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Honey Bees

Close up photograph of a honey bee Beekeeping can be a large commercial venture, sideline occupation, or a hobby. As well as producing honey and beeswax, honey bees are also very important pollinators of a range of horticultural crops and seed crops.

Regardless of the scale of your beekeeping, there are safety precautions for apiarists and important management practices to ensure the health and productivity of your bees.

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Registration and Renewal as a Beekeeper

Registration as a beekeeper

Anyone who keeps one or more hives of bees is required to register with the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) as a beekeeper.
Registration enables DEPI to conduct disease prevention and control programs for the benefit of beekeepers. This includes the mailing of helpful information from time to time.

There is no charge for registration when a person keeps at least one hive but not more than 5 hives and registers online using the DEPI website.

In all other cases, a fee applies for registration as follows:

Where a person keeps 0 hives but wants to maintain registration in order to receive DEPI apiarist related mailouts of information - $15.00
where a person keeps at least one hive but not more than 5 hives and does not register online but registers and pays using a paper application form - $15.00.
where a person keeps at least six hives but not more than 50 hives -$15.00.
where a person keeps 51 or more hives - 30 cents per hive.

DEPI encourages beekeepers to register and pay online. This includes annual renewal of registration.

Certificate of registration

A certificate of registration is issued by the Bees Registrar and shows the beekeeper's registered number (brand) allotted by DEPI. Persons who register online can print their certificate of registration.

Renewal of registration

Registration expires on 30th of June each year. Renewal of registration must occur before 30th June to avoid being not registered. DEPI will routinely forward application forms for renewal of registration to all registered beekeepers. Contact the Bees Registrar if an application form has not been received by 30th June.