Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Des Cannon Former Chairman, Honeybee Research and Development Advisory Committee (2006-2011) Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australia Commercial Apiarist
Australia has 10,000 beekeepers Most of the beekeepers and beehives are in 3 States on the East Coast Beehives
New South Wales 40% Queensland 22% Victoria 17%
99,000H 2,100B
Only 16% of the beekeepers have more than 500 1000 hives 4% have >1000 hives Only 340 beekeepers (of 10,000) have > 500 hives
Average production across Australia is 70kg/hive (all 10,000 beekeepers) Commercial producers (> 500 hives) average 100 200kg/hive
Australian beekeepers are Nomadic Variable rain / weather / drought / fire / floods Australian beekeepers move their bees 6 to 8 times each year, to follow the flowering patterns, especially the Eucalypts. Development of the flowers can take from 6 weeks to 2 years, so beekeepers must also be botanists, to understand the flowering patterns of the trees. Beekeepers travel up to 500km, even 1000km, for honey flows Most of the Australian flora has good pollen
Native Vegetation - Found in State Forests and National Parks - Eucalypts 670 species / 150? useful for honey - Banksias Weeds Crops - Patersons Curse - Canola
Eucalypts
Banksia
Crops
Canola
Beekeeping in Australia
Is highly mechanised - trucks
Loaders
Extracting
Extracting
Chalkbrood
Wax moth
Pollination
Pollination is focussed on almonds/cherries/apples and pears/stone fruit/kiwifruit Almonds and Cherries are two major crops in Australia
Almonds
Almond orchards are mostly located in Victoria and South Australia
1988
1998
2008
27,300 hectares (67,500 acres) of almonds planted in Australia less than 20% of all Australian almond plantings have reached full maturity (eight years and older). This year, 2011, approximately 240,000 beehives were required to pollinate the almonds. Price paid to beekeepers was $70/hive, with a bonus for strong hives and extra for long-distance travel.
Robinvale (Victoria) area, required 120,000 hives Pollination was organised by one pollination broker on a Contract basis. The broker contracted 150 beekeepers some of whom travelled from Queensland (1600km) The broker also audits 10% of the hives for each beekeeper to check the hive strength (12,000 hives) Penalties are applied where the beehives do not come up to the standard required.
Beehives 7 hives/Hectare Flowering occurs in Australia in August (winter), so flight times can be restricted by cold weather Hives are put down in the orchards in large lots, one truckload at each site. The next truckload may be as little as 500m away.
Cherry Pollination
Cherry pollination is more traditional, with the beehives being placed throughout the orchard Stocking rate of 2-3 hives per hectare Price paid varies from $50 - $70/hive, depending on the strength of the bees The contract is directly between the grower and the beekeeper (No broker)
Bees are introduced at or following 5% blossom. This makes sure bees go to cherry blossum Hives should also be located in
an elevated position in a warm sunny area, and protected from prevailing winds Bees are forced to fly through the orchard; this will decrease drifting' and non-target' foraging
For both almonds and cherries, the minimum standard accepted for pollination is 8 frames of bees.
Layout/stocking rates
Varies from crop to crop
Almonds - 7 hives/Ha Cherries - 2-3 hives/Ha Kiwifruit - 6 hives/Ha Stone fruit - Plums 2-4 hiives/Ha - Peaches 2 hives/Ha Apples 2-4 hives/Ha Pears 1-5 hives/Ha
Australia has two good pollen flows in winter Spotted Gum / Banksia Good quality pollen good bees for pollination
Pollen supplements
Use of supplements
Some beekeepers use sugar syrup and pollen supplements in late Autumn and early Spring to stimulate egg-laying and amount of brood for pollination
Good beekeepers also do an inspection for disease control and to share brood / make the hives even before putting them in the orchard to pollinate (Cherries)
Sharing brood to make even hives One hive 8 frames brood 2 frames
One hive 4 frames brood
even
Questions?