Hive management

Keeping honey bees is regulated in South Australia under the:

• Livestock Act 1997
• Livestock Regulations 2013.

The industry follows the latest biosecurity advice, including important hive management practices.

Biosecurity requirements

There are 5 mandatory requirements in effect to increase hive productivity and control pests and diseases. Beekeepers need to abide by the following:

1. All beekeepers must record their biosecurity management practices specified in the Determination of information required and the manner and form of records to be made by beekeepers (PDF 285.2 KB)
   • See an example of biosecurity records (PDF 482.6 KB).
2. All bees must be kept in approved bee-proof hives, with honey bee access only permitted via specifically designed entrances. Swarm catch boxes must only contain foundation.
   • See the below branding specifications.
   • Read more about approval of hives for beekeeping (PDF 298.7 KB).
3. All beekeepers must provide water suitable to sustain bees at a distance of not more than 200m from any hive.
4. Beekeepers with 50 or more hives must complete a course in honey bee pest and disease management approved by the Chief Inspector of Stock (PDF 274.4 KB).
5. All beekeepers must understand the latest PIRSA information on notifiable conditions of bees (PDF 1.1 MB), as part of the annual registration process.

Beekeepers should also undertake an AFB honey test, prior to purchasing any hives or introducing swarms. This is essential for renewing beekeeper registrations with 20 or more hives.

Identification and branding

All hives must be branded with a 3-letter hive identification code, which is issued when you first register as a beekeeper.

The hive identification code needs to be:

• placed in the centre of an exposed vertical face of the hive. Where the hive has previously been marked with a code, any subsequent code must be marked on the same vertical face of the hive –
  • the first being placed in the top left-hand corner of that face
  • each subsequently allocated code being placed in the next corner proceeding clockwise
• either burned, stencilled, embossed, carved, or etched onto the face of the hive, or inscribed on a metal plate secured to the face of the hive
• clearly visible, with each character of the code at least 30 millimetres in height.

All swarm catch boxes, if not located at the apiarist's residence, must additionally be branded with the apiarist's name and telephone number.