We bought a hive of native Australian bees for our garden. I’m no expert in apiculture but I’m pretty sure they are the coolest bees around – they’re stingless and tiny and they build their honeycomb in a spiral shape. Case closed.
The kids are fascinated with the bees. When it is early evening and the bees have all gone inside to bed you can put your ear to the hive and hear them hum. It’s quite incredible. They won’t be ready for robbing until the end of next year because they’re a newly split hive but they’re already the lowest maintenance pets I have ever owned. and probably the most generous, too.
Lauca with a baby lizard from the garden.
blue milk 
That is awesome, can I ask where you got them and how much and if there is any maintenance to speak of? My fruit and veg are failing and I think a lot is due to lack of bees around here 😦
Totally jealous. I’m a very happy renter but would love to settle a bit more some day in order to do things like compost, garden, etc. And what a lovely project for children to get to observe as well.
They might be the coolest bees, but I have to put in a vote for another Australian native bee, the blue-banded, as the prettiest.
I only just learnt about the blue-banded bees, after we bought these bees, they sound incredibly pretty.
I would love to keep Aussie bees but southern Victoria is way too cold for the gentle ones.
So I have my gear all set up for keeping the more gentle of the European species once I’m no longer pregnant. I won’t be able to run a colony this year as the timing is not good.
Congratulations on your bees – have you named the colony yet?
Naming the colony, what a nice idea.
I have limited info on how to get your own native beehive in Australia – I guess google might be your friend – but if you live in the same city as me you can email me and I’ll send you the contact details for the bloke I bought from.
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