By Tanya Steele
Ahead of World Bee Day on May 20, Victorian hobby beekeepers are getting their hives ready for winter and making sure they are set up for the colder period.
Yarra Valley Bee Keepers Group Vice President Jim Dawes has been a hobby beekeeper for eight years and initially started his hives to help his backyard fruit trees along.
“It’s more about the bees now,” he said.
The retiree has two active hives in his backyard in Moroolbark and uses the Yarra Valley Bee group to network and meet regularly with other apiarists on all things bee and beekeeping.
“We’ve got members from Croyden, to the Hills and right up in Heasleville,” said Mr Dawes.
There are nearly 3,700 registered beekeepers in Victoria with over 100,000 non-commercial hives.
Honey bees are essential for pollination and many food crops rely on the tiny insects’ hard work.
The hobby is serious for those involved and Mr Dawes said it isn’t about the honey and said he enjoys the quiet contemplation involved with tending his hives.
“If the bees are not happy, they won’t stay,” he said.
A bee will live from four to six weeks.
In winter the Queen Bee produces less offspring but the hive must still have enough food to last through the season.
“All bees will be gentle if you have the right Queen,” he said.
“She mates once in her lifetime and can lay up to 2,000 eggs in a day.”
Even on a rainy day some of the honey bees are out working in Mr Dawes’s garden.
“In winter they’ll eat their source [the honey] as well,” he said.
The beekeeper also keeps other hives on other properties in Seville, he will prep the hives for winter by weighing them to make sure they have enough food to last.
Mr Dawes is dedicated to his hobby and enjoys the bees themselves.
“You can watch them come and go and occasionally one will bump into you, I like them,” he said.
“You’re there for the bees themselves, not the honey.”
