Ripley Valley Native Bee Hives in Ipswich, Queensland | Home & garden website

Ripley Valley Native Bee Hives

Locality: Ipswich, Queensland

Phone: +61 423 881 558

Address: Ripley Rd 4306 Ipswich, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.ripleyvalleynativebeehives.com.au

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25.01.2022 New workshop fitout is underway.. Outgrown the last workshop so fast.. New workshop has a planing station, jointing station, sanding station, finishing station, paint booth and a welding area..... Much more room than the 6m X 2.5m workshop Bee awesome have a great weekend

24.01.2022 Bit of an update on our aa eduction.. Forgot the 7 day update, but here we are day 14... Built all of the entry tunnel, and honey and pollen pots have now joined up with it..... Mass amount of pollen pots are being filled, and new pots are popping up daily..

23.01.2022 Probably one of our most popular hives And this is how we do it Our charred standard oath hives

23.01.2022 Another 10 of our basic budget hives ready to be packed down and shipped off..and a little Ripley valley pollinator hive. Demand is through the roof ATM And for $90 it's no wonder..35mm all round including roof and base, Ply brood excluder and a clear view panel... Glued screwed and sanded Bee awesome Only another 20 to go lol

21.01.2022 Mischief is afoot with one of our aa hives...boys I believe, content just hanging around for the minute

21.01.2022 Finished writing some more literature on the pros and cons splitting vs eduction with the ever so appreciated help of dr Tim Heard I've tried to remain completely unbiased in my research, even though for the time being we remain pro eduction here...that doesn't mean to say we don't trial different splitting techniques and products, of which we have had fantastic results this far, we are just ever aware that we need to focus on bee health and limit harm.. https://www.ripleyva...lleynativebeehives.com.au//native-bee- Bee awesome

18.01.2022 Working on some new wider roofs 12mm marine ply with bracing to fit standard 200mm wide oath hives All screwed and marine grade coatings... Lots of overhang so water doesn't run down hive sides It's a big step up from colorbond roofing which suits it's purpose but definately could be wider

18.01.2022 https://www.planetbee.org//the-sacred-bee-bees-in-ancient- Not native bee related, but my queen bee was reading this interesting article about ancient Egypt And how Egyptians attached great religious and spiritual significance to the honey bee..well worth the read

17.01.2022 Been a tad slack on the socials last couple weeks...it's been hectic here getting orders out for customers new , old and wholesale. But I did get a chance to plant in some new golden pendas today to help with foraging next year..along with a heap of plectrantus eckonii Such a beautiful tree is the golden pendas when in flower, and the bees absolutely adore the blooms... At the current rate of production we have almost caught up on our 10 day wait for boxes..absolutely unprecedented for us shipping out upwards of 40 boxes the past week. It's Ipswich show day for us tommorow, so a well deserved day off...we all know this won't happen for me lol but I'll try. Don't forget about no mow may..I'm trying my hardest not to mow my yard lol to help out the polinators..loads of weeds are flowering and I've noticed a few natives foraging around in them. Have a fantastic weekend super stars Bee awesome

17.01.2022 Finally finished the first standard oath hive concept.. Slim 50mm super, 35mm Cypress all round, weather seals routed external on each level, laser cut internal split plates routed and screwed, laser cut view panel that can be swapped with a ply honey divider once ready for honey collection. In-house made stainless clips to hold it all together... All coated in 3 coats of marine clear Beee awesome

16.01.2022 Our beautiful 40cm X 40cm floating canvas prints are in.. Sooo amazing..love them

15.01.2022 New vertical split austroplebia australis hive concept now complete ready for transfer 35mm Cypress all round, mesh brood basket and acrylic laser cut view panel, routed weather seals all round, so no pests or weather in any joints, and bees cant access the seals either.. All ready for the in trial phase... Beee awesome

15.01.2022 Australian Native Bee Books are now on Sale for $35! if Keen to get into stingless beekeeping this is the book for you. This book is the perfect place to get you started with all the info you need https://www.ripleyvalleynativebeehives.com.au//the-austral

15.01.2022 Happy father's Day to all the dad's out there, I know a few that woke up with new native bee hives Bee awesome

14.01.2022 Milled off some Cypress to have a play with today..new product line will be on its way soon

14.01.2022 Odd..not sure why anyone would ban stingless native bee hives in suburbia

13.01.2022 Tc are on the pollen today...nice warm weather last night it was 18 degrees by 10am...foragers are returning on mass with full pollen baskets

13.01.2022 Populated our vertical split aa hive on Friday last.. Awesome job over the weekend rebuilding the entry tunnel. It's a tiny tiny colony out of a well rotted log... About a tablespoon of brood at best, but you can see the queen busy on it and lots of new cells being made and provisioned Bee awesome

13.01.2022 48hrs into our aa eduction.. 1 full pollen pot Massed of pots built in the base.. Heaps of pots in the back wall being built... Entry tunnel is about 15mm long thus far.. Next update on day 7 Bee awesome

13.01.2022 Cracked open an old log..girls are souping into Thier new home beautifully.

12.01.2022 Hooked up this aa eduction this morning at 9am....already 2 honey pots developing..going gang busters

12.01.2022 What a very special day.. First two hives of austroplebia australis have been returned to the Ripley bushland for the start of our "bees in the bush" campaign..safe from timber cutters and developers..about 50 acres of bushland for them to do Thier thing and hopefully get colonies back where they belong.. I can't do this without my wonderful Ripley hosts..thank you so so much for getting onboard with my campaign... #nativebeerescue #ripleyvallynativebeehives #australianstinglessbees #wildbees #australianstinglessbees #oathhives #sugarbagbees #australia #ripley #savethebees #pollinatorgarden #gardeningaustralia #stinglessbees

10.01.2022 Almost 24hrs into our latest austroplebia australis aa eduction.. Pretty chuffed considering they are renowned for being soooo slow Stores pots, stores pots everywhere...this is why we wax and prep our hives all the time... Beeee awesome

10.01.2022 Now that's a sexy hive.. 35 mm Cypress 32mm lid and base Hinged lid with a routed 3mm acrylic view panel ... I'm only doing these in clear coat...too nice to stain or paint white

10.01.2022 Bait hives....do they work? I ran a trial over the past 2 months.. I had a log come in, needed splitting, so I did the usual..brood only in box Yada Yada..... What to do with the unbroken 700g mass of honey and pollen I had left. Well after vacuuming all the bees up, leaving none on or in the mass (it was left out for a few days to capture the stragglers) I placed the mass into a waxed oath hive, side entry with a knot that made a natural entry point.. I found some of the raw resin deposits in the sides of the log, we know this stuff is like catnip to bees lol Smeared on the inside of the entry hole, and on the outside.. Couple weeks in, no bees, just a ship ton of phorid flys...well this is going to end tragically, place in a trap...oh good all the flys are gone.. By the 3rd week, trap still inside it's not looking good, we have larvae hatching... Remove honey and pollen, remove larvae, dip mass of honey and pollen in melted filtered wax...that should seal it good.. Yup does the trick, pest seem to be gone now.. Fast forward 2 weeks ago..open the hive, oh..few bees in there, little bit of structure, things are looking up. 3 days ago....oh wow loads of structure, and more bees..ooh and is that a brood cell I see there... This afternoon... Full of bees, heaps of structure, and new brood going down...oh and even spotted our newly mated queen... And they did all this with no swarm, amazing lil creatures.. I'll do another trial and use this as my control.. But it's a great success, or is it just a fluke lol Beeee awesome

09.01.2022 Bees entering the new eduction daughter hive

09.01.2022 Nice close-up of the austroplebia australis drones waiting to mate my latest eduction princess.. Note the yellow/cream markings around the edge of the thorax. Males (drones) also have cream coloured legs Beautiful bees... Bee awesome

08.01.2022 Customer brought us a box he had made a couple weeks ago, needed some bees.. So we captured a takeover swarm a few days ago, then another swarm yesterday which was a mating swarm...spotted our new queen this morning... Great success ... Bee awesome

06.01.2022 Why common names are essential for bee conservation. I have just written a short article on the great value of having common names for bees. You can find it her...e: https://ecologyisnotadirtyword.com//why-common-names-are-/ I discuss scientific names and common names and talk about how these both contribute to bee conservation. We need more people talking about bees, and common names have a very important part to play in making scientific information more accessible to non-scientists. For the sake of bees, embrace common names! See more

06.01.2022 Had the pleasure of hooking up an eduction for a customer this morning nice and close, just around the corner.. This was done with our eduction kit hive, includes all the plumbing, a propolis coating inside and a handy dandy copy of our guide.. Mother hive was a very old (5-6yrs) Alan Waters tc hive..... Bursting with bees, never split or opened We removed the old entry wax verandah and off they went entering the hive.. Very important when doing an eduction, move your mother hive backwards not just place a new box infont of the mother hive...they find the entry much quicker Bee awesome Have a very safe and merry Christmas

06.01.2022 Our first aa eduction successfully unhooked yesterday.. Such a beautiful structure, sooo many stores Austraplebia australis are different in eduction, final step before unhooking is to brood lift a small amount from our large donor hive..instead of waiting for brood to be built... Bee awesome

06.01.2022 New workshops done for now.... Heaps more space Gotta knock up a story booth once fume extractor get here, and a new welding bench, but it's all ready to start knocking out hives again... All plumbed up with 4in extractor hoses and a 2hp Sherwood extractor..

06.01.2022 Few stills of the progress

05.01.2022 Wishing all of our customers and supporters a very merry safe Christmas.. we are now closed until 2nd January (except for a few folks picking up hives tommorow) It's time to take a bit of a break, and spend some time with my family.... Thank you all for your support over the past 12 months 2020 has been an amazing year for Ripley valley native bee hives..moving from our original 3m X 3m shed into the new shed, which we outgrew in a matter of months, now located in our huge workshop decked out with all the cool toys. Heaps of new hive designs hit the shelves this year, along with Cypress hives, it also saw the rollout of our laser cut plates (Thank you Ben Webb) 2020 also saw us jump head first into austroplebia australis bee propogation, new hive designs, and our first ever vertical split hive. There is a long term plan for these amazing little bees. But more about that later. We have shipped out just over 800 hives this last year. Both empty and populated. No easy task for such a small business, with a workforce of 1.5 lol (I must include my amazing lady , she comes with me all the time to do rescues and thoroughly enjoys being covered in bees..I think hocks are her favorites haha) Thank you so so much for your support 2021 is sure to be bigger and better, loads of new products coming early in the year, and you may even see our first prototype bee hotel aswell in 2021. To my amazing partner, thank you so so much for supporting me and helping me throughout the year Have a very safe and merry Christmas, and a happy new year. Bee awesome folks Bring on 2021

04.01.2022 Bee friendly pest spray.. Bee awesome

04.01.2022 New austroplebia australis brood artwork I got added tonight.. So bee E a utiful Love love love it Bee awesome

04.01.2022 New Cypress hives..still waiting on some custom made internal pieces.. 35mm Cypress all round.. Observation hive... Slim super Standard Oath.. All with recessed view panels

03.01.2022 Had a customer bring me a box he had made needing some bees in it, so we captured a swarm we had trying to takeover a hive 2 days ago.. Beautiful success, and even spotted the queen today...was lots of activity outside the hive yesterday so I suspect that's when she was mated on the wind..

03.01.2022 Planted out some new garden beds for the girls...our gardens are in full bloom..also some leptospermium (3 varieties) lots of basil and coriander we will let bolt Lots of Tucker for the ladies, and a couple more new gardens to come this week in "the bee yard"

02.01.2022 3mm laser cut Splitting plates have arrived for the new Cypress hives making for easy splitting and less spill..for those who do split hives Coupled with the 3mm laser cut view panels Also added a closed cell weather seal routed into the middle layer, so no more water inside even if it does run down the sides...working on getting it in black with a supplier no luck just yet.... Now to run off a batch of hives to get a stockpile and then they will be available to the public very soon

02.01.2022 Playing with the new toy...will bee cranking out hives now....no more risk sander aka tantrum throwing disk sander lol woohoo Bee awesome

01.01.2022 We transfered into our first vertical split austroplebia australis hive a few weeks back.. Coming along fantastic, even spotted our queen this morning on my daily hive check for the trial hives New brood being layed and it's ever growing... Brood was only about table spoon size at transfer Lots of stores coming along aswell Bee awesome

01.01.2022 Been crazy crazy here, and a beaut weekend away Been prototyping a new vertical split Cypress hive today..then I'll pop in a rescue to trial.. I've done mine slightly different to the norm..... Mine is 200 X 200 but the front and rear are one piece, and a weather seal strip routed into the seam so it's a perfect seal.. Top rim will also have the seal routed in so bees can't access it but will give a perfect seal for the 35mm solid Cypress roof (they love chewing rubber seals) And a routed in view panel for good measure