BEES are essential to food production, pollinating a third of crops around the world besides giving us honey and beeswax.

With this in mind, The Spectator visited one of the Western District’s best-known beekeepers.

Fraser McKenzie was introduced to beekeeping by a Dimboola railway worker, Jim Hately, who kept bees in hives dotted along the train tracks. 

The young Fraser used to help with turning Jim’s honey extractor and from this grew an interest in apiculture (beekeeping) which has grown into a business.

“I started with two hives in 1990.” Fraser told The Spectator, “It grew to over 200 but I now have about 150.”

The business is based in Penshurst with all processing facilities on site at Fraser and wife Rene’s home.

Until about two years ago Fraser also worked as a woolbroker having been a partner at Arcadian Woolbrokers which were taken over by Landmark who were, in turn, absorbed by Nutrien.

Now, however, he is happy concentrating on his bees; “They take up two to three days a week through the year, although it varies according to the season.”

For much of the year, Fraser moves his hives, sometimes swagging it in the bush for several days but returning to Penshurst in between.

The objective is to follow the flowering of plants both native and agricultural.

He described a year which started in August by transporting his hives to the Robinvale district on the Murray where the bees pollinate the almond groves there. 

The Robinvale growers pay the beekeepers to site their hives there during a season of about six weeks starting at the beginning of August.

Once almond flowering is over, Fraser starts a staged journey southward, first to the Mallee, followed by the Wimmera and then into the yellow box and yellow gum country before the red gums closer to home.

Mallee eucalypts as well as Desert Banksia provide work for the bees in the Mallee while bee-dependent crops, notably Canola, Faba Beans and Clovers are food sources in the Wimmera.

All this travel is worthwhile since a hive can produce 45 to 50 kilograms of honey in a good year - “which this year has been” Fraser pointed out.

“By moving the hives we get seven or eight months (of exposure to flowering) …a hobbyist’s hive in a garden would get only 3 or 4 months and would probably produce about 10 to 15 kilos.”

The Manuka bush Leptospermum scoparium, is an influence in much of Fraser McKenzie’s honey but he pointed out; “bees will work eucalypts better than ti-tree (such as Manuka) which is more difficult for them.”

He also added that Lucerne has a barb in its flower which makes it more difficult for the worker bee to withdraw from the flower.

The processes which Fraser McKenzie uses to take his honey to a marketable product are simple.

The honeycomb, in its wooden frame, is removed from the hive then a honey press opens the ends of the cells by using steam.

Following this, the honey is removed from the cells by centrifugal force in an electric-powered extractor.

After this, the honey has wax skimmed from it before being sieved several times.

Finally, to end this simple process, the honey is bottled.

As far as marketing is concerned Fraser told The Spectator; “We sell mostly through the farmer’s markets in Hamilton, Warrnambool and Port Fairy and through two shops in Hamilton.

“Demand for natural honey is extremely strong since supermarket honeys have been processed and some have legal additives,” he said.

“Natural honey candies (crystallizes around pollen grains) but it can easily be liquefied again by gentle warming.  The additives in supermarket honey are to extend shelf-life.”

Other products are beeswax and propolis.

The demand for wax is strong and the price has risen from $10 to $30 per kilogram in recent years.

Fraser’s wax is sold for the manufacture of beeswax sheets which are used as an insertion into the frames for ongoing honey production.

“Candlemakers used to be buyers (of beeswax) but the price is too high for most of them now.”

Propolis is another product of bees.

It is a secretion used by bees for the blocking of holes in the hive wall.

Only a small quantity is produced every year and Fraser uses what he recovers for use as a lure for swarms emanating in springtime so as to attract them back into vacant bee boxes.

Bee venom is another possible product, being used by the medical research industry: “However, I don’t harvest it!” Mr McKenzie said.

On the question of bee health, Fraser said that there was continuing vigilance around the Varroa Mite (Varroa destructor) which arrived in Australia in 2022.

As of February 2024 there was no known incidence, past or present, of Varroa Mite in Victoria.

However Fraser has been involved in a “Hot Zone” where hives had to be checked for the mite by immersing some of the bees in an alcohol wash in order to identify any mites which are washed out.

This process, which is ongoing, has to be repeated every four months, under Department of Primary Industry (DPI) supervision. 

 Fraser told The Spectator that the DPI was in the process of appointing two Varroa Mite extension officers.

He also described a chemical dosing system in the USA which killed the mite but not the bees.

Additionally, breeding work is going on in Europe, USA and Australia to develop strains of bees which exhibit “Varroa hygiene” whereby the worker bees can detect comb cells with mites in them and deny the developing larva any food.

When asked about innovations in beekeeping, Mr McKenzie mentioned two recent developments. 

One was the Flow Hive which is a 2015 Australian invention which allows extraction of honey without opening the hive and disturbing the bees.

Fraser described it as “a wonderful invention” going on to point out that in cooler areas it was less effective as the honey candied at certain times of year and would not flow from the hive and thus, it was not ideal for the Western District.

Another innovation is the polystyrene hive which has excellent insulation to protect the bees and is lighter than timber bee-boxes.

However polystyrene hives often have different dimensions to the timber bee-boxes which can make trailer loading a problem.

On the subject of relationships between beekeepers, Mr McKenzie talked of extensive cooperation and mentoring.

He often works with Neil Dyson from Port Fairy and referred to Eric Wythe from Broadwater as a “a backbone and mentor.”

In the coordination of almond pollination, Fraser cited Trevor Monson as a prominent beekeeper who sorted out the complexities of marshalling a number of apiarists to locate their hives in the Robinvale district in August and September every year.

One aspect of beekeeping which Fraser no longer undertakes is the collecting of feral bee swarms from people’s gardens in springtime.

Because his bees travel for pollination of crops, feral bees are a no-no.

Asked if beekeeping was more a business than a hobby Fraser said that it could be either, ranging from hobbyists with one or two hives to businesses with a thousand or more and one apiarist with some 6000!

He went on to add that before taking up beekeeping as a hobby one had to recognise that there was ongoing care required: “… for example, the bees need drenching with antibiotic twice a year which many people do not realise!”

As a closing reflection, Fraser said he loved the lifestyle of a beekeeper “You’re sleeping in the bush, under the stars.  It can be lonely but often you have a colleague to work with.”

Indeed, in this age of virtual reality it is a life which many would envy.