- Beekeeping in South Australia: Registration, Varroa and Swarm Calls Skip to main content For South Australia beekeepers # Beekeeping in South Australia: registration, varroa and swarm calls 216 honey bee swarms have been reported to us across South Australia, and there are 11 beekeepers signed up with us in the whole state to answer them. 198 Swarms reported in the last 12 months 25 Statistical areas with reports 11 Beekeepers registered with Swarmed here 19.6 Reports per registered beekeeper Get South Australia swarm alerts Free, and you do not have to join an association to be on the list. ## Registering as a beekeeper in South Australia 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 South Australia you register with Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) under the Livestock Act 1997 (SA), and a registration runs for annual before it needs renewing. You must register yourself and your hives every twelve months, and a renewal notice arrives six weeks before expiry.
- Registration includes a mandatory contribution to the Apiary Industry Fund, scaled to how many hives you keep.
- Because renewal is annual rather than multi-year, a lapsed South Australian registration is the easiest in the country to end up with by accident.

 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 in South Australia

 Varroa is present in South Australia. Resistance was confirmed in May 2026 in hives associated with the Pooginook detection zones.

 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.

 South Australia has both a resistant mite population and, on our own numbers, almost nobody available to collect. A registered beekeeper here has very little competition for swarms and correspondingly more responsibility to manage what they catch.

## When swarms happen in South Australia

 South Australia swarm reports peak in October, and 93% 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 25 separate statistical areas across South Australia, so this is not one busy suburb standing in for a state.

## Getting swarm calls without joining a waiting list

 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 216 South Australia reports above are not a marketing figure. Each one came from someone who found bees and wanted a beekeeper to collect them, and with 11 of us across the state, most of those calls have very little competition.

 [Get South Australia swarm alerts](/auth/beekeeper-signup)

## Sources

- PIRSA, beekeeper registration
- PIRSA, varroa mite

 Registration and varroa details last checked against these sources on 2026-08-26. Varroa status changes; confirm with Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA)before acting on anything here. Swarm report figures are from Swarmed's own network and update daily.

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