The Beekeepers Club Inc.

Newsletter Archive

Q4-2009 Newsletter (by John Kennedy)

PLASTIC HIVE BOXES, PROFESSIONAL BEEKING AND DPI RESPONSES

Three informative presentations highlighted the October meeting of the Club which drew a bumper attendance as our membership has increased to over 130 members.

Gippsland beekeeper Seamus Hasson (60 odd hives) related how he has developed his innovative Aussie Hives which are manufactured from food grade polymer to create a hive that he considers reduces hive disease, eliminates paint contamination, are water resistant, while retaining strength, are light weight and provide insulation.

Seamus manufactures them currently in only the ten frame size (which some hobbyists may consider a disadvantage) but he says the hive benefits from the insulation providing a better hive temperature, better brood development, reduced stress on the bees and increased honey production.

He also says he sees his own bees out at work earlier in the morning at lower temperatures!

Although they are expensive compared with timber – about $38 plus GST for a box frame plus complementary bases and covers are also available, Seamus detailed the manufacturing challenges and material choices he has investigated and especially the very high cost in having appropriate plastic injection moulds made.

Several Club members and other beekeepers both local and interstate are using the Aussie Hives so the proof will come from the results obtained.

Seamus has a website at www.aussiehive.com.au for anyone interested in more information or contact Seamus on 03 5664 8382.

Our next speaker was Elwyne Papworth the irrepressible VAA President and herself a member of a family with a significant generational commercial beekeeping heritage.

The Papworths run over 1000 hives from bases south of Echuca and at Hillston in western New South Wales.

Elwyne related how her family’s enterprise is strongly involved in numerous pollination projects from almonds to lucerne, orchard and horticultural crops and canola and others.

With the drought affecting traditional honey production Elwyne noted that her business now derives 85% of its income from pollination and the rest from honey production which is largely sold to Capilano.

She also raised her concern at the risks which crop spraying and the lack of investigation or consideration of beekeepers can provide, having lost 760 hives last season due to untimely crop spraying.

Elwyne indicated it was just a loss which they needed to a walk away from and that the pollination industry needs greater consideration by those who may impact upon it by their ill considered or untimely actions.
Elwyne also gave a detailed insight into the practicalities and returns from crop pollination, with current prices about $65 a hive for a 21 to 28 day stay on pollination duty.

She also emphasised the importance of young active hives and the need for regular re-queening.

Our final presenter was Daniel Martin the DPI’s relatively newly appointed Apiary Inspector based at Bendigo.

His presentation outlined the Department’s approach to varroa and biosecurity as well as beekeeper responsibilities to register their hives and understand the practicalities of American Foul Brood knowledge, management and reporting.

Daniel noted that Victoria has about 2,200 registered beekeepers with 2,000 having less than 60 hives, so there are effectively only about 200 commercial beekeepers.

In addition there could be three or four times the total number of unregistered or feral hives so his message was ‘Do the Right Thing’ and register as a beekeeper.

APIS CERANA RISK

A leading bee pathologist the CSIRO’s Dr Dennis Anderson has warned the Queensland Beekeepers Association at their annual conference that a new and deadlier form of varroa mite is primed to strike deep into the heart of Australia’s bee industry if conditions are right.

He said that a new form of varroa mite (varroa jacobsoni) that he discovered last year in European honey bee hives (Apis mellifera) in the highlands of Papua New Guinea have developed from a harmless form introduced to that country about 30 years ago on Asian honey bees (Apis cerana) which were imported from Java.

“The big question now for Australian quarantine authorities is can the new mite on European honey bees also live on Asian honey bees in PNG.

“At the moment this dangerous new mite is restricted to European honey bees in the PNG Highlands.

“If it can reproduce on Asian honey bees it won’t take long before it gets down here (north Queensland), with all the Asian honey bee incursions we have had over the past few years.”

The Asian bee is smaller than the European honey bee and tends to fly faster and more erratically.

Dr Anderson added that Australia sits “like a shag on a rock” so far free of varroa that has afflicted the European honey bees on every other continent.



SMALL HIVE BEETLE

A report in the Australian Financial Review (11/09) says that damage caused by the small hive beetle in Queensland is much greater than anticipated.

The Qld DPI is energising beekeepers after conducting its first survey results on the pest.

Fourteen hundred beekeepers responded to the survey to show according to Tim Mulherrin, the Qld Minister for Primary Industries, that damage from the small hive beetle is greater than originally thought.

The Ministers announcement says “Survey results show that beekeepers with one to five hives have lot 46 percent of their hives, those with six to 20 hives have lost 26 percent, those with 21-49 hives have lost 19 percent and those with 50 to 500 hives have lost 13 percent.

“The States largest beekeepers those with more than 500 hives reported collective losses of more than half a million dollars in 2008.”

The survey also showed that 3,000 hives were lost across the state at a cost of more than $400 a hive including clean-up, control and restoration.

Biosecurity Queensland is trialling a variety of commercially made traps as well as beekeepers on inventions to see which work best.

Of 11 different trap types placed in 55 hives some use vegetable oil, and others apple cider vinegar as an attractant.

The four best performing traps all used vegetable oil

Another research project co-funded by the RIRDC is looking at controlling beetles and their larvae with naturally occurring fungus.

Small hive beetles can travel up to 15 kms in a day but are more prevalent in warmer and more humid climates, but they have been reported as far south as the Qld-NSW border.


CHASING RAINBOWS

Over the last 50 years from his age of four when he was given his first bee swarm Tamworth based apiarist Tony Eden who trades as Australian Bush Honey has created a major enterprise which produces 80-110 tonnes of honey a season.

Tony says he has driven up to 11,000 kilometres to locate the right pollen and trees for his hives which prefer yellow box, white box, ironbark, coolabah and related varieties.

But he adds that nine years of drought have been tough on his business cutting production in half.

And with high fuel prices he says “it’s a risky business, it’s like chasing rainbows.”

He says pro-beekeepers are like mini-cattle stations trucking their bees over long distances.

Further he considers the set-up cost for a commercial beekeeping operation to require a $500,000 capital investment for what are currently very low returns.


FARMERS WATCH THOSE SPRAYS.

Well known beekeeper Gavin Jamieson heads the beekeeping section of the Victorian Farmers Federation and he has expressed concerns about chemical spray drift and its fatal effect on bee hives.

Gavin says that last summer one beekeeper engaged on crop pollination lost 760 out of 2,000 hives on a site due to chemical spraying.

Sometimes even losses have been caused by the hirer of the hives not understanding how far bees travel or how susceptible they are to chemicals.

With bees travelling up to 7 or 9 kms from their hives they can embrace an area up to 61,500 hectares of property and often many different owners.

There is a lack of public knowledge about the effects of chemical spraying on bees and lots of people simply don’t know how to interpret the labels of the chemical products that they are using Gavin says.

Prominent central Victorian beekeeper Bob McDonald has echoed similar views noting that there is often a problem near canola crops where bees are important for pollination and achievement of production levels.

He suggests greater contact between canola growers and beekeepers before the spring.

“Beekeepers are encouraged to put their contact details on their hives to make it easier for other farmers to contact them.

“Spray drift from insecticides is illegal and farmers must take into consideration the impact of inversion layers when applying chemicals” he noted.


CSU PATERSONS CURSE RESEARCH

Paterson’s Curse (also known as Salvation Jane or Riverina Bluebell) is usually a good producer for beekeepers, but is estimated to cost the wool and meat industries up to $125 million annually.

It was originally introduced during the 1880s from Europe as an ornamental plant but is drought tolerant, spreads rapidly after rain and overtakes crop and pastures from up to 30,000 seeds per square metre.

Charles Sturt University at Wagga led by Professor Leslie Weston is working on a project to identify the plant toxins which the Curse produces that inhibit the growth of other plants and lead to its dominance.

So far she has identified organic compounds found in relatives of the Patterson’s curse within the borage family, where some are potent inhibitors of particular soil microbes with their production stimulated by a range of stress factors.

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Q3-2009 Newsletter (by John Kennedy)

ROWSE IS INNOVATOR IN UK HONEY MARKET
While I was in the UK recently I took the opportunity to do some ‘honey market research’ especially in the aisles of the major Tesco and Waitrose supermarkets!

The first observation I can make is the retail dominance of the London based company Rowse Honey which seems to provide a very extensive choice of honey varieties, increasingly labelled as organic, as well as packaging innovations.

Rowse claims to have at least a third of the UK market and sources honey from all around the world which it packages and releases under its own brand name.

The company was founded from the beekeeping hobby activities of Tony Rowse in 1938 and from the 1960s onwards began importing honey from Australia, Mexico and many other places that it still does today.

The business since taken over by Wellness Foods an organic food group makes a significant contribution to industry support.

Quite recently Rowse announced a £100,000 grant to support the UK’s only Professor of Apiculture Professor Francis Ratnieks at the University of Surrey.

His research project is to investigate breeding strains of ‘hygienic bees’ who remove infected larvae so reducing the spread of disease within the hive.

One of the Rowse innovations is a dripless, squeezable pack containing about 385 grams of honey which I developed a fond affection for in squeezing the contents on to my morning slices of toast.

But honey doesn’t come cheaply in UK supermarkets.

The photo attached showing the honeys on display in a Tesco supermarket with the squeezable packs at £2.49.

At the time of my visit the exchange rate was roughly $A2 to the pound so the indicative cost in $A is almost $5 for the seemingly most commonly purchased honey pack size at the retail level.

Then again the Manuka honeys on offer are priced at a very significant premium which I calculate works out to well over $A25 a kilo.

The Rowse Honey website www.rowsehoney.co.uk contains a lot of interesting information about bees, beekeeping and honey and is worth a look.

Another UK one I found similarly interesting is www.littlecoveapiaries.com

A WORLD WIDE NETWORK OF BEEKEEPERS
Bee hives are kept in some remarkable places.

On top of the Paris Opera House, on the roof of the premium Fortnum & Mason Department Store in central London, while in New York bees have been listed since 1999 as one of 100 wild animals (also including vultures, iguanas, ferrets and whales), which it is illegal to keep within the City limits.

Notwithstanding this, in recent years a New York City Beekeepers Association has formed and is experiencing the growing popularity of beekeeping.

It is also working with Just Food a group focussed on hunger issues and the two groups recently held a Pollinator Week as well as making the case for legalised beekeeping in New York.

The ban against beekeeping is enforced by the City’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene but it acts against bee keepers only after a complaint is lodged.

About 50 complaints have been recorded so far this year but only four summonses have been issued suggesting that the tide may be turning to make hobby beekeeping legal within the City.

Most beekeepers keep their single hives on rooftops and prominent buildings and the active Association provides education and support.


SOUTH AUSSIES CHASE HONG KONG MARKET
Buzz Honey, the Adelaide Hills based group, is confident that it can grow its business by 30 percent over the next twelve months with Hong Kong the focus for its growth.

Buzz Honey has about 700 hives and produces about eight different honeys with the Riverland, the Limestone Coast and the Murray Mallee the regions where it sites its hives.

The producer already exports to Singapore and other Asian countries and has its honeys stocked in over 200 outlets locally.

Buzz recently shipped samples to high level supermarkets in Hong Kong with the support of a SA Government Export promotion.

Buzz Honey’s founders Jude and Tim Crowe say their target is to create interest in both Hong Kong and China for honeys with distinctive flavours.


DOES ANYONE REMEMBER FROST’S HONEY?
An article in a recent edition of the Weekly Times asked if anyone remembered Frost’s Honey a business which began about 1890 and continued at least until the 1950s in Wangaratta.
Said in its day to have been the largest apiary in Victoria its hallmark was an avenue of trees which when viewed from the air or aircraft, spelt out the business name.

Frost’s Honey was sold in 27kg tins and was transported all across Victoria in the heyday.

A descendant of the original family Bruce Frost is today a commercial beekeeper at Narooma on the NSW south coast.

But little else seems to have survived about the original business.


SYDNEY RESEARCH ON HONEY THERAPY
The University of Sydney’s School of Molecular & Microbial Sciences headed by Professor Dee Carter is assessing the curative powers of various types of honey, and is working towards a range of honey-based products which could replace antibiotic and antiseptic creams.

The work has apparently shown that Manuka honey from NZ or local ‘jelly bush honey’ has killed every bacteria or pathogen it has been tested on.

A compound known as methylglyoxal which while toxic itself combines in unknown ways with other unidentified compounds in the honey to cause ‘multi system failure’ in bacteria.

A paper on the research work is to be published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases shortly.


HIVE THEFT INCREASES IN THE U.K.
The theft of hives is a not uncommon experience event in Victoria but in the U.K hive theft has increased significantly recently. Aspersions have been cast upon other beekeepers as moving a hive is a specialist skill, considered beyond the skill of a common thief.

The British Beekeepers Association has expressed its alarm at the trend especially with the additional pressure that two wet summers in a row and varroa mite outbreaks have created.

Thefts of up to 100hives have been reported and Police being powerless to stop the practice have suggested it might be time to attached satellite tracking devices to the hives


AND THE U.K’S MOST EXPENSIVE HONEY
At the recent Chelsea Flower Show visitors were invited to try the most expensive honey produced in the U.K with an asking price of £5 a table spoon.

The Tregothnan Manuka infusion honey is produced from the flowers of Manuka (leptospermum) bushes grown on the Tregothnan estate in Cornwall which is on the most southerly point in the U.K.

It is also considered the first time that Manuka honey has been produced outside New Zealand.

The Tregothnan Estate has been held by one family since 1335 and is a historic garden filled with rare trees and plants.

Honey from the estate has long been prized for its heather flavours while it is also home to the U.K’s first tea plantation.


MORNINGTON’S BUSY BEES OFFERS UNIQUE PROJECT
At the July monthly meeting members of the Club were offered a very informative and entertaining account of the unique honey operation conducted by brothers Lindsay and Martyn Wilson on the Mornington Peninsula.

The brothers have a network of 54 hives spread around the Peninsula’s backyards from which they produce Busy Bee’s Honey which they sell at the weekly Mornington Market.

The proceeds after the packaging costs are devoted to the support of a range of charitable projects mainly in third world countries.

From a very modest beginning the project will have raised a net ‘profit’ of the order of $10,000 over the last twelve months which will be applied in support of a range of projects.

Members learned in an entertaining way how the Wilson brothers have created their own inexpensive honey ‘creamer’, as well as the trials and tribulations of establishing a network of hives in local backyards and a central processing site within Lindsay’s home garage.

Also on show was a rudimentary plywood Top Box Hive which is designed for countries like Ethiopia where they are traditionally hoisted up into trees to provide a home where the local bees can create their own hive.

Another Club member Jim Lecornu also related his experience in creating a simple hive for the native bees of East Timor.

The project aims to enable poor women in the community to create a small business enterprise which they can run and earn a small income from the sale of the honey produced.
Both projects are providing a simple inexpensive hive structure where the bees can create their own foundation which can be easily harvested.

Photo Caption
Lindsay Wilson with one of the rudimentary plywood Top Box Hives which are being built to enable third world business enterprises to be created by simply harvesting the production of the native bees.



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Q2-2009 Newsletter (by John Kennedy)

LOTS OF BEEHIVES
The world has a host of Beehive Hotels.

There's one in Rome, another in Saskatchewan Canada, one in the Maldives and at least a couple in rural NSW.

And most of us would know the local version the Beehive Hotel in Barkers Road Hawthorn.

But the original Beehive Hotel is in Grantham Lincolnshire in the UK where it has been in business on the same site since about 1550. It is so named because throughout its life it has had a live beehive which is situated just above the pub's advertising sign.

Although it is now apparently part of a much larger real ale pub chain the management goes to great lengths to ensure that the solitary hive which gives the pub its name is carefully looked after and is rightly the land mark and talking point for patrons that it should be!


THREE YEARS OF FALLING PRODUCTION
Australia's honey production has fallen by a third over the last three years due to a combination of factors but with the drought, bushfires in Victoria and elsewhere rating amongst the major impacts.

Another popularly advanced factor is the advancing age of a lot of established apiarists and their unwillingness to travel long distances to chase a flow especially when honey prices have been offering little or no return for the labour and capital invested.

While the hobby interest in beekeeping has never been higher and is reflected in the strong membership and guest attendances at the monthly meetings of The Beekeepers Club, there seems to be a steady decline in commercial apiary numbers.

No wonder that so much of our honey sighted in supermarkets and similar outlets is being sourced from China and other nations.


RIRDC REPORT ON INDUSTRY ECONOMICS
The Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation has been surveying the economics of Australian honeybee businesses for the past six years.

The latest 2008 Survey presents results from 135 beekeepers and presents estimates of production, socioeconomic and financial characteristics of the businesses for the 2006-7 financial year.

The report notes that the financial performance was substantially better for larger businesses operating more than 1000 hives, which achieved a rate of return of almost 5% indicating economies of scale.

According to the RIRDC's Dr. Peter O'Brien an estimated 28% of honeybee businesses provide pollination services, but this is expected to increase with 36% of beekeepers indicating they are expecting to commence or expand pollination services in future.

"Increasingly beekeepers are not just producers of honey, but providers of pollination services that help sustain agriculture and feed the nation" Dr. O'Brien is quoted but he noted that "despite improved performance, the industry is facing a number of challenges, including drought, pest and diseases, access to public land and meeting future pollination demand."


TASMANIAN HONEY SEASON OPENS POORLY
While Tasmania has only five commercial beekeepers it is noted for the production of the distinctive leatherwood honey.

However the industry accepts that weather conditions can influence production by up to 50% which becomes quite an important factor when the annual leatherwood harvest is put at around 1,000 tonnes.

Earlier this year Julian Wolfhagen, President of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association said the industry took a significant hit in January when the season was estimated to be about three weeks late with unseasonably cool weather affecting the clover, blackberry and leatherwood supply.

The loss in production as a result was expected to be about 300 tonnes of honey.


NEW ZEALAND CELEBRATES BEE WEEK
You've got to hand it to our friends across the ditch.

Each year, in 2009 during the first week of May, they have a Bee Week which is supported by the National Beekeepers Association of NZ, Horticulture New Zealand, Organics Aotearoa New Zealand and Plant & Food Research.

Each day of the week is a focus on different aspects of beekeeping.

This year there are presentations on the value of honey products, the value of pollination, bees and agrochemicals, research and development and biosecurity-especially the concerns around Varroa.

NZ Minister for Agriculture David Carter launched the week at a function on May 5.

Horticulture New Zealand has stressed that vigilance is essential if crop pollination is to continue, especially as Horticulture NZ CEO Peter Silcock has noted - bees are dying in many parts of the world.

"We can stop that happening here but we have to be smart, vigilant and we have to spend money on research" Silcock says.

He added "the value of pollination to NZ is beyond calculation; cautious estimates say that at least a third of the food we eat is a direct result of pollination."

"Then there are the multi-million dollars in export earnings derived from pollinated crops which puts jobs in our rural tons and money in the bank."

He noted that pollination is not easy work: a bee must visit a kiwifruit flower at least four times to ensure the fruit produced is of export quality size.

"Horticulture is the beekeeping industry's biggest client and without the bee, many of our growers would find it extremely difficult to continue to produce high quality products" Silcock says.

"Respect the bees' environment and they will get on and do the job we all need them to do" Silcock said.


Call for honeybee industry experts
RIRDC is calling for applications from interested people to apply for positions on the Honeybee Research and Development Advisory Committee.

The committee consists of people with a range of skills and experience in the research, production, processing and marketing sectors of industry together with a representative of the Corporation. The committee provides recommendations on the allocation of research and development contributions (comprising industry levies and Commonwealth matching) to the RIRDC Board.

For further information about these positions and how to apply, phone the Honeybee Program Coordinator on (02) 6271 4132.

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Q1-2009 Newsletter (by John Kennedy)

NZ HONEY INTO 430 UK STORES
You’ve got to admire our friends across the ditch. Not only is the world awash with Sauvignon Blanc but it might shortly be deluged with New Zealand Honey. Dissatisfied at taking low prices for their honey a group of Otago, South Island honey producers have got together to form a co-operative NZ Honey Co.
Previously up to 50% of their South Island honey, which is claimed to have record levels of anti-oxidants, has been exported in bulk for $3 or $4 a kg while the retailers were selling it for $30 a kg. It was often blended with honey produced elsewhere losing the attributes of purity, quality and taste along with its origin from New Zealand.
Considering that there is a $100 million market out there the NZers have branded their honey with anti-oxidant certification and have just obtained a supply agreement which will see the product in 430 of the stores of the UK’s largest health foods retailer Holland & Barrett. With other sales to Waitrose and Morrisons the honey will soon be available in about 1,000 stores in the U.K. This follows success in having the NZ honey stocked in 120 supermarkets in Hong Kong with a launch proposed shortly into top-end department stores in China.
Five years of research undertaken at the Waikato University where the antibiotic qualities of Manuka honey were discovered has found South Island honey to have exceptionally high levels of anti-oxidants. The NZ Honey Co believes it is creating an important ‘point of difference’ based on the product quality and health attributes as well as the NZ image and reputation.
NZ Trade & Enterprise the State export organisation has assisted in identifying the export opportunities with market research and other guidance. NZ Honey Company chairman and beekeeper Peter Ward said that the change to branded and certified honey marketing came out of necessity at a time when beekeepers were mostly relying on income earned by their wives or outside businesses just to remain viable. Improving the return to the producer was also seen as helping producers counter the threat to their livelihoods from the varroa mite.
 
HONEY PRICES ON THE RISE
In case you didn’t see it, an article in The Age Business section on 16 February pointed out that retail honey prices are expected to rise following the floods in Queensland, the drought in NSW and the bushfires in Victoria which have all contributed to falling production.
Quoting Capilano’s managing director Robert Masters the article noted that honey prices had increased 12 percent in the last week. This followed an 11.4% lift to prices of $3.02 a kg paid to beekeepers in the first half of the latest financial year. The higher prices had helped Capilano Honey, a public company whose shares are listed on the BSX (formerly Bendigo) Stock Exchange, to convert a previous $1.35 million half year trading loss into a $356,000 profit for the six months to the end of December. This was achieved on a rise of 26 percent in revenue for the six months to $39.1 million. Capilano noted that its North American honey export business is thriving and benefiting from the improved exchange rates. Capilano recently got its honey products into the leading supermarket chain in the US and it is also an established brand on the east coast of Canada. “In the USA people do look for Australian honey because they see it as something new, something clean” Masters is quoted as saying.
 
TASMANIA CROOK ALSO
According to Tassie Beekeepers Association President Julian Wolfhagen the island’s industry expects to see a 50% fall in production due to a late season which impacted on clover, black berry and leatherwood supply.
Traditionally hives are moved on to the coveted leatherwood areas pre Christmas but the late season has led to a forecast of 30,000 kg of pre-leatherwood honey losses even though the State’s production is put at 1,000 tonnes a year. Changing land use, poor seasons and returns are said to have driven a number of established beekeepers out of the industry over the past decade. While the boutique honeys from Tassie are in strong export and domestic market demand.
 
NATIONAL PRODUCTION DOWN BY OVER HALF
Commercial apiarist Ken Gell who chairs the Federal Council of the Australian Apiarists Association has commented that national honey production has fallen an indicated 60 to 70% in the 2007-8 period.
This is largely a result of the seasonal condition impacts and consequently there is a significant increase in imports from China and the other large volume, low cost producing nations which is evident on the retail shelves even if the actual origin may be carefully concealed by labelling. You know the phrase “made from Australian and imported ingredients” which now seems commonplace on almost everything.
 
FOOD SAFETY FOCUS IN NEW ZEALAND
A NZ apiarist Kevin Prout from Whangamata will appear in court on March 3 to face four charges of selling honey as food unfit for human consumption.
Tutu toxins were found in honeycomb from his Projen Apiary which caused 22 people to suffer convulsions and violent seizures after its consumption. The disease is potentially fatal. Tests by the NZ Food Safety Authority found the honeycomb contained high levels of the toxic substances tutin and its derivative hyenanchin. These are thought to come from bees feeding “on honeydew secreted from the rear end of tiny sap sucking vine hopper insects which feed on the NZ native tutu plant.” The affliction can be fatal and NZ beekeepers are supposed to prevent their bees from feeding on the toxic honeydew plants. Each of the four charges carries a $NZ3000 maximum penalty.
 
BUSHFIRE UPDATE
Notwithstanding the devastation and homes and lives lost at Kinglake from the February 7 Black Saturday bushfire our Club President Sue Zuber and her husband Erwin were successful in saving themselves, their house and presumably their hives in the disastrous fire. Some minor property damage was sustained but by relative loss and lives lost at Kinglake we are assured they are OK but temporarily restricted to home due to the road closures and travel restrictions until the fire damage is cleaned up.
Less fortunate was Club member John Kennedy who lost his hobby farm at Buxton including home, buildings, farm equipment, a dozen hives and a large collection of beekeeping equipment. And as he says “bloody near himself” as John was on site when the fire came, even with a fire pump, hoses and plenty of tank water but he was rescued by a neighbour as his property on the Maroondah Highway and buildings "exploded". Doubtless there are other bee, hive and significant vegetation losses which will impact on both the hobby and commercial beekeeping sectors into the future.