This website has the latest buzz from beekeeping experts – Northern Star

THE celebrated Australian inventors behind the Flow Hive have launched an online education platform to save beekeepers endless hours of trawling through forums and videos.

Flow Hive has invested nearly $500,000 and two years creating the online portal to help educate novice backyard beekeepers and encourage conservation.

The portal features contributions from leading academics, researchers, educators, scientists, and authors.

Some of the experts who have contributed to TheBeekeeper.org website are: Professor Dave Goulson, a Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, who specialises in bumblebee ecology and conservation; Doug Purdie, co-founder of The Urban Beehive, an initiative that maintains more than 80 beehives on city rooftops, balconies, backyards and in community gardens around Sydney; and James Dorey, a photographer who is currently completing his PhD at Flinders University in Adelaide, looking at the evolution, taxonomy and ecology of Australian and Fijian native bees.

Flow Hive's co-inventor, Cedar Anderson, said while his journey started as an apiarist and quickly turned to the problem-solving task of creating the Flow Hive, bee knowledge had increasingly become a bigger a part of his life.

"The bee knowledge started from keeping hives as kid, but I learnt more as I started a commercial apiary," he said.

Flow Hive continues to take the world by storm.

"I've learnt so much from so many beekeepers from around the world, and talked to so many beekeepers, and to new beekeepers, researching things to answer their questions.

"We have this new product TheBeekeeper.org and we are learning very in-depth information that is fascinating.

"It (beekeeing) is a never-ending learning journey and that's the wonderful thing because it never gets boring."

There isn't a lot of information out there for beginners wanting to access accurate and high quality information when starting out, Mr Anderson said.

"But any beekeeper, regardless of experience, has a responsibility to be acutely aware of the myriad of pests and diseases that the commercial industry is working to protect the industry from," he said.

"It's often said that if you ask two beekeepers one question, you'll get three different answers.

"Beekeeping practices vary greatly in every region, which is why it's so important that beginners have access to expert beekeeping support so they can maintain healthy bees and develop into knowledgeable beekeepers."

Half of the profits made via the online education platform will support habitat regeneration and advocacy for the protection of pollinators.

Flow Hive continues to take the world by storm.

One of the first projects to be funded will see the natural habitats of the green carpenter bee replaced.

These creatures were once prolific from northern NSW down to Kangaroo Island.

Now, the bees are only found in scattered areas after years of land clearing and bushfires destroyed many bee nests.

Flow Hive has also released another new product which is the Flow Hive 2, with seven frames in a western cedar wood.

"It's very popular in North America and Australia," he said.

"That's their favourite wood type for beehives over there and it has been a popular request for some time."

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This website has the latest buzz from beekeeping experts - Northern Star