Beekeeping in Thailand

[TheFarangGuy]

First of all, I apologise if this is in wrong section. 

 

I keep bees back at home, but climate here is something completely different. I know most of bee farms are in the north. Anyone has experience with beekeeping in Thailand, or knows someone I could ask some questions? 

 

From what I've learned researching online, Thai beekeepers copy Chinese beekeepers, which is far from what you would consider sustainable and organic in terms of producing pure quality honey, like we do in Europe. For instance, they add sugar syrup so bees can mix it with nectar and extract that "honey" every few weeks. Afterwards it has to be treated to bring the moisture content down obviously, because bees don't have enough time to do it themselves naturally. They blame the weather and humidity, saying bees can't ventilate hives properly. I don't believe this though, because my bees have no problem regulating temperatures during hot summers back at home. I think they're doing it just to get as much honey as possible. Obviously, this honey mixed with sugar syrup is inferior to pure nectar honey, ventilated and capped by bees themselves. It's cheap though. European resellers import huge quantities and mix it with European honey to get lower priced mixture, which is almost impossible to compete with for us beekeepers. 

 

I'm very interested to know if anyone has tried to apply proper European beekeeping techniques here in tropical climate? 

[djayz]

I don't know if this'll be of any help to you or not, but there are at least 3 threads running on this site which all deal with bee-keeping. 

Maybe you can find answers to some of your questions there. 

 

The 3 threads, that I know of, are: 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheFarangGuy]

Thank you very much, it will be helpful!

[NickLam]

Hi bee keepers,

 

My name is Nick and am wondering if any of you are looking for a buyer for your honey?  Its for my restaurant and am looking for producers who have pride in what they do.   

 

I'm ok with seasonal availability, extra limited quantities and all the other challenges that come with working naturally and sustainably. 

 

At the moment, my suppliers are all foreigners who ended up doing what they love.  Some of whom have worked togather with us for a few years now as we have a 'meeting of the minds'.  

 

If anyone would like to discuss further, please get in touch with me.