Beekeeping in Australian Capital Territory: registration, varroa and swarm calls

Registration is compulsory in every Australian state and territory, hobbyist or commercial, and it starts at your first hive. There is no backyard exemption anywhere in the country. In Australian Capital Territory you register with ACT Government under the Biosecurity Regulation 2025 (ACT).

• Registration is mandatory under the Biosecurity Regulation 2025 for commercial and non-commercial beekeepers alike.
• If you are already registered under a corresponding law in another jurisdiction you may be exempt, but you must meet the conditions in section 24 of the regulation.
• Registration is how the ACT Government reaches you during a disease outbreak, which is its main practical purpose.

Every state has adopted the Australian Honey Bee Industry Biosecurity Code of Practice, a nationally consistent set of minimum standards covering hive construction, how often you inspect, and what you are obliged to report. Registration is what makes you reachable when something is found near you.

Varroa is present in the ACT, but it is the one jurisdiction where the population is not yet showing resistance to both major synthetic treatment groups.

National eradication was abandoned in September 2023, and the transition to management programme ended in February 2026. That changes what catching a swarm means: a swarm is no longer just free bees, it is an unscreened colony arriving next to yours.

Canberra reports swarms at roughly five times the per-resident rate of anywhere else in Australia, which is a statement about how many people here know to report one rather than about how many bees there are.

Australian Capital Territory swarm reports peak in October, and 90% of everything reported here arrives between September and December. Australia's season is the inverse of the northern one, so advice written for a northern spring is six months out by the time it reaches you.

Reports have come in from 8 separate statistical areas across Australian Capital Territory, so this is not one busy suburb standing in for a state.

We pass every reported swarm to nearby beekeepers by text or email, at no cost and with no association membership required. You set the area you are willing to travel and the size of swarm you will take.

The 169 Australian Capital Territory reports above are not a marketing figure. Each one came from someone who found bees and wanted a beekeeper to collect them, and with 51 of us across the state, most of those calls have very little competition.