It's early afternoon at the hive and it's 32.3°C. It's not raining at the moment.
(These are ideal conditions for laying, foraging, cleaning and defending)
• There are over 1600 species of native bees in Australia and most are solitary bees. There are only 10 species of social native bees which live in hives, make honey and are stingless. • In Australia, they are found mainly in warm areas in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
• Each hive has a queen, drones and thousands of sterile workers.
• In their natural environment, this species builds nests in tree cavities and hollow logs. In urban areas they have been found in old machinery, retaining walls, large pot plants and they seem particularly fond of water meter boxes.
• These bees will travel up to 500 meters but prefer to forage within about 100m of their hive. By contrast, honeybees will forage out to around 5km.
• Often caled 'Sugarbag' honey, Australian stingless bees only store about 1 kg of honey per year in their hives. In comparison, a hive of European honeybees can produce around 70 to 100 kg of honey.
• 'Sugarbag' honey has the consistency of maple syrup and has a distinctive bush taste - sweet and sour and tangy with a hint of citrus. The taste comes from plant resins which the bees use to build their hives and honey pots. It's pretty good on ice cream.
