I’ve been tossing up between getting traditional bees and Australian native stingless bees. The advantages of native stingless bees are that they do not sting and therefore you need less equipment. They help pollinate the garden, essential for many fruits and vegetables. They produce amazing honey but only a small amount (less than 1 kg per hive per year).
There is no legal requirement to register hives of native bees in Australia.
Native stingless bees are available around Brisbane from the following places:
Trigona carbonaria
(Common in southern Queensland and NSW)
Vince Ashe – Crows Nest (in logs)
Phone: 07 4698 1701
Australian Native Bee Crop Pollination Service – Mark Grosskopf – Maryvale (in boxes with new queens)
Phone: 0438 623 734
Website: www.croppollination.com.au
Peter Davenport – Elanora (in boxes)
Phone: 07 5533 9383
Tony Goodrich – Brisbane (in boxes)
Also supplies OATH hive boxes
Phone: 07 3878 2322
Mobile: 0449 746 970
Kin Kin Native Bees – Chris Fuller
Boxes with mainly Trigona carbonaria for $350 pick up.
Phone: 07 5485 4454
Email: info@nativebees.com.au
Website: www.nativebees.com.au
My City Garden – The Gap
A 3 tiered hive, tin lid, 2 x honey collection pots, 2 x straps, 2 x black stoppers and approx 5000 funky little bees for $425.
Phone: 0435 226 912
Email: info@mycitygarden.com.au
Website: mycitygarden.com.au/category/stingless-bees/
Sugarbag – Tim Heard – Brisbane
Hives in boxes for $400, with $100 delivery.
Phone: 07 3844 4914
Email: tim@sugarbag.net
Website: http://www.sugarbag.net
Don Riding – Clear Mountain (in boxes)
Phone: 07 3298 5253
Email: d.riding@bigpond.net.au
Customer to pick up hives
John Waters, Bardon (in boxes)
Phone: 07 3870 8664
Email: yodaregen@fastmail.fm
Col Webb – Brassall (in logs & boxes)
Phone: 07 3201 7083
Email: coje1122@bigpond.net.au
Russell and Janine Zabel - Hatton Vale (in boxes)
Phone: 0404 892 139
Email: bees@zabel.com.au
Website: http://www.zabel.com.au
Recommended books
- Australian Stingless Bees: a Guide to Sugarbag Keeping by John Klumpp
Further information
- ANBees – an active forum for discussions on all sorts of Australian native bee topics
- Aussie Bee – Australian Native Bee Research Centre
- Bob the Beeman – rescues and relocates colonies of Native Stingless Bees
