Our Information Sheets
Free PDF Downloads available to help you achieve a better understanding of bees, the care and importance in nature.
Attract Bees
Here is a great local document with loads of info from KeyBee people. What to plant, colours, benefits, habitat and bee gardens.
Mead
Yes, we all love it. Now here is everything you wanted to know about Making Mead, fabulous original recipes, and even a wee bit about the Vikings.
Honey
A colourful look at honey, how it’s made, how it’s collected, recipes, and so much more. Sweet as!
Bee Life Cycle Chart
Here is a great local document with loads of info from KeyBee people. What to plant, colours, benefits, habitat and bee gardens.
Seasonal Management
Knowing when a local tree or a particular undergrowth flowers, observing weather fluctuations, and knowing when to leave the honey in the hive are all vital to successful beekeeping…here is a local overview.
Gympie Show
Honey Comb Spec Sheet
Heat and Hive Loss in Stingless Native Bees
Severe heat and extreme cold will impact on our native stingless bees. Research has been done on these aspects, and we will make more available soon.
For a detailed report from many of our Native Bee Experts.
Judging Honey
Honey Judging Sheets
Individual Judging Sheets
A4 – 12 pages
Judging Honey
Honey Judging Sheets
Overall Judging Sheet
A3 – 2 pages
Getting Started
Getting Started in Honey Bees.
Getting started in bees in often the biggest hurdle. Here is a guide to help you through the process.
Getting Started - Workshop Version
Black and White Version
Perfect for Workshops
Print on A3 back-to-back, fold to A4
12 page booklet
Honey Bee Colony
This DPI Advisory Leaflet was published in 1977.
Written by C. Roff, it still remains relevant and our favourite.
Honey Bee Colony - Workshop Version
Black and White Version
Perfect for Workshops.
Print on A4 back-to-back, fold to A5
8 page booklet
Other Useful Reference Material
Hive registration and hive marking
Queensland Government – Beekeeping in Queensland
Biosecurity
Bee biosecurity code of practice
Farm Biosecurity
Beekeeping in Queensland
Queensland Government
Bees and bee pests and diseases
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
Code of Practice and National Bee Biosecurity Program
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council
Small Hive Beetle
Small Hive Beetle
Bee Aware
South African Small Hive Beetles
Aussie Bee
Small hive beetle management options
NSW DPI Prime Facts
Small Hive Beetle National Management Plan
Animal Health Australia
Small Hive Beetle
Gold Coast Regional Beekeepers Inc.
Queensland ‘Muck’ Disorder
Queensland ‘Muck’ is a brood disorder experienced by beekeepers in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. This can occur when soils erode and metals such as aluminum-(bauxite) mix with ground water creating an acid soil situation. The alum gets taken up by plants, which in turn enters the pollen and nectar of the plant. When fed to larvae the alum constipates the developing larvae and kills them giving the appearance of EFB (European Foul Brood).
This disorder generally happens late Spring, early Summer, with the onset of storms following a drought period. It can substantially impact the brood development and overall colony productivity, and is particularly harsh on nuc hives.
Asian Bee
Comparison of the Honey Bee to the Asian Bee
Asian Bees Factsheet
Doug Somerville, Technical Specialist Honey Bees, Goulburn
Asian Honey Bees
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Biosecurity Queensland
At the Hive Entrance
by H. STORCH – OBSERVATION HANDBOOK (1985)
“How to know what happens inside the hive by observation on the outside”.
Australian Medicinal Leptospermum Honeys
Simon Williams – PhD candidate with the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Bald Brood
Bee Informed Website
The Barefoot Beekeeper
This book is for prospective, beginner and experienced beekeepers, who want a simple method of looking after a few hives for small scale production of honey and other bee products.
Bee Friendly Guide
A ‘Bee-Friendly’ Guide to Help Save The Honey Bees
Inspired By Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends
Bee Friendly Planting Guide
A planting guide for European honeybees and Australian native pollinators. by Mark Leech
Beekeeping For All
Abbé Warré (2007)
Bees in Decline
A review of factors that put pollinators and agriculture in Europe at risk.
Beekeeping in a Riparian Zone
Article: Athol Craig | Photos: Glenbo
Biodynamic Beekeeping
Questions put to Biodynamic Beekeeping Consultant
Michael Weiler
The Dancing Bees
An account of the Life and Senses of the Honey Bee by Karl von Frish
The E-Book On Honey Bees
Copyright 2010, Albert W Needham
Fat Bees Skinny Bees
A manual on honey bee nutrition for beekeepers
Flowers and Bees
A Symbiotic Relationship
Honey in Wound Management
by Shona Blair and Dee Carter
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney. (2005)
Introduction to New Beekeeping
with Dartington hives, Robin Dartington, Spring 2008
In-hive Fungal Biocontrol of Small Hive Beetle
by Diana Leemon (2012)
The Little Book of Bees
KARL WEISS with Carlos H. Vergara. (1997)
Making a Perone Hive
The PermApiculture Way By Oscar Perone in collaboration with Claire McHale Alexis Torres
Naturally Native Aussie Bees
By Dr Anne Dollin – Australian Native Bee Research Centre, North Richmond, NSW
New Australian Stingless Bee Disease
Omlet - Beehaus Hive
Guide to Keeping Bees and beehaus Assembly Instructions
Pests and Diseases
What pests and diseases affect bees?
Plan Bee - Living Without Pesticides
Moving Towards Ecological Farming
Pollination Biology
The real story of the birds & bees and beetles, bugs, butterflies, bats
Pollinator Diversity: Distribution, Ecological Function, and Conservation
Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics – Jeff Ollerton
Pollination of Macadamia
B Howlett, S Read, B Cutting, D Pattemore, S. Cross, M. Goodwin
Pot-Honey A Legacy of Stingless Bees
Editors Patricia Vit, Silvia R. M. Pedro, David W. Roubik (2013)
Protecting Bees From Neonicotinoid Insecticides In Your Garden
Risks to bees from neonicotinoid insecticides
Les Davies – Chief Regulatory Scientist, Pesticides
Ruminations on Pollination
by Adrian Jones, Wide Bay Branch QBA
Small Hive Beetle
Small Hive Beetle (SHB) – Management in a small apiary
Stingless Bees
Importance, Management and Utilisation: A Training Manual for Stingless Bee Keeping.
The Sun Hive
Experimental Natural Beekeeping
The Travelling Beehive
A Teachers Guide by Elena garcia and Manuel Angel Rosado – Illustrated by Juan Hernaz
What's the Buzz About Manuka Honey
What’s the Buzz about Manuka or Manuka-type Honeys
Presenters: Dr Peter Brooks, Simon Williams (PhD candidate), Joey Bishop (Honours candidate)
Understanding Pollinators
By Megan Halcroft (PhD), for Bees Business
Historial Reference Material and Information
A Thousand Answers to Beekeeping Questions
BY DR. C. C. MILLER
As answered by him in the columns of the American Bee Journal (1917)
The Apiary
Bees, Bee Hives and Bee Culture (1878)
The Bee People
BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY (1909)
Dadant System of Beekeeping
By C. P. Dadant (1920)
First Lessons in Beekeeping
By C. P. Dadant
Editor of the American Bee Journal (1918)
The Life of a Bee
By Maurice Maeterlinck (1912)
The Honey Bee
ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY
New York State Colleges oF Agriculture and Home Economics at Cornell University (1907)
The Honey-Bee - Its Nature, Homes, And Products
BY W. H. HARRIS, B.A., B.Sc. (1884)
Nine Lectures on Bees
By Rudolf Steiner (1923)
Starting Right With Bees
Written by a Beginner in Beekeeping, H. G. Rowe, Out of His Own Experience in Needing Help and Direction During His First Two Years of Beekeeping. Read, Revised and Approved by the Editors of Gleanings in Bee Culture. (1922)