Paid pollination for many crops is an
area of increasing importance for the apiary industry. Crops such as melons, stone fruit, pome fruit,
cucurbits, macadamias, citrus, avocados and vegetables are pollinated by honeybees.
Package bees
Queensland apiaries supply a clean source of live worker bees for export to repopulate colonies in
cold countries.
Package bees are a collection of adult bees shaken from donor hives to make a required weight of
bees. The bees are held in a gauze box with a queen bee and enough food stores for the bees until
their destination is reached.
Equipment suppliers
A range of trade workshops support the apiary industry. These include woodworking and
metalworking factories supplying specialist beekeeping equipment such as supers, frames, wax
foundation, clearer boards, smokers and hive loaders.
Honey packers
Eight honey packing plants operate in Queensland, packing local product for domestic use and the
export trade.
Producer packers
Some beekeepers prefer to produce and pack their own product. Many hobby beekeepers operate in
this way, supplying regular clients with small quantities of honey.
Beeswax processors
Wax, a product from the hive, is processed for many different uses. Beekeepers may deliver refined
block wax to a processor for an exchange of wax foundation that is needed for the building of comb
in frames. Good quality block wax is exported directly for cosmetics, candles and wood polish.
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