Bees are a truly fascinating insect, Australia alone is home to 1500 species. But the one we all know of is the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). We all know bees for their famous liquid gold, but there is a lot you may not know about them. For example, one in every three spoonfuls of food consumed, would not be possible without the pollination of bees. Not all bees live in colony’s or hives, and there are even bees that do not sting. Bees are facing a worldwide crisis due to the impact of modern day living.
In episode 03 of Wild Days we talk about all things bees! We team up with Melbourne City Rooftop Honey company, and inspect some of their hives in a apiary site with a twist.. The site we visited was located on the rooftop of The Emporium shopping center in Melbourne city. We open some hives with owners Vanessa and Matt and talk about urban beekeeping vs rural beekeeping. We also talk about the use of pesticides making modern day farming easier, but it is killing off our pollinators(bees) at the same time. The biggest threat to bees is humans, but will we change our ways to ensure we have a future for bees and food? Michael then heads back to Ballarat from Melbourne to check on some beehives. He had moved these hives from his house where the conditions were not that great, into a semi rural environment. He discovers that they still need a little help to become a strong colony before winter. Zookeeper Zali helps open some hives and we teach her what brood is.
In summary, unless you are moving your bees around to follow flows, urban beekeeping is much more successful than rural beekeeping. We can change this though by planting trees on your land if you live in rural or residential areas to give the bees a chance to survive.