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25.01.2022 http://chng.it/p8xFntKvfn

24.01.2022 HOW TO EASILY IDENTIFY RODENTS Well winter is here and the ground outside is wet, so our rodent "friends" have already or soon will move into our houses. A lot of people think that rodents do not do any damage in their houses and therefore they do very little to deter them from living with them. ... As long as they do not come inside the house, then they are not a problem - right? Well 100% wrong. Rodents have teeth that grow very quickly and they need to naw on timber or plastic to trim their teeth. Problem is that the typically chose the plastic insulation on your electrical cables to chew. They will strip the plastic off the wires, generating a fire hazard. So, what can you do? You can trap or bait the rodents to get rid of them. Baiting with safe baits is a great preventive measure, as it will deal with the existing rodents and then any new rodents that venture in looking for a new home. If you check the bait stations on a monthly basis and top them up with safe baits, you will be assured of living rodent free. What is a safe rodent bait? These baits are available to pest controllers and they are safe to use in bait stations and any rodents killed by these baits will NOT kill dogs, cats or birds of prey. Be careful though, as typically they are a bit more expensive, so most pest controllers do not use them. Are the baits available at most hardware stores safe? No, most of these baits are highly toxic, third generation baits. The poison bio-accumulates to the point that the dead rodent is deadly to animals or birds that eat them. If you are interested in getting (and keeping) your rodents under control, you can call me on 0413057756, or PM me.

23.01.2022 EMERGENCY BEE RESCUE I got an emergency call to help my friend Michael Johnson to remove a bee hive yesterday afternoon. Arborists had felled a tree in a Croydon Primary school grounds not realising that there was a bee hive in the top. ... This created a few problems. Firstly the arborists could not complete their work, as they were getting stung by angry bees. Secondly, it was an OH&S issue for the school children, as the felled tree was on the edge of the school oval. Our job was to remove the hive and relocate it, which we did once school had finished for the day. The hive was not a large one, but they were some of the gentlest bees I have relocated. They are now located in the Basin .

22.01.2022 Few tickets left for tomorrow night's training session, which will be delivered over ZOOM.

22.01.2022 The Mornington Peninsula shire is now looking into non pesticide methods to kill mosquitoes, to help.in the Beat Buruli project. I just came across this lighthearted approach. I do not think that if will be universally effective, as I dont think that all mosquitoes prefer Tequila. It might be worth trying a nice Peninsula Pinot as an alternative. Seriously though, there are simple and effective non pesticide options to reduce mosquito numbers. These techniques are used in North Queensland to control mosquitoes that spread Dengue fever.

21.01.2022 Bee hive density on the Mornington Peninsula A few days ago I posted a data collection form to be used by Mornington Peninsula beekeepers to use to consolidate their hive numbers by suburb. The aim is to share the consolidated data (a summary only of the number of hives in each suburb) with the council, so that there are better informed of hives densities in areas that they might target for pesticide spraying. The council have stated that they do not want to kill bees and th...is will be difficult if they do not have adequate data. This has been reasonably successful so far, with a reach of over 27k and 2.6k engagements. The post has been shared 127 times so far. 50 records have been collected so far. It has come to my attention that the data collection is being hampered by concerns over data privacy and the thought that the Government already have this data. Firstly, the data collection form has been carefully designed to NOT collect details on the exact locations of hives. All I am after is the number of hives in the various suburbs. Secondly whilst Ag Vic has the details of registered beekeepers and the number of their registered hives, the only location data that they have is the beekeepers residential address. Personally I know of 3 beekeepers with over 50 hives each that have a residential address on the Peninsula, but the majority of their hives are spread widely throughout the Peninsula and beyond. Thirdly, I have asked for the beekeeper to include their registration number purely in an attempt to prevent bogus information being added. If the council wants to validate the data, then it will be possible for them to ask Ag Vic to cross check the total number of hives declared by the beekeeper with their registration details. Any discrepancies can be deleted from the data set. Finally, there is nothing sinister behind my request for the hive density data. It is simply my attempt to assist fellow beekeepers manage their way through the proposed mosquito spraying program. The data form for those that are interested is https://docs.google.com//10FhxajUYdc43m_EkEntsqTC7b6/edit

20.01.2022 Few tickets left for tomorrow night's training session via ZOOM.

18.01.2022 THIS SHORT VIDEO GIVES YOU A GLIMPSE AT WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL WHEN PLAYING WITH NATURES BALANCE

17.01.2022 I have decided to separate out my posts about European wasps into a new Facebook page, called Wasp Killer. If you want to keep tabs on how to kill off wasps, then follow me on this new page.

17.01.2022 EUROPEAN WASP SEASON IS OVER GOOD NEWS - as we are now in early winter, most of the European wasp nest have died off. This is part of their natural life cycle. Some larger nests will survive a bit longer, but in Southern Victoria almost all will die by the end of June. BAD NEWS - over the last month or two, each queen has produced 100 new queens. By now, these new queens will have been impregnated and fattened up for their winter hibernation. The hibernate in a wide range of... warm dry spots. They love firewood and are often tupped up under the bark. WHAT TO DO NOW - there is very little you can do now unless you disturb one and then you just squash them. They will be very dopey but do not pick them up as the pack a very powerful sting. SPRING TIME JOB - in the Spring (September) the queens will awaken and they need food and shelter. To gather this, they fly around, and they can easily be trapped in commercial wasp traps with a sugar/vinegar bait. The vinegar repels bees who would be attracted to a sugar only bait. I will post up details on what to do in spring to enable you to catch queens. Every queen you catch in spring is one less nest that will be in your area in summer when they can become a real pest.

17.01.2022 FILLING UP WITH RENEWABLE FUEL I pulled to the local BeePee station last night and find one of our winged friends replenishing the supply in the bowser. Talk about renewable energy. Get more bees and we could fuel the world.

14.01.2022 WHAT A MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURE These bees are super resilient and they have maintained this outdoor hive for many years in Hawthorn East (Melbourne). The house is part of a deceased estate and needs to be sold. I removed the hive yesterday. ... The girls were not happy though.

14.01.2022 AFB DETECTED CLYDE NTH/BERWICK (VICTORIA) I went to do a cutout of two hives today in a North Clyde house that is about to be demolished later this week. I used my thermal camera on the first hive and it was a dead out. The other one was humming along, but looked a little light on for foragers from the outside. ... I decided to inspect the dead out first and sure enough, I found AFB (American Foul Brood). AFB is a deadly disease for European Honey bees and it can easily be spread by other neighbourhood bees back into their hives, propagating the disease. Once a honey bee colony contracts AFB it is terminal. It will die out slowly over several months. There is NO known cure. I also found signs that the dead out hive had been robbed out, I assume by the stronger one that was only 20 meters away. I decided not extract the live hive and I am referring it to the DPI tomorrow to seek advice on what to do with it. I do not want to extract the live colony as I think that it is also infected with AFB and if I did extract it and bring it to one of my apiaries, I would only spread the infection to them as well. I will have some video as soon as I edit it. I will also include the advice from the DPI as comments to this post. If you want to follow how I treat this infected hive, make sure you follow me and then the latest news will appear in your news feed.

13.01.2022 This is what bees act like when they have established a nest inside a house. Notice that they are coming and going. They are foraging for food and returning with it to feed the nest.

13.01.2022 REPORT ON YESTERDAYS BURULI PUBLIC MEETING i went down to Rye yesterday afternoon and joined approximately 300 other interested members of the public that attended the Buruli public meeting so that I could gather first hand information on what has been done and what is planned to be done. The meeting was very informative and there was unanimous support for doing something positive to help reduce the impact of Buruli on humans who live on or visit the Mornington Peninsula....Continue reading

12.01.2022 Keep your eyes open for European wasp nests, as they are very obvious now, with lots of worker wasp activity.

11.01.2022 ANNOUNCING A NEW YOUTH BEE CLUB IN THE DANDENONG RANGES To announce the imminent start up of a youth beekeeping club in the Dandenong Ranges, there is a showing of a movie about bee pollination at the Belgrave Cameo theatre on August 29 at 6:30pm. Great news - there are 35 FREE childrens tickets, one each with every adult ticket purchased. ... Further information about the new club will be available at the showing. So if your children are interested starting up beekeeping as a hobby, wait no longer, get your tickets today. I will be attending the session. https://tickets.demand.film/event/8229?ref=bvaDrmgw

11.01.2022 BAITING FOR EUROPEAN WASP QUEENS It is still time to bait for European wasp queens. A few weeks ago I put out some traps in Sherbrooke and yesterday I went around and checked them. I had trapped 9 queens, which would have created up to 90,000 worker wasps by late autumn. Prevention like this is a great way to reduce down the wasps numbers that will arrive in summer once the queen is laying at maximum capacity.

11.01.2022 WASPS IN YOUR WALL When European wasps get into the walls of your house, the start chewing out the plaster and use this to make their nest.This results in the w...all becoming soft to the touch. If you see European wasps coming and going from your walls, do not hesitate to get them killed, as shortly they could make a hole on the inside and come into your house. If you cannot kill them straight away, then cover the soft area with some heavy cardboard and masking tape, as this will hold them at bay for a week or two. If you treat them yourself, just be mindful that they pack a powerful sting, so protect yourself. Often the nest is above the entrance making it difficult to get pesticide onto them. This is where professional assistance is needed. If you need assistance, you can contact me on 0413057756 or via PM.

11.01.2022 Lately, I am getting a lot of call from homeowners panicking that the have "swarms" of bees hovering around their house. Firstly, a bee swarm is 25-30,000 bees, not 20-50. If a real swarm arrives, it will first fill your yard with flying insect and the noise that the make sounds like a jet engine. A few days before a swarm arrives, the bees that are flying about your house are scout bees. They are checking out your wall cavities to see if there is a suitable cavity and entra...Continue reading

11.01.2022 DISREGARD FOR HUMAN HEALTH - VICTORIAN PUBLIC HEALTH & WELLBEING REGULATIONS REVIEW My third concern is that a human impact study will not be undertaken before an enforceable health order is issued by the Chief Medical Officer on the advice of Government bureaucrats. I believe that a human impact study must be undertaken based on:... 1. the proposed pesticide to be used, 2. its application concentration, 3. its application frequency and 4. the method of its delivery. Pesticides impact on humans (and bees and other insects) to different degrees and people with compromised immune systems or respiratory issues can react severely to any use of some pesticides. Human health improvement is the overall goal of the Public Health and Wellbeing regulations, so any impact on this group of humans needs to be addressed before any pesticide program starts. There is a wide range of pesticides that are approved by the APVMA and some are more target specific than others and they range in toxicity to marine and animal live and humans. Some pesticides breakdown quickly under UV light (sunlight) but others have long term residual effect. Some insecticides like Fipronil have the potential to kill a wide range of insects for more than 10 years and it is used subterraneanly to kill termites. There is a range of pesticide application methods ranging from selective spot spraying through to widespread aerial spraying. Each application method has its pros and cons and these need to be evaluated prior to application. DHHS have already proven that they cannot be trusted to fully inform residents, nor take into account any adverse impact on human health, before they spray pesticides, even before they get the extended powers that are proposed under the new regulations. As evidence of this disregard to human impact, DHHS conducted a pre-emptive spraying program for mosquitos in March 2019 (without any public consultation and minimal awareness by affected residents) on public areas in Rye (French, Dawn and Goyarra Streets). Bifenthrin was used which kills a wide range of insects including native and honey bees and it can adversely impact on humans with compromised immune systems for extended periods. This is the third (of many) of my concerns. I will provide details on my other concerns later today. In the meantime, I encourage all people who share my concerns to send in a response to the review panel. If you do not, then they will assume that you all totally agree with the proposed changes. Submissions can be sent to [email protected] before 5pm September 30, 2019. Feel free to copy and paste each of my concerns into an email to the review panel. It will not hurt if they get the same concerns from multiple members of the public, in fact it will only add gravity to public concerns and your voice may well be the tipping point that delivers the required changes.

10.01.2022 VICTORIAN STATE GOVERNMENT WANTS THE POWER TO SPRAY PESTICIDES ANYWHERE ANYTIME WITHOUT COMMUNITY CONSULTATION The Victorian State Government are currently proposing to change the Public Health & Wellbeing Regulations replacing regulations that have worked effectively since 2009. Whilst some of the proposed changes make a lot of sense, there are two changes that need feedback from beekeepers and members of the general public.... Firstly, the regulations are being changed to force councils and home owners to employ pest controllers to spray pesticides (to kill mosquitos) at the request of the State Government. There will be no community consultation requirement and any homeowner that does not follow the State Government order will be fined up to $660. There is no prescription of the pesticides that will be used and it is highly likely that pesticides like Bifenthrin will be used. This will have devastating impact on honey bees and other pollinators. Secondly, the regulations now include rodents in the net and home owners can be forced by the State Government to employ a pest controller to lay out rodenticide baits to kill off rodents. Again fines of $660 apply if you fail to comply. There is no prescription of what rodenticides will be used nor any consideration of the possible by kill of dogs, cats and birds of prey. The most popular rodenticide (brodifacoum) used by pest controllers is extremely dangerous to dogs, cats and birds of prey if the consume dead or dying rodents. Comments and submissions need to be forwarded to the Department of Health and Human Services no later than 5pm on Monday September 30. The email address is lodge comment is [email protected]. The new regulations are available from https://engage.vic.gov.au/phwr-sunset-review It is my belief that the document has been written by those totally sympathetic to the pest control industry and it is a huge over reach that the Government can attempt to impose these regulations without the inclusion of community consultation provisions.

10.01.2022 BEES ON THE MOVE I was called out yesterday to collect a swarm that had landed on the rear of a car in the rooftop car park of the Fountain Gate shopping centre. I removed them all safely and they have been rehomed. I have video that I will add later.... Send me an SMS (ideally with a photo) on 0413057756 if you have bees that you want removed. You can try to call but if I do not answer, I am probably removing bees. I will get back to you. Even if we do talk, I will probably still want you to send me a photo anyway.

09.01.2022 THE LATEST IN RODENT TRAPS. Ticks the recycling box. Recycled beer cans, piece of scrap timer and an old fish tank. Now, what to do with the trapped rodents.

08.01.2022 FINAL COMMENTS - HEALTH REGULATIONS This is a final list of my concerns about the Victorian Public Health & Wellbeing Regulations Review. Please feel free to copy and paste any of these concerns and email them to [email protected]. The cut off for comments is 5pm today, even though the 60 day consultation period should conclude in mid October. If you miss the 5pm cut off, not to worry, please send a copy to your local State member and cc the phwa email. You can ...Continue reading

08.01.2022 WIDESPREAD PESTICIDE USE CONCERNS Many of you will by now have read some of my concerns about the proposed changes to the Victorian public health and wellbeing regulations. I posted up a full analysis and my concerns yesterday and I apologise that it was a long winded report, but it needed to be for completeness. I am now breaking this into a series of bite size pieces to make it easier for you to digest. My first concern is an environmental impact study will not be undertak...Continue reading

08.01.2022 The Q&A session is on tonight at 7:00pm.

06.01.2022 LATEST UPDATE FROM THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA NEWS The local newspaper are reporting that the Mornington Peninsula Shire will tonight vote to put the planned spraying of pesticides on hold, while they investigate the possible environmental impact of the pesticide (Bifenthrin) and alternative non-pesticide methods of controlling mosquito numbers. http://www.mpnews.com.au/2019//12/mossie-spraying-on-hold/... I have included a picture of me in the crowd. I was in the second front row. The only thing I regret was wearing my Bomber jacket and scarf. I think I put the mozz on the team, causing their thumping by the Bulldogs on Saturday night.

05.01.2022 KILLING BEES IN A WALL WITH PESTICIDES I regularly hear of people calling pest controllers to "remove" bees that have moved into their house walls. The pest controller will charge $200-400 and will spray or dust pesticide into the wall and the bees will die. Job done. Well.....the bees have gone, but will they come back? ...Continue reading

05.01.2022 VICTORIAN PUBLIC HEALTH & WELLBEING REGULATIONS REVIEW A few weeks ago I flagged that the Victorian State Government (Department of Health and Human Services) had released their Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations Sunset Review (regulatory impact statement) document on August 20, 2019 for community consultation. The consultation period closes at 5pm on September 30, 2019. New regulations commence December 14. I have now had time to read through the 240 page document an...Continue reading

04.01.2022 THIS SESSION IS ON TONIGHT Ticket sales finish at 6:30pm and I will send an email with details of the ZOOM meeting shortly after that. Tickets available here : https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/my-queen-has-gone-what-next

03.01.2022 Bees keeping cool in the hot summer A client called me just before Christmas and they had scout bees sniffing around their AC unit, so I suggested that they fill up the gaps in the wall so that they would not move in. Well the bees must have know that hot weather was on the way, so they worked hard to get into the wall through the holes in the AC unit cover. ... They are a problem as they are coming inside and the client cannot run the AC unit. I will remove them in the next few days.

03.01.2022 RESIDENTS ASKED TO PAY $1,000+ TOWARDS PUBLIC HEALTH My second concern with the new Public Health and Wellbeing regulations is a hip pocket one for all Victorian residents. This could lead to residents being forced to spend over $1,000pa on employing pest controllers to kill any disease vector that has been identified by DHHS. This type of disease control should be the responsibility of the State Government and there is clearly an agenda to cost shift the expenditure onto lo...cal residents. Points 1 and 2 (page 15) whilst appearing innocuous gives DHHS the power to declare any living creature a disease vector and as such, gives them to power to force the Victorian population to employ pest controllers to kill these creatures. There are no apparent exceptions to this rule. On page 30 of the document, DHHS give an example of the potential use of their new powers. This is the instance of a rodent infestation causing an increase in Leptospirosis in a particular community. DHHS will have the power to force all residents to employ a licenced pest controller to kill all of the rodents, at the cost to the resident of $100-$500. I believe that the DHHS cost estimate is massively understated. Firstly, I agree that a pest controller will charge anywhere from $100 to $500 for a SINGLE treatment, however to kill rodents and keep them under control, regular monthly baiting is required. So even at the low rate of $100 per month, this is $1,200pa. Remember that the resident MUST employ a professional pest controller and get certification that the baiting was done, otherwise they can face a $660 fine. As way of another example, the Fight Buruli pesticide spraying program that was proposed for the Mornington Peninsula starting this spring can be used as a guideline. DHHS required 8 pesticide treatments planned over 7 months (October to April) for 2 years. This would cost the homeowner far more than the $500 ceiling mentioned by DHHS. Most likely at a realistic rate of $150 per treatment, it will cost each resident at least $1,200 per annum for the control of mosquitoes. This is the second of my concerns. I will provide details on my other concerns over the next few days. I encourage all people who share my concerns to send in a response to the review panel. If you do not, then they will assume that you all totally agree with the proposed changes. Submissions can be sent to [email protected] before 5pm September 30, 2019. If you want to read about my other concerns, follow me on Barrythebeeman FB page.

03.01.2022 WASP TRASP You can buy this sort of wasp trap at your local hardware store and they are great to catch new queens at this time of year. Mix up approximately a 10% solution of sugar in boiling water. Two tablespoons to a cup of water works well. Dissolve the sugar and let it cool. ... Add a few drops of any old vinegar (to keep bees away) and add the liquid to the trap bottle. Put the bottle out and hang from na tree branch or something similar. Change the mix on a weekly basis. The queen wasps will enter the bottle in search of food and they cannot escape. The drown in the liquid.

03.01.2022 IF YOUR BACKYARD FRUIT & VEGIES ARE BEING POLLINATED, THANK THE BEES This article explains that full pollination requires multiple visits from bees and high bee populations. Whilst native bees do some pollination work, typically there are not enough of them to achieve a satisfactory outcome. All gardeners looking for high yields of fruit and vegetables from their backyard garden should thank their local beekeeper, as they (and their bees) will be providing them with a free p...ollination service. Each mature honey bee hive has around 20,000 foraging bees that can pollinate local crops. Honey bees can easily forage up to 3km from their hive, but shorter trips increase their pollination efficiency.

01.01.2022 BEES BUSY DOING FREE POLLINATION WORK

01.01.2022 SAVING BEES ON THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA There are plans afoot to do some spraying of insecticides starting in October 2019 and ongoing until April 2020. This is part of an experiment by the Victorian Department of Human & Health Services, supported by the Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Commonwealth Health Department. ... The experiment is to test the efficacy of blanket spraying or fogging of insecticides within test areas to kill mosquitos, which a thought to be a transmission vector to the skin eating Buruli bacteria. Whilst similar tests have been undertaken on the Bellarine Peninsula over the last few years (with questionable outcomes), it is now planned to trial on the Mornington Peninsula. The Council and DHHS are aware that blanket spraying or fogging of insecticides will kill bees and they have promised that they will: 1. allow residents to opt out of the program 2. not spray were bees exist To help the planning group to better understand where bees are located on the Mornington Peninsula and where bees are required by backyard gardeners for pollination purposes, I have created the following data collection forms that residents and beekeepers can fill in. All of the data will be kept confidential and as you can see, I am not asking for exact locations, as honey bees forage within a 3km radius of their hive, so we do not need exact location details. The first form is to be filled in by beekeepers on the Mornington Peninsula and this will allow me to create a hive density map by suburb. https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLSdajWbkDmd0ko2vLC/viewform The second form is for gardeners to fill in. As most gardeners know, bees are required to pollinate their fruit and vegetables, so hopefully the planners will avoid areas with high pollination requirements. https://docs.google.com//11uIP7iai8a4aWirCoKsbDOgoG0/edit Remember to follow this page as I will be publishing the results of the data collection on a regular basis. I will not be publishing any individual data, rather I will be using the consolidated data to draw maps of the existence of bees and the need for bees. Please share this post to all of your friends living on the Mornington Peninsula, so I can collect enough data to accurately reflect the bee requirements.

01.01.2022 THIS IS A WONDERFUL GUIDE TO THE TYPES OF POLLINATORS THAT ARE PRESENT IN THE WESTERNPORT AND PORT PHILLIP REGIONS. If the planned pesticide spraying program occurs in the Mornington Peninsula to reduce mosquito numbers, then all of these pollinators (and helpful predators) will be collateral damage. We must be thankful that the Mornington Shire Council has listened to community concerns about widespread use of pesticides and are now having a rethink on alternative ways to selectively reduce mosquito numbers.