Beekeeping in Queensland: 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 Queensland you register with Biosecurity Queensland, via Business Queensland under the Biosecurity Act 2014 (Qld).

• Keeping one or more European honey bee hives makes you a biosecurity entity, and you must register as one.
• Registered hives must carry your assigned hive identification, branded or marked as required.
• Queensland's swarm season starts earlier than the southern states, which changes when registration needs to be in place.

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 Queensland, and treatment-resistant varroa was confirmed here alongside New South Wales in early 2026.

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.

Queensland's season peaks in September, the earliest of any mainland state, so a beekeeper who waits until spring feels established has already missed the front of it.

Queensland swarm reports peak in September, and 64% 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 47 separate statistical areas across Queensland, 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 95 Queensland reports above are not a marketing figure. Each one came from someone who found bees and wanted a beekeeper to collect them, and with 68 of us across the state, most of those calls have very little competition.