Australian bees that don't sting

[kazschab]

Hi
I’m about to buy a bee hive, however I would like to know, does anyone know if the small Australian bees that don’t sting produce much honey?
Kind Regards
Karen

[chau06]

Stingless bees, do they make honey?

Of course sting-less bees can’t sting but they also don’t produce an excess of honey like the honey bees do. You would be lucky to get more than 500 grams in a season, a couple of tea cups full. Most of the native bees are smaller than a honey bee so might not be an interest grabber for the students. If the school decides on a couple of honey bee hives you should also have an Epi-Pen and a ‘bite Away’ in the first aid kit in case a student gets a bad reaction to a sting. Cheers

Apparently not very much.

[kazschab]

Hi Chau06
Thank you very much for responding to my question. it has been most helpful.
Cheers
Karen

[Geoff_S]

Can also confirm not much honey from Aussie native stingless bees. That’s why their honey sells for up to $200/kg. They are a great garden addition but honestly are not as much fun to watch as the European honey bees.

I have both and watching the euro’s zoom in/out with pollen bags etc is great. That said, the native hive can get by easily with no inspections and no need to split - they are non invasive.

Also one word of advice if you do buy a native hive, don’t try to buy a native bee box THEN buy native bees. It doesn’t work very well like that - buy the hive prepopulated, and not a recent split. Can recommend Sugarbag bees in Brisbane run by native bee researcher and author Tim Heard