Welcome to My World of Stingless Bees!
Hi and welcome to The Stingless Bee Lady website! I'm The Stingless Bee Lady and I have been enthralled by Australia's Native Stingless bees for the past 10 years. I've gotten so much enjoyment from native bees, as well as benefited from their amazing pollination skills. Now I want to give others the chance to have these amazing little insects in their gardens too!
~ Courtney Castles
Australian Native Bees
Did you know that Australia has almost 1700 species of native bees? And most of these DO NOT make honey!
Most of the bees in Australia are solitary bees and they are super pollinators! They can vary widely from only a few millimetres long, plain and all black to a huge (in the bee world) 3cm long and metallic green!
We have only 11 species of stingless bees, which live in large colonies and make honey.
Most of our solitary bees live in isolation and because of this, they only need small areas to nest so they create little burrows in the soil and in soft wood.
Solitary bees can sting, though they are very placid and hard to antagonise.
Native Bee Keeping
Australian Stingless bees on the other hand live in large colonies, with a hierarchy that includes a Queen. They make a very unique honey.
Setting up a Stingless Bee Hive in your garden will not only help your garden grow - you will be helping our Australian Native Bees to keep thriving. Native bee populations are dwindling due to the recent fires, years of drought and having to compete with the introduced honeybee species. The best thing you can do, to help native bees, is to plant bee loving, flowering plants.
Our Stingless Bee Hives And Accessories
Attracting Stingless Bees To Your Garden
Stingless bees vary greatly from European honey bees. They are very small, about 4mm long, and are all black.
Because they don't sting, they need other methods to protect themselves.
Stingless bees enclose their hives in a protective cocoon of propolis (bees wax and resin mixture), leaving only one entrance and exit. This entrance is always guarded by guard bees, who will attack anything that tries to enter the hive.
They are easy to keep in your garden and are fantastic if you have kids and pets because they don't sting. They are very interesting to watch and bring the added benefit of producing small amounts of gorgeous honey.
What Flowers For Stingless Bees?
A few proven bee loving plants are listed below.
Plants marked with an * flower in winter which is especially important to help our little friends, as there aren’t many flowers available during the colder months.
Grevilleas, Banksias*, Native Jasmine, Bottle Brush, Melastoma Affine*, Citrus Trees*, Radish, Blueberries, Apple Trees, Perennial Basil*, Thai Basil*, Lavender* and Perennial Nasturtium*
We sell a mixture of Bee Loving Flower Seeds - This is a great way to get your garden started with the blooms that bees love!
You can see it here - Bee Seed Mix