Code of PracticeDon't forget to buy a loud motorcycle that needs a lot of work on it. (with the muffler missing)
Now that's one I like!
The local council web site has almost nothing on bees. I have spoken to one of the DPI inspectors and also a beekeeper who was on the panel who drew up the code and associated beekeeping legislation. It is all very vague. As I understand it the livestock contol act 1994 in regards to bees was brought about because the councils were banning bee hives in their area and there was an outcry from people with fruit trees not being polinated.
A friend of ours was considering keeping bees but were told by their council that they are not allowed to keep bees at all. I asked the DPI inspector about this and he said that if the council has banned them having bees then they can't have bees, but there seemed like there could be some sort of loophole which he did not go into. The answer to the same question of the keep who was on the panel also was somewhat vague about the restriction, but thought they could probably keep bees.
Anyway the council wanted to inspect the hives to make sure they complied to the code of practice, which they do at the moment. That took all of 5 seconds. They did talk to me regarding using queen excluders to manage swarms and adding an extra super or a 'half super'. His recommendations showed only a very rudimentary knowledge of beekeeping and swarm control.
He suggested that I find a different location to keep the bees in the garden that is not so obvious to the next door neighbour. I explained the impracticalities of doing that and the longshot was that were going to put fence extenders on to raise the height of the fence by another 1/2 m or so.
Hmmm motor bike with no muffler Hmmm :evil: