Bees in Melbourne & Victoria: Keeping, Natives and What to Plant

Which bees live here, whether you can keep them, and how the season works in your part of Australia.

Stingless bees: not here. Winters are too cold for Tetragonula colonies. Your native bee action is solitary species, which need no hive at all, just flowers and nesting habitat (see below).

The bees you will see in Melbourne

Tap any bee for identification details. Images are AI-generated illustrations.

Keeping bees here

Melbourne beekeeping is classic cool-temperate: a hard winter pause, an explosive spring buildup (manage swarming or it manages you), and a long summer flow. Stingless bees cannot survive Melbourne winters, so the native action is solitary bees: blue banded bees love a clay bank, and reed bees fill pruned canes. Register through BeeMAX (fees currently waived) and keep European wasp baits away from hives in late summer.

Registration: required in Victoria before your first honey bee hive. Details, costs and links on the state registration guide. Stingless bees never require registration.

Swarm season

September to November, often compressed into a frantic October. If a swarm lands in your garden, here is what to do.

The flying year

October to March is the season. Winter colonies cluster and eat stores; do not open the hive below 15 degrees, lift the back to judge weight instead.

Plant for your bees

Bees need flowers in every season, and your vegetable garden can supply most of them. Borage, lavender, rosemary, alyssum and sunflowers carry the gaps between crop flowering. The Melbourne & Victoria grow guide shows exactly what to plant this month, and the free app turns it into a plan.

Keep records the easy way. The Planting Season beekeeping app logs inspections, varroa washes and harvests per hive, with reminders tuned to Melbourne & Victoria. Free to start.

More bee regions

South East Queensland North Queensland Northern Rivers NSW Sydney & Coastal NSW Melbourne & Victoria Adelaide & SA Perth & WA Canberra & ACT Tasmania Darwin & Top End

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Images on this page are AI-generated illustrations.