HiveHaven

09/11/2025

Set up pics of today's 'City of Moreton Bay Eco Fest' at the University of the Sunshine Coast Petrie Campus.🐝

The rain held off, which was welcomed by a steady stream of visitors. 🐝

Lots of fun for us to deliver our native bee talks in the USC auditorium & the lab. An amazing facility thankyou! 🐝

Overall a crackerl day with thanks to Tasia & her team at the Moreton Bay Council. 🐝

31/10/2025

A buzzing week in Canberra!

Earlier this year we were approached by Australian Parliament House to install two Australian stingless native bee hives, as they were keen to grow their apiary. This is commendable, as it provides an ‘agricultural focus’ to a wider audience - plus we all know Australian native bees are alot of fun to have around!

These stingless native bees will live the ‘best life’ in the APH staff café courtyard. Parliament House Canberra has 23 hectares of landscaped gardens that range from Australian native bush to formal gardens. Nine hectares are native gardens with 4,500 trees and 135,000 shrubs and groundcovers where they use natural bugs to control pests and don’t use sprays.

Behind the scenes – installations like this are only made possible with the dedication of people like the APH Head Beekeeper – Cormac Farrell who will be on hand to look after the hives and will kindly transport them to a warmer region over winter.

Some of you will remember back in 2018 we installed our first two native bee hives at Australian Parliament with thanks to the help from our local MP Andrew Wallace & support from the Food & Agri-network FAN - so it was very déjà vu to catch up with Andrew, seven years later at the RWA Gala Dinner in the APH Grand Hall, along with AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award Queensland State Winner Nicole McNaughton who is the CEO of the Food & Agribusiness Network FAN.

Food Agribusiness Network FAN
AgriFutures Australia
Andrew Wallace - LNP Federal Member for Fisher
FAN Sunshine Coast - Food Agribusiness Network
Queensland Agriculture

28/10/2025

BIG thanks to Australian Parliament House Head Beekeeper Cormac Farrell for taking time out of your busy schedule to host this group of AgriFutures Australia Rural Women's Award Alumni, DPI & AgriFutures representatives.

We loved learning, how the bees have weaved their way into parliamentary life & their importance for pollination & education.

19/10/2025

Thankyou to the team from 'Moreton Bay Council' for inviting us to speak at the 'Moreton Bay Eco Festival' at the University of the Sunshine Coast Petrie Campus on Sunday 9th November. 🐝

We'll 'bee' presenting in the auditorium & the lab; plus we'll have a market stall. Details to follow! 🐝

City of Moreton Bay

20/09/2025

Our backroads of Glasshouse Country are bursting with macadamia flowers. The trees are dripping & the smell is amazing!

For 1000s of years the bauple nut – now famously known as the macadamia has shared a symbolic relationship with the Australian stingless native bee. The Australian Macadamia Industry has long known that the small size of the Australian stingless native bee enables them to effectively navigate the tiny macadamia flowers resulting in a high rate of nut set.

And with the demand for macadamia products growing globally – the demand for commercial stingless native bee pollination services is increasing. Yeh!

Currently in Australia the macadamia nut value at the farm gate is more than AUD $290 million; making this dynamic industry – one we can ‘bee’ proud of!

BTW - Each year QCWA members nominate a primary product of the year and this year (2025) it is the native Macadamia!

Australian Macadamias
AgriFutures Australia
Queensland Agriculture
Nutworks and the Chocolate Factory
Queensland Country Life
Food Agribusiness Network FAN
Celebrate Glasshouse Country
Glasshouse Country Chamber of Commerce Inc.

17/09/2025

We're loving this warmer weather as its means we can safely make a start on splitting & budding our stingless native bee colonies.

The next couple of months will be busy! 🌻🌻🌻

05/09/2025

SPRING has sprung & our stingless native bees are loving the Daikon Radish flowers.

Daikon Radish is a versatile 'super food' vegetable that both you & your native bees will love! We use the greens & bulbs in salads & soups. We plant a double patch to ensure 'we leave some for the bees' .

After three tough years of wet weather & colony loss across the broarder industry - this season is looking good!

05/08/2025

A positive outcome for this tiny crew of Australian stingless native bees, who have been re-located due to the B2N Rail project.

‘That’s progress’ they say, but it’s always humbling to work with a ‘progressive’ company who take the time to save these stingless native bee ‘nests’ instead of mulching them!

This is a healthy hive and before re-homing into a HiveHaven V9 insulted hive we removed the majority of pollen & honey sacs – just leaving the brood spiral and clean propolis. We do this to reduce the ‘clean-up/recovery’ operation within the hive. Lastly, we remove the bottom plug and clean daily to ensure dripping honey doesn’t accumulate, as we don’t want to attract unwanted pests like the Syrphid Fly and Small Hive Beetle.

Watch this space!

05/07/2025

QUT Kelvin Grove Campus is one of our favourite stingless native bee hive sites. The grounds are rich in native fauna & flora. An absolute credit to Peter Croft & his team who showcase one of the largest collections of Australian native species in Brisbane.

These Australian stingless native bee hives are thriving with thanks to such an abundance; unfortunately they were not flying this morning due to the winter chill

This hive installation is close to the heart. We'll always appreciate the hive design & tempurature testing ideas and support we received from QUT Professor Marcus Foth, Professor Thea Blacker, Dan Cook & Associate Professor Caroline Hauxwell. 💚



QUT (Queensland University of Technology)

19/06/2025

New research from the University of Sydney has analysed the antimicrobial properties of honey from three Australian stingless bee species, being Tetragonula carbonaria, Tetragonula hockingsi and Austroplebeia australis.

Dr Fernandes found sugarbag honey samples showed activity in reducing a variety of bacteria and fungi.

This is good article and worth a read.

Australian scientists are looking for creative ways to stop drug-resistant superbugs in their tracks — and bees could be the solution.

05/06/2025

WORLD Environment Day 2025 🌏

This year’s theme is combating plastic pollution.

Everyone is talking about recycling used plastic products into ‘new’ plastic products but not a lot of people are doing it! We are super proud to shout that our hives are made from recycled blend plastic.

The inserts are made from 100% recycled rainwater tanks & the shade sails are 100% recycled milk bottles.

Yes they are plastic & its a big conversation, but they won’t rot, split or ever require painting. They keep bees safe. 🌱🐝🌱

Its been a journey – with thanks to Paul & hive crew at Ozzi Kleen Water & Waste Water who manufacture the base, honey super & internal hive components. A Queensland (Sunshine Coast) business who continually turn the dial on innovation and grit. Thankyou!

29/04/2025

A hectic few months dodging rain & muddy tracks to complete stage 2 of this commercial/environmental project on Brisbane southside. It's been humbling to work with a company who appreciate the quality & durability of our stingless native bee hives & stands thankyou! 🐝🐝🐝

There has been alot of 'early starts & late nights' to complete this project, but there is something quietly 'euphoric' about returning native bees to the bush.

As humans when we decide to take bees from their natural order & put them in man-made hives, we have a responsibility to look after them to the very best of our ability. It's projects like this that enable us to showcase & validate the HiveHaven stingless native bee hive design.

Watch this space! 🐝🐝🐝