Oh bee-hive!

I am expecting unfathomably levels of pollination in my garden now. I finally have a native bee hive! Australia has around 2000 species of native bees, many of which are solitary (i.e. they don’t live in a colony), but the specific bees I’m talking about today are Tetragonula carbonaria, also known as sugarbag bees or stingless bees (there are a few species of stingless bees).

Now in all honesty even though they don’t sting, they can bite! But they reall only do so if you’re getting into their hive or antagonising them. And they’re tiny - around 4mm - so it’s more of a nip (though they like to focus on your soft bits like eyelids so it’s still a bit ouchy).

That aside, these guys are awesome. They are found up and down the east coast of Australia from Bundaberg-ish down to the south of NSW. In the wild they will make their home in hollow logs and cavities, and like European honeybees, they build their brood to store honey and pollen and protect their queen and babies. Yep - you can get honey from these guys! Nowhere near as much as you can from honeybees, but it has a distinct sweet lemony flavour that’s quite special. The brood of the Tetragonula carbonaria bees in particular is spectacular because they build it in a spiral pattern. Normally you wouldn’t see this, but if you have a hive with a perspex window you can get a sneak peak into their world.

A happy hive holds between 5000-10,000 bees and one queen, who becomes so fat she can’t fly. She lives for a few years and can lay 300 eggs a day! The other worker bees (who live around 100 days) take on different roles over their lifespan, anything from nurse bees looking after the babies, to forager bees collecting food. Forager bees travel around 500m to look for pollen and nectar - assuming temperatures are over 18 degrees. If it’s too cold, they take the day off and stay inside. Now that’s living the life!