Bee Venom Collector

A battery-powered collector is placed outside the hive and uses a small pulsation that bees won't detect

The bees sting a glass plate, which collects the venom and does not hurt the bee

Harvesting bee venom is not new and the inventor says his model is a variation on existing products

Brisbane inventor James Watts said his venom collector was more bee friendly than other harvesting techniques. 

"The way it's being harvested at the moment is destructive," Mr Watts said. 

"A lot of other bee venom collectors are internal devices, where they put it into the bee hive." 

Venom is used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medical research into dementia, HIV and arthritis. 

Mr Watts said research out of Korea suggested there was a 60 per cent die-off rate when using internal collectors.

 "If you could imagine where your floor was a whole electric blanket and you had to somehow avoid the floor of your house," he said. "You would not like that and you would be stressed." 

The battery-powered collector is placed outside the hive, near the entrance. 

"It works by using a small pulsation that is so low that the bee doesn't even realise it," Mr Watts said. 

"It's only one in 10,000 bees that actually react to it and they spray the device with a pheromone. 

"The pheromone then attracts other bees out of the hive and they attack the collector." 

The insects sting a glass plate which collects the venom and does not hurt the bee. 

Mr Watts, who is the managing director of research and development company Whale Labs, said it was a common misconception that bees died when they deployed their sting. 

"Bees have a barbed tip so what happens is when they want to sting someone, they're pretty much committing suicide, because it hooks into your flesh … and it pulls out the guts of the bee," he said. 

But the harvesting process was not entirely safe for the bees, who could die when if they're stung by other bees during the frenzy. 

"As mortality goes, it's about one in 10,000 bees die from it," Mr Watts said.

 The harvesting process takes less than an hour and the venom is then scraped from the glass plate and sells for more than $120 per gram.

 Harvesting bee venom is not new and Mr Watts said his invention was a variation on existing products.

 "I wouldn't say it's revolutionary," he said. 

"I would say it's opening up the industry for the common bee keeper to actually get into bee venom collection." 

New revenue stream bee keeping include honey production, pollination services and selling hive products like wax and royal jelly.

President of the Gold Coast Amateur Bee Keepers Society Kathy Knox has witnessed the venom collection process. 

"I think it is a wonderful innovation and I think it can add some real benefit for the bee keepers who are looking at putting this sort of a system in place," Ms Knox said. 

But she was reluctant to use the device on her own bees.

"As a bee keeper you want to be gentle," she said. 

"You don't want to do anything that is going to affect your colonies. 

Tallebudgera Valley apiarist Lisa Devereaux said she was prepared to use the collector. 

"Every day there is a significant number of bees just naturally dying, so as long as it's factored in that's fine," she said. 

"I am actually looking forward to experimenting with the bee venom to increase the value of our lip balms and our moisturisers." 

The bee venom collector sells for about $700.

Courtesy ABC