Native bee keeping with Tim Heard

Tim Heard, author of The Australian Native Bee Book, will facilitate the popular native bee keeping course. The day will be 6 hours of engaging and interactive learning.

During the day, the topics of bee biology, importance of bees in natural systems and agriculture, rescuing bees threatened in the wild, and keeping stingless bee hives for pets, pollination and for the sought after sugarbag honey are covered. The day will alternate between slide shows and practical sessions.

Light refreshments and lunch will be served.

About the presenter

Dr Tim Heard is an entomologist, ex-CSIRO research scientist, and also a long term stingless bee keeper and promoter of native bees. Tim completed his university doctoral studies on using these bees for crop pollination. He has since published 60 research papers and popular articles on bees and pollination. He transferred his first hive from a cut down tree into a wooden box in 1985 and now manages hundreds of hives of three species around south east Queensland, obtained by rescuing threatened wild hives and dividing existing hives. He has developed new hive designs that allow for easy propagation and sustainable extraction of honey, without harming the colony. He has presented workshops and seminars for more than 20 years on bees and keeping stingless bees in particular.