Honey bees and beekeeping

Under the Livestock Act 2008 and Livestock Regulations 2009, you must register yourself, your apiary manager if applicable, your beehive numbers and all locations.

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 PDF (711.7 KB).

Step 2. Submit your form by:

• emailing honeybee@nt.gov.au, or
• mailing it to Bee Biosecurity Officer, PO Box 8760, Alice Springs NT 0871.

After you register

Once 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.

This marking must be:

• clear and legible
• at least 20mm in height
• placed on the beehive where it is easily visible.

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

• locations and any movements of apiary sites
• contact details of the hive owner and hive manager
• change of hive ownership or numbers.

You are required to undertake biosecurity and disease management training within 6 months of your initial registration. You are encouraged to renew it alongside your registration.

Find out more about this biosecurity training in the 'Get training' section below.

Send your completion certificate to honeybee@nt.gov.au.

Under the Act and regulations, you must notify the department when you:

• move your own beehives to another property
• transfer ownership of your beehives to another person.

Follow these steps.

Step 1. Fill in the relevant form:

Beehive movement notification form PDF (690.4 KB)

Transfer ownership form PDF (695.1 KB)

Step 2. Email the form to honeybee@nt.gov.au.

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

The NT is a declared protected area for honey bees. To prevent the spread of bee pests and diseases to the NT, importing bees, apiary equipment and bee products is strictly controlled.

Under the Act and regulations, you cannot bring beehives including used brood boxes, supers and nucleus hives into the NT.

For other allowable bees or bee-related products, you must apply for a Declared Area Movement permit and get a government-endorsed health certificate.

The permit and health certificate must:

• be approved prior to any movements
• travel with the items
• be kept for a minimum of 12 months.

Apply for permit and certificate

To apply:

Step 1. Fill in the declared area movement permit application to import bees, bee products and used equipment DOCX (69.9 KB).

Step 2: Have your supplier fill in the relevant health certificate:

• health certificate for queen bees and escorts DOCX (68.1 KB)
• health certificate for package bees (WA only) DOCX (68.7 KB).

Step 3: Email the completed forms to honeybee@nt.gov.au.

Allow 5 working days for processing.

Protecting your beehive

Biosecurity is a shared responsibility between all beekeepers, who must take steps to minimise the risk of pest and disease spread both within their own apiaries and to others.

Every beekeeper must be familiar with bee pests and diseases; how to accurately monitor, minimise and manage them whether they are notifiable or not.

Early detection allows timely management responses and more successful outcomes.

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

• abide by the laws protecting the industry
• be familiar with pests and diseases
  • what they look like
  • their symptoms
  • their impact
• use clean equipment and practice good hygiene
• use isolation/barrier techniques when introducing new bees or hives
• inspect hives regularly (at least 4 times per year) and report notifiable pests and diseases immediately
• submit regular hive inspection reports (see below)
• take part in the annual Bee Pest Blitz program.

For more information, go to the BeeAware website to get the:

• biosecurity manual for beekeepers (opens in a new tab)
• honey bee biosecurity code of practice (opens in a new tab) and information on pollination of crops.

Surveillance and reporting

As an NT beekeeper, you are encouraged to voluntarily submit honey bee pest and disease surveillance reports.

Absence reports assist in maintaining NT pest and disease freedoms while ensuring any positive detections are identified as early as possible.

You can submit a voluntary beehive inspection report at any time online through Territory Services.

Go to Territory Services

Record keeping

Record keeping is a crucial part of beekeeping and effective biosecurity management for both recreational and commercial beekeepers.

Accurate records are essential for tracing the source of disease and should be kept for all hive management actions and observations. They are also a requirement of the Biosecurity Code of Practice (opens in a new tab).

Records may be requested by an inspector at any time.

NT Beekeepers are required to keep records of:

• dates of hive inspections and any observations, such as presence or absence of any pests or diseases
• all actions taken to manage any pests or diseases, including:
  • chemical treatments
  • mechanical methods
• any tests for the presence of American foulbrood
• dates and details of movements of hives
• introductions of any bees, used hives or hive parts, including dates and supplier
• any biosecurity-related training.

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:

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 (opens in a new tab).

Varroa mite resources

Read the following resources to learn more about the varroa mite and its impact.

National Varroa Mite Management Program

Varroa mites are now in Australia, and they’ll change how European honey bees are managed.

The T2M plan will help Australian beekeepers, pollination-dependent industries and the community learn the best ways to reduce the impact.

Read more on the Varroa website (opens in a new tab)

Interstate varroa mite heat mapping

Use the following heat maps to see where the mite has been detected across different states.

These maps can help beekeepers, biosecurity teams and agricultural departments monitor the spread.

• QLD go to the Business Queensland website (opens in new tab)
• VIC go to the VIC government BeeMAX website (opens in new tab)
• SA go to the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA website (opens in new tab).

The NSW Varroa mite heat map has been discontinued as of Tuesday 23rd September 2025. The map was no longer considered representative of the extent of Varroa across NSW.

Swarms

NT beekeepers should take reasonable measures to reduce swarming within managed hives. Wild honeybee colonies cannot be easily monitored for pests and diseases.

Beekeepers who collect wild swarms should submit a sample (minimum 50 adult bees) to NT Entomology to confirm the species, check for mites and record details of the location of the swarm.

Barrier methods should be used for captured swarms to ensure the colony is pest and disease free. Remember to update your registration when your hive numbers increase or decrease.

Report a swarm

You can report a swarm or wild bee nest online via Territory Services.

Go to Territory Services

Swarm capture services

For swarm capture in the Darwin region, go to the Darwin Bee Removal, Swarm Catcher & Apiarist website (opens in a new tab).

For all other areas, contact the Bee Biosecurity Officer:

• email honeybee@nt.gov.au
• phone 0429 932 413.

Sample collection and identification services

Free identification and advice services are available to the general public.

If you find or suspect a pest or disease in a beehive, organise submitting a sample and/or photographs for identification and further investigation by contacting your local plant biosecurity office.

Annual Bee Pest Blitz program

The annual Bee Pest Blitz program encourages beekeepers to inspect their hives for pests and diseases and provide reports.

The 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

It also aims to increase understanding of roles and responsibilities and the shared culture in biosecurity.

For more information, go to the Bee Pest Blitz website (opens in a new tab).

National Bee Pest Surveillance program

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 (opens in a new tab).

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

Pest and disease training is required as part of your NT registration and must be completed within 6 months of initial registration or renewal.

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

Completing the Biosecurity for Beekeepers course is a requirement of your registration. It can be delivered face to face to groups by request.

The 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 (opens in a new tab).

Varroa Basics

The Varroa Basics is a free online course that will help you with varroa surveillance. It takes about 30 minutes to complete.

For more information and to enrol, go to Varroa basics course (opens in a new tab).

Varroa Mite Introduction to Management

Introduction to Varroa Management introduces the key aspects for understanding Varroa, assisting beekeepers to prepare for and manage this worldwide pest of honey bees.

There are 9 modules, each with a short quiz.

Each topic can typically be completed in 20 to 30 minute blocks.

You can log in and out of the training platform as needed to complete the training. It does not have to be completed in one session.

Follow these steps to access the training:

Step 1. Go to the BOLT platform (opens in a new tab).

Step 2. Login to your account or create a new account.

Step 3. Click on the ‘Browse Learning’ tab.

Step 4. Click ‘Introduction to Varroa Management’.

Step 5. Click ‘Enrol’ to start the training.

If you sell your honey, you must register as a food business (opens in a new tab).

If you plan to sell or take honey interstate, ensure you are aware of the biosecurity entry requirements of that state.