Hello,
I've never heard of perone hives before. Maybe Mr Perone is the best person to speak to for insight.
Damian, the old beeks here say they used to boast about how old and black their comb was. A lot had double brood boxes so the bees had their own reserves, but they rarely inspected. That was before the importation of many diseases. But now you are obliged when you register to be able to inspect and recognise disease and act on it. Opening the hive all the time can also create problems, so there is a balance. But doing it as "close to natural as is viable" is impossible! Maybe you are defining "natural" as no chemicals, or minimal handling, or self sustaining? It would cause less confusion if you were specific in your interpretation of "natural". I guess I cannot see anything natural about your farming. European bees are not natural to this country, nor are dexters or tomatoes. For some odd reason we are not allowed to farm most animals that are native to here. And do you not have some control/ fences/feeding/man-made woodwork for your hives?
I know I'm being picky. I got that from ugcheleuce :) I also noticed that the Victorian Guidelines were mentioned. I couldn't recall that we have to use removable frames in QLD. If you do wish to pursue this, I'd suggest speaking with your local apiary inspector. Maybe there are other options.
Sadly, the booklet for beekeepers published by Queensland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry contain information that would seem rather imprecisely written (or written by a non-beekeeper who used only Wikipedia):
Not at all. Very experienced beekeepers amongst others were involved in writing or consultation for the document.
For example, the booklet defines "super" as any box with frames in it, so the booklet authors don't use the word "super" for honey boxes exclusively. And for example, the booklet defines "honeybee comb" as the actual frames that [may] contain the comb. The actual law doesn't use the terms like this.
Some people do not use super for honey box exclusively, perhaps because they can be interchangable. What if your queen were laying in the top super amongst the honey which you harvest? The terms are defined for the reading of the document, not to provide a dictionary of every meaning of a word. It is also written in a simple fashion, not because the authors are simple. I guess they are anticipating their readers :-D
In the second example of honeybee comb, you have misquoted the document. It doesn't say "may", it says that [do] contain honey, pollen and/or brood. You also missed out the part about wax cells.
I can't open the perone hive document. Does it say why 280L and square is ideal?
I'll be reading your stories Damian to see what eventuates. Pictures would help!
Lone