Honey bees and beekeeping

Under the Livestock Act 2008 and Livestock Regulations 2009, you must register your beehives.

If you have native bees, you don't have to register but you are strongly encouraged.

How to register

To register your beehives, follow these steps:

Step 1. Fill in the beekeeper registration form.

Beekeeper registration form PDF (211.2 KB)
Beekeeper registration form DOCX (67.9 KB)

Step 2. Submit your form by:

• email to honeybee@nt.gov.au
• mail to Bee Biosecurity Officer PO Box 8760, Alice Springs NT 0871.

After you register

Once you are registered, you will be given an unique hive registration code (HRC).

You must display this code on all your hives for easy identification and tracking should a biosecurity event occur.

Your registration will also last 2 years before you must renew it. Make sure to keep your information up to date, including:

• movement of apiary sites
• your contact details
• change of hive ownership or numbers.

There are many pests and diseases that can harm your bees and the industry.

Some of these pests and diseases are notifiable in the NT. This means you must report them if you suspect or confirm their presence.

These pests and diseases include:

• Varroa mites (Varroa destructor or V. jacobsoni) 
• Small hive beetle (Aethina tumida)
• American foulbrood (Paenibacillus larvae)
• European foulbrood (Melissococcus plutonius)
• Braula fly (Braula caeca)
• Asian honey bee (Apis cerana)
• Tropilaelaps mite (Tropilaelaps clareae or T. mercedesae)
• Tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi).

To report them, call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881 or contact your local plant biosecurity officer.

You should also be familiar with other pests that are present in and out of Australia. For more information about all pests and diseases, go to the BeeAware website.

Prevention of new pests

To prevent new exotic pest occurrences, the National Bee Pest Surveillance Program monitors locations that are most likely to be entry points.

It involves a range of surveillance methods conducted at sea and air ports throughout Australia.

This program is co-ordinated by Plant Biosecurity and Plant Health Australia. For more information, go to the Plant Health Australia website.

Bee pests and disease can be spread through the movement of infected bees, products (including honey) and used equipment.

To prevent the spread to the NT, the importation of bees, apiary equipment and bee products is strictly controlled by Plant Biosecurity.

Under the Livestock Act 2008 and Livestock Regulations 2009, you cannot bring the following into the NT:

• beehives including used brood boxes, supers and nucleus hives
• unpasteurised honey.

For other allowable bees or bee-related products, you must get a health certificate by following these steps:

Step 1. Fill in the relevant health certificate form:

• bee products and equipment DOCX (53.9 KB)
• package bees DOCX (64.9 KB)
• queen bees and escorts. DOCX (53.9 KB).

Step 2. Get your form approved by the relevant biosecurity officer or inspector in other state.

Step 3. Seek approval from Plant Biosecurity by emailing your form to honeybee@nt.gov.au.

To protect your beehives from pests and diseases, you should:

• abide by the laws protecting the industry
• be familiar with what they look like, their symptoms and their impact
• use clean equipment and practice good hygiene
• use isolation techniques when introducing new bees
• inspect them regularly and report possible diseases immediately
• submit regular hive inspection reports
• take part in the annual Bee Pest Blitz program.

For more information, get the biosecurity manual for beekeepers on the BeeAware website. You can also find the honey bee biosecurity code of practice, and information on pollination of crops.

Annual Bee Pest Blitz program

The annual Bee Pest Blitz program:

• provides awareness of:
  • exotic and established bee pests
  • the importance of beehive inspections using nationally-agreed surveillance techniques
  • consistent record keeping and reporting of results
• aims to increase understanding of roles and responsibilities and the shared culture in biosecurity.

For more information, go to the Bee Pest Blitz website.

To learn more about pests and diseases, you can complete the following online training courses.

Occasionally, Plant Biosecurity also offers training and development opportunities to registered beekeepers. To receive this information, make sure your contact details are up to date.

Biosecurity for Beekeepers

The Biosecurity for Beekeepers course provides guidance on how to care for your bees in line with the code of practice.

It includes information on the main pest threats and shows you how to check your beehives for signs of pests and diseases.

This course is designed for people with a basic understanding of beekeeping practices, but is helpful to all beekeepers.

For more information and to register, go to the BeeAware website.

Varroa Mite Introduction to Management

The Varroa Mite Introduction to Management is a free online course that will help you with varroa surveillance.

For more information and to enrol, go to the Tocal College website.