See's Australian Bees & Honey in Morpeth, New South Wales | Farm

See's Australian Bees & Honey

Locality: Morpeth, New South Wales

Phone: +61 409 893 116

Address: 60 Hinton Road 2321 Morpeth, NSW, Australia

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25.01.2022 When selling our honey, customers often inquire about how many types of birds we have on our farm paddocks. In numbers more then they see anywhere else. I explain I believe its because we don't spray pesticides on our farms. We certainly don't need too. These birds eat lots of any pests, grubs and worms that lives in the Lucerne, pastures and soil. Healty soil grows good plants, which in turns makes great nectars for our bees. All of this goes hand in hand with good farmin...g practices we do. These Magpies are so used to us they come right up to me and sing for extra food from me. My customer's love seeing wild free birds being so quite and nice. See more

24.01.2022 Had a OOPS, moment today in the honey frames removals. The double honey supers were jam packed, totally filled out with capped honey. I removed the full top honey super, then went to remove the second- in, frame in the lower honey super, and as Murphy's Law works when you are in a hurry to get a job done, I applied pressure to lift the frame only to find it had no nails in each end, nor had it been glued. This led to the top bar coming off. Oops. So I steadily removed the ...wall frame, then all the others, leaving it to last to carefully remove by pushing on its bottom bar, then lifted by the sidebars. I took it back to the work room and with care and a hammer placed the top bar back on and nailed it well, then extracted it along with all the other frames. I think I can put this down to a certain little 4year old boy whom loves to assembled frames with his nana. My little beekeeper!! I hadn't even noticed the missing nails when I wired and waxed it, or dropped in the hive. The photo does show clearly how well the wax cells are built out along the top of that frame. The bees are doing so well, and the honey flow is on here. Spring is coming early. See more

22.01.2022 One very hot day for me removing honey supers from hives and bringing it back for extraction. I did really feel the heat, or maybe it was because I knew I had to work so fast, before the forecasted storm/ rainy change arrived. Then the rainy change came through full force. It was so nice to see real heavy rain falling down over our farm. The paddocks will respond extremely well now.... It's so different from the same time last year, when we were in droughts and fires. Let's hope this season stays good, the plants are responding to it, the bees are finding plenty of nectars as the flowers blossom, my White Clover paddock is flowering again, and our Lucerne is coming into flower too. Bees are breeding up nicely, and have had to add more boxes to main hives in our Apiary. Jim has been very busy building heavy metal stands to get new hives up off the ground. They still need to be move, but we will get to that later. Honey has been extracted, and bottled. Boxes of sticky honey frames returned to their hives this afternoon, for the bees to feed on. Wax is being processed, as I sit here and post this . It's been a very busy week for Jim and I. Hoping for a fine weekend coming up. May see some of you then. See more

22.01.2022 OUR BEES ARE BREEDING UP REALLY FAST. CONSIDERING WHAT LAST YEARS DROUGHT, LACK OF RAIN, LOTS OF SMOKE AND EXTREME HEATWAVES, PLUS FIRES WERE LIKE. HOPE WE NEVER SEE THAT AGAIN. OUR BEES HAVE CAME THROUGH THOSE CONDITIONS, ADAPTED TO IT AND THRIVED. OUR BEES ARE HARDY LITTLE CREATURES. WELL AT LEAST THIS SEASON IS STARTING OUT BETTER FOR OUR BEES, AND PLANTS.... THE ENVIRONMENT HAS BEEN IMPACTED BY SO MUCH OVER TIME, HAVING BEES IS A GREAT WAY TO HELP WITH POLLINATION OF OR GARDENS, PLANTS AND TREES. PEOPLE NEED BEES MORE THAN MOST PEOPLE REALISE. PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE. See more

21.01.2022 Do you know the difference between good dry honey frames ready to extract OR wet sealed frames that should NOT be extracted for honey? We try to produce the very best top quality honey and at the moment this week, we have none available. We do try to produce fresh honey, straight from our hives constantly. It's not because our bees are not producing, in fact they are doing a great job. It has to do with the weather, being stormy, rain, with the temperatures going up and dow...n and humidity changing constantly. The bees bring in nectars and need to fan dry it. No we don't have fans in hives..... Those lovely little bees have to flap their very tiny small wings all day and night each day to air dry their nectars to be able to keep it. If however the foraging bees bring nectars in faster than the hive bees can store and dry it they sometimes very lightly place a wax capping over it, this is called wet capping, until such times as the weather warms up and the air drys it more, only then do they open each cell and work to dry it out than recap it with a thicker denser clean white wax covering, to be what we know as honey, when we extract it. If these Wet sealed frames where to be taken before they are fully dryed or ripened, the moisture content would be too high and this would cause fermentation to happen. This is why some shop bought honey is heat treated to (cook) out the moisture so it may not go off. We prefer to wait, and have pure naturally dryed honey made by the bees. You can see the difference between the honey frames in the photos, along with description. We only extract completely dryed fully sealed frames, they are the photos with thick white wax cappings. Just like natural farming there is a time, to do certain things and a time not too. So because we work with nature of these bees, we find ourselves too having to wait, and nature will reward us with beautiful sweet honey from the bees, when conditions are right. We examine each frame, to make sure of it condition and how the wax is, and if ever in doubt we leave it where it is, until its perfect. Please look through our photos, and each description, to see the difference. See more

20.01.2022 Bees are out in force everywhere today. They are collecting pollens, to store so to be able to make bee bread, a product that is a combination of mixed pollens and nectars mixed into a firm dough and placed in cells in and around the brood nest, close and handy to access for hatching baby brood. It's also a great sign that the Queen has started to increase the number of new brood for the up coming season. You can see those beautiful little bees on that yellow flower, have th...eir bags on their legs packed with golden pollens. The other great thing about this is the bees are pollinating our plums, peaches , apricots fruit trees. Sometimes its just nice to take a relaxing walk around and take some photos to share. Nature at it's best. Love bees. See more

20.01.2022 This video shows how one of our new young Queen moves around the comb laying into all those empty worker cell. You will notice how some of the workers lick the Queen to be able to taste the pheromones, which is a combination of up to 50 scent mixes that each individual Queen can have that make up their own trademark pheromone scent so her hive bees know they belong togeather. Or if a different Queen was to enter the hive she would be killed instantly because her phenomenon sc...ent is of a different mix. As the Queen walks over the wax of the frames she also passes her pheromones onto the wax. The stronger her pheromones are the less likely the hive will want to swarm, unless hive is congested by the large number of bees in very restricted space within the hive. Age does lessen the pheromones as she gets older, and this can lead to supersedure cell in the hive, but no swarming of hive bees, and the death of the old Queen by the bees after the replacement has hatched, and takes over as the new Queen. New Queens often look smaller and shorter, compared to an older well laying Queen who would be long and easier to see. The new Queen will change shape as soon as she starts laying. When a older Queen is about to swarm, she slims down,slows to ceasing egg production because the hive bees chase her around, so she looses enough weight to be able to fly out with the swarm of bees from her hive, to go look for a new hive site. Queens dictates the temperament of the hive of bees she rules over, also how hygienic the brood and hive will be, or if pests are allowed to stay or live within her hive. How well mated the Queen is shows over the long term in how many eggs she lays and for how many years, she rules over her progeny and all hive bees. See more

18.01.2022 Well we are now in July 2020, and our bees are still producing lots of beautiful sweet honey, here is a video of what hives are like today. It was so warm today, perfect for taking off more honey and doing hive checks, while I had some of the honey boxes off. The Queen's have layed up all of their fd brood boxes, even watched baby bees hatching out. I'm really impressed with how well they are doing, and they are so nice and calm.

17.01.2022 7.8.20, Cold and wet weather again today. Last year around the same time we had 3 days of weather just like this. Bees stay hived up, eating honey and generating warmth with their bodies, heating hive to keep larvae and brood alive by covering them with their bodies in a mass covering. So with westerly wind last week, there was no way to remove any honey frames. So No honey at this time, maybe a few weeks more.... I have removed old waxing from frames and melted it down, into blocks, for making into foundation sheets. Frames cleaned and new foundation fitted. Trying to be ready, for as soon as it warms up. I have noticed the peach trees are flowering today, this is a full month earlier than last year. Maybe Spring is going to be early this year.

14.01.2022 Finally the weather is good, so it's Go TIME again. Luckly because most of the double honey supers where totally full, and if I didn't remove some this could have caused early swarming. Our beautiful sweet fresh honey looks and tastes fantastic. I have let the honey stand in filler buckets for a day so wax can come to the top of the buckets as shown in photo.... Then containers are filled from a lower tap, so very little wax makes it's way in to containers or jars, only fresh clean (not heat treated) fresh honey. Please remember, being a natural raw product it is best stored somewhere warm. Not in the fridge at this time of year. Our beautiful little bees, are doing so well, and there are plenty of flowering plants on our farm for them to gather nectars from close to their hives. They are doing great. See more

11.01.2022 THE AIR IS FILLED WITH BEES . It finally warmed up this afternoon to about 20 C for a short while. So the bees are making the best of it to get out of their hives to do orientation and cleansing flights after this weeks cold wet change we have had here. Hopefully we should have a few nice warm days, before the forecasted rain arrives again for the coming weekend. After that hopefully it should warm back up.... Winter is here, but it won't be long before the apiary, will be humming, as Spring is just around the corner. There are plenty of drones about, within hives. I have even heard of swarming happening. So first chance you get, you need to have a good look at how your hives are doing. Plenty of flowering plants about, just need drier weather for bees to be able to bring in nectars. A quick walk around all my hives, shows just how excellent the numbers of bees are, in each hive. Think they will be booming by Spring! See more

10.01.2022 HONEY FLOW ON HERE. JUST IN TIME FOR FATHER'S DAY ORDERS. It has really warmed up and bees are bringing in that beautiful Amber sweet nectar. As you can see the honey super frames are completely full again and frames are capped. Our fruit trees are also flowering, and look so pretty. Bees do love their light nectars.... Our hives are extremely full of bees, and the Queen's are well into laying and bringing in the next generation of young bees. Spring! Starting boxes of NUC HIVES look great for those wanting bees to start their own sustainable honey source, or just start a great hobby in beekeeping, something that helps out our environment, and vegetable and flower gardens. See more

09.01.2022 Springtime increase in bees means a busy time for us. We have been making more new bee boxes, hundreds of new frames, wired and waxed. New nuc boxes ready for spring bees, and bee sales to clients. We are hoping for a great season. There is always something to do in beekeeping and its never the same each day.... Beekeeping is a really great hobby. Our bees are increasing in numbers very fast. Weather will warm up in coming weeks, and regular hive checks are needed to prevent swarms, especially in strong hives. Trying to keep ahead of the game. Love our bees. Doing good for nature. See more

08.01.2022 Getting Hot, yes it's getting quite warm when you see all these new young bees hanging outside their nuc boxes. Newly bred mated laying Queens have been busy laying up these boxes. Now these bees are hatching out fast and these nucs are filling with new young bees, to the point of over flowing. Add today's heat, and the bees do not have to work to heat the brood, so excess bees hang out on the front in the shade, cooling off. This is called bearding, when they use their wing...s and movement to direct air flow into hive. They are ready for a bigger hive box soon. We have more nucs available in coming weeks, for those looking for bees.

05.01.2022 Hi everyone, I've been meeting a lot of new beekeepers, or one's who want to get into beekeeping , and whom have been asking "What does this look like" or "How do bees look when in a hive.? " "How many bees fit and live in a hive?" "What does a Queen or Queen cell look like?" ... "How do you know what the bees are working on, out on the farm?" And it's occurred to me that they have not yet viewed any of the photos that I've taken over the years, that are on SEE'S AUSTRALIAN BEES AND HONEY, site, in our photo section. We invite you all to look through these photos, of our bees and hives and see how are bees are doing. Please click on "photo" that's on the site bar. See more

04.01.2022 JULY 2020, WINTER BROOD, OLD BROOD BOX NEEDED CHANGING FOR A NEW ONE. I don't usually do a full check of brood frames in the middle of winter. What I do is check the middle frame to make sure the eggs and brood is healthy and not diseased. To have eggs and larvae in worker cells means the Queen is doing her job even if I don't see her. The box these bees lived in was really old and should have been replaced last summer, as it had wood rot and holes, but with the heatwave a...nd Bush fires, no boxes got upgraded. But with cold winter temperatures, and rain forecasted, and a 19 degree day last week, I decided to swap the box out, for a new one. The hive had all frames like these, most cells where occupied by brood sealed up, on other side of frame I watched baby bees hatching out of their cells, nice and healthy. Across a few frames and larvae covered thickly with nurse bees, to keep them snug and warm. All 8 frames totally filled and looking great. Both honey supers above where full of capped honey and bees. I transfered the brood frames to a nice warmer box and placed it where original hive sat, and replaced one full honey super and extracted the other, then returned it and the sticky frames for bees to clean up. I am so pleased how our bees are going, at this time of year and they are still bringing in pollen and lots of honey. Bee numbers are growing. If we get a little rain now, things are will be fantastic in spring for our bees. See more

01.01.2022 Taking out full honey frames, from double honey supers. You can see how quite these lovely little girls are, not bothered about me at all. They just want more empty frames as they need more room. If they run out of storage room they could decide to split and some move out. I've just got to these in time! If you look down between this frame and the ones below them they have even filled that space too. But they will move that loose honey up and use it to wax work all the new fo...undation sheets in the new frames I'm placing in this box. They will have all the waxing done in 24 hours. Then they will begin the process of filling them again. Our very busy little bees. Producing beautiful honey. SEE'S AUSTRALIAN BEES AND HONEY. See more

01.01.2022 This is how we keep a sustainable apiary. We grow bee food especially for our bees. White clovers for winter/spring food and white wax production on new frames. Our farms again in spring have flowering Lucerne which our bees make into beautiful sweet amber honey people love so much.