Beekeepers In Thailand

[waldpyk]

In Holland i'm a beekeeper ( non professional-just hobby)

I wondered if there are any expats who took up beekeeing in Thailand

Near Bantak , where my son has a house , one buys honeycombs on the market but i couldn't get

in touch with the beekeeper.

Maybe it's also gathered " in the wild " and not farmed

I'm interested in your experiences , f.i. do you keep apis mellifera or the local apis ceranoe

And what about varroa destructor - a pain in the ass in Europe

Any info is welcome

[lingling]

In Holland i'm a beekeeper ( non professional-just hobby)

I wondered if there are any expats who took up beekeeing in Thailand

Near Bantak , where my son has a house , one buys honeycombs on the market but i couldn't get

in touch with the beekeeper.

Maybe it's also gathered " in the wild " and not farmed

I'm interested in your experiences , f.i. do you keep apis mellifera or the local apis ceranoe

And what about varroa destructor - a pain in the ass in Europe

Any info is welcome

The honeycombs sold in markets and by street vendors are usually retrieved from wild bees. I have been trying to get hold of a couple of hives for several months but every honey vendor I have asked so far have honey/combs from wild bees only.

Maizefarmer has replied with useful details in previous bee related threads such as:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...t=#entry1110156

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85123

Edited July 1, 2007 by lingling

[waldpyk]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...t=#entry1110156[/url]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85123

Edited July 1, 2007 by waldpyk

[Tim207]

In Holland i'm a beekeeper ( non professional-just hobby)

I wondered if there are any expats who took up beekeeing in Thailand

Near Bantak , where my son has a house , one buys honeycombs on the market but i couldn't get

in touch with the beekeeper.

Maybe it's also gathered " in the wild " and not farmed

I'm interested in your experiences , f.i. do you keep apis mellifera or the local apis ceranoe

And what about varroa destructor - a pain in the ass in Europe

Any info is welcome

I don't know anything about beekeeping but I do know there are road signs in Makham Chataburri written in English directing people to "Beekeeping" as if it is open for visitors. I have not stopped in yet but one day I will check it out.

[Gary A]

I live in Loei province and there are bee keepers around here. One I know/knew of has/had over 2,000 hives. The reason I put has/had is because the last time I stopped by to see him, I found out he is seriously ill and had no honey for retail sales. I also know that he was selling most of the honey to a Frenchman up here who was exporting it to Europe.

I talked to a Thai friend of mine after that who called a friend of his who also has bees. He doesn't sell retail but told my friend that he would be happy to sell a container of honey to me. There is 300 liters of honey in a container, that's correct 300 liters. I doubt that 300 liters comes from wild bees. LOL.

[waldpyk]

thanks for the info lingling,tim,gary

2000 hives .. sure must be a pro : i only know of these numbers from some beekeepers in Canada

it takes a lot of hectares to provide enough pollen and nectar for so many beehives

in europa it's mostly 5 to 10 beehives at the same place .

you have to spread and make arrangements with other beekeepers where to go and who's to go there

otherwise their will be no honey to speak of , so one has to travel (with the bees that is..)

thanks again and if you happen to meet a beekeeper (but also a "gatherer in the wild" ) please let me know.

waldpyk

"we don't need another boeddhist , we need compassion " Dalai Lama

[btate]

The signs in Makham (on route 317) point to a gov't run beekeeping place. Lots of em around the orchards here in the South east.

Honey by the bottle is spectacular at 150 baht per. Not watered at all as is normal elsewhere. They apparently move

hives into the orchard areas during the flowering season for various fruits. Still not enough bees though as a lot of

Thais will hand pollenate such fruits as durian etc.

Bt

[MrSquigle]

Then there is the scoundrels along the highway from Kanchanaburi selling bottle of 'honey at 200b which are actually sugar cane syrup and the insides smells of whiskey.

Anyone know how many hives, bees, land area it takes to make one drum, 300lt, of honey ??

[Gary A]

Then there is the scoundrels along the highway from Kanchanaburi selling bottle of 'honey at 200b which are actually sugar cane syrup and the insides smells of whiskey.

Anyone know how many hives, bees, land area it takes to make one drum, 300lt, of honey ??

I'd guess a LOT! The large scale bee keeper here gets 72 baht per liter for those 300 liter containers of PURE honey. It also takes quite a bit of expensive machinery to extract the honey.

[waldpyk]

A top beekeeper - yes correct , that's not me - can make , on average 40-50 kg p/beehive

Nota bene : he has to travel two or three times with the hives to the appletrees , the clover or canola (brassica sp)

to name a few ,to get that amount.Most hobby-beekeepers are happy with 10-15 kg p/beehive

Also remember when you tast a bit of honey that a bee brings home only a few milligrams each flight .Nearby flowers a bit more those farther away simply cost nectar for flying.So the honey on your sandwich took hundreds of bees 10 to .n flights (I don't know how much you take ..) And then to remove more than half of the water from the nectar and adding some substances from their stomach in order to preserve it better.

I stop , i know talking about a hobby can easily gets boring

fact : real honey is unbelieveble cheap in thailand (yeah the real thing mr squigle I also saw the "sugarsellers" )

In western europe between 7 and 12 euro a kilo depending on what kind of flower ( for instance heather-honey is very expensive and often simple not available , whatever you want to pay , ahh but the smell and the tast)

[MrSquigle]

Not boring, keep going I like finding out about this kind of thing.

GA, what do you mean by extract the honey ?

The honey in the 300lt tubs is what.... PURE.... I thought most honey was pure or do they add various stuff to process it before they sell it ?

[Gary A]

Not boring, keep going I like finding out about this kind of thing.

GA, what do you mean by extract the honey ?

The honey in the 300lt tubs is what.... PURE.... I thought most honey was pure or do they add various stuff to process it before they sell it ?

You have to get the honey out of the comb. That involves a centrifuge and the one I looked at was in some kind of vacuum chamber. It was made from stainless steel. I have no idea what it cost but I KNOW it wouldn't have been cheap.

By pure, I mean the MOST of the honey you buy locally has been diluted with water and sugar cane syrup. This honey is tested and must be 100% pure or it is not suitable for export. A very simple test is to take a piece of cotton cloth, soak it in the honey and burn it. If the honey has been diluted the flame will sputter and pop. If the honey is pure it will burn without and sputtering. That is NOT how they test the purity for export. That test involves chemicals and more sophisticated testing.

[waldpyk]

1.to remove the honey from the comb you have need two instruments : a centrifuge and a fork to unseal all the

closed cells of the comb.Remember if you can see the honey it's not honey , it's nectar and will contain still a lot of water.Only if most of the moisture is gone (< 20% remaining the bees will seal it) it's honey

2. you can buy a centrifuge for 200-300 euro but the you have to turn it by your own power and believe me you will sweat a lot .Yes the big boys have special motorized centrfuges but still it's a lot of work

3.if you buy honey in the comb - and most of the honey can't be seen because of the wax seal you are certain it's pure and nobody has tempered ( is that the correct english word?) with it

only on the sides some of the comb may be open that is without seal

4 the "wild " honey i bought in bantak , prachuap kiri khan and on the way to mae sot was excellent and so cheap that it made me feel guilty

5 but i miss the local knowledge to judge from what flower scrubs or trees did they gather the nectar

and thats one of the reasons i want to meet local beekeepers

[32x]

Great subject guys.Much apreciated.

Its something im looking at too as a hoby in the near future.

But one problem i can see especialy in Wang Nam Keow where i plan on staying is Hornets.They are everywhere.

Been told 10 to 15 Hornets can destroy a Bee hive with 30,000 bees in under an hour!!!

Is this true?

[chownah]

The easiest way to extract honey from the honeycomb is to simply melt the honeycomb....the wax floats to the top and is easily skimmed off.

Chownah

Edited July 6, 2007 by chownah

[MrSquigle]

Ok, I thought you meant extract the honey from the 300lt tub, so I thought the tub may include impurities or such.

[waldpyk]

1. yes easy , but in modern beekeeping you "give" the combs back to the beehive : remember it takes a lot of effort and energy from the bees to produce wax

2 .heating alters the substance and quality of the honey . the bees add a lot (well actually <1%) to the honey to better preserve it (anti-bacterial/anti-fungal and some more anti's)

3.it is allowed to heat the honey for easier handling but no higher than hand-warm

[waldpyk]

never heard of it

but my experience is of western europe

still it seems strange .honey bees (apis mellifera their are different species) defends vigourisly against intruders

humans/mice/birds/hornets etc

although some small bird (don't know the english name at the moment) has a clever technique in wintertime

tikking / disturbing the hive just enough to arouse some bees who come out to get snatch away

but never enough to really disturb the hive

[MrSquigle]

So when they collect wild honey, I guess they take the comb/hive and all. How does this effect the hive, apart from being homeless all of a sudden. How long to buil a new one etc.

So for a hobby, how many hives do you need to have to make it a worth while hobby and land area.

[32x]

Me again.Some more facts now.

30 giant Hornets took under 4 hours to destroy a bee hive colony of 30,000 European Honey bees.

Just seen the video on Youtube.Will post the link but sorry to the guys in Los that wont be able to see it.

Have to say great video to watch.(Better quality video but no commentary) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9xovyL0mo&...ted&search=

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSf3Kshq1M&...ted&search=

Edited July 7, 2007 by 32x

[waldpyk]

Quite a massacre isn't it

Fortunately it's about the Japanese giant hornet , not aeuropean varietie as far as i can tell

The Japanese imported the european honeybee ( apis mellifera ) who doesn't have a good defense against

this predator

As far as i know this giant hornet is not living in Thailand

[sutnyod]

Yes, there are many bee-keepers here in Thailand. The best way to meet up with them is go to Chiang Mai during the Lamyai-flower period. Everybody from all over the country is there at that time.

[32x]

Quite a massacre isn't it

Fortunately it's about the Japanese giant hornet , not aeuropean varietie as far as i can tell

The Japanese imported the european honeybee ( apis mellifera ) who doesn't have a good defense against

this predator

As far as i know this giant hornet is not living in Thailand

That is good news.

But ive seen some bloody big hornets around my house.

[btate]

As mentioned prior, the Gov't center in Makham does bees and honey. I just finished a bottle of honey purchased from them for 150 baht. It was good, not quite like the honey from home (all from apple trees) but good.

I opened another bottle that we got that was "Special" from a guy in Ma Pai that guaranteed it was 'the best'. It was generated from longan orchards. In this case they put two dead bees in each bottle to "keep it fresh". I must say that you could definitely tell the difference, well worth the extra 50 baht per bottle. Great stuff!

Most beekeepers I've seen here do nothing more than pierce the cells and let them drain naturally. These being mostly combs from wild bees. I have never seen anyone here remove honey from frames but would expect they might do the same.

There is one pest that decimates hives here but don't recall what it is. The solution is the design of the hive entrance from what I've read here on other forums. Maybe from Maizefarmer.

Bt

[dreamtime]

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can buy 20-30 kilos of natural pure beeswax? I am located in Khon Kaen and will ship it here. Thanks.

S

[egg6447]

Quite a massacre isn't it

Fortunately it's about the Japanese giant hornet , not aeuropean varietie as far as i can tell

The Japanese imported the european honeybee ( apis mellifera ) who doesn't have a good defense against

this predator

As far as i know this giant hornet is not living in Thailand

[egg6447]

Quite a massacre isn't it

Fortunately it's about the Japanese giant hornet , not aeuropean varietie as far as i can tell

The Japanese imported the european honeybee ( apis mellifera ) who doesn't have a good defense against

this predator

As far as i know this giant hornet is not living in Thailand

hi, the beekeepers job is to control and manipulate the bees and environment if pos. the hornet problem can be controled by covering the hive entrance with queen excluder, ie, nothing larger than a worker bee can gain entry, or just reduse the entranc size. its very commen/normal for wasps to take returning bees in flight, same for honets, nothing you can do for this, thats nature. regards

[Maizefarmer]

A top beekeeper - yes correct , that's not me - can make , on average 40-50 kg p/beehive

Nota bene : he has to travel two or three times with the hives to the appletrees , the clover or canola (brassica sp)

to name a few ,to get that amount.Most hobby-beekeepers are happy with 10-15 kg p/beehive

Also remember when you tast a bit of honey that a bee brings home only a few milligrams each flight .Nearby flowers a bit more those farther away simply cost nectar for flying.So the honey on your sandwich took hundreds of bees 10 to .n flights (I don't know how much you take ..) And then to remove more than half of the water from the nectar and adding some substances from their stomach in order to preserve it better.

I stop , i know talking about a hobby can easily gets boring

fact : real honey is unbelieveble cheap in thailand (yeah the real thing mr squigle I also saw the "sugarsellers" )

In western europe between 7 and 12 euro a kilo depending on what kind of flower ( for instance heather-honey is very expensive and often simple not available , whatever you want to pay , ahh but the smell and the tast)

Just to put honey production in Thailand per/hive in its correct perspective - its at the very most 4kg - 5kg p/beehive in most places, and more typically around 3kg-4kg (from typical Langstroth sized hive with 1 super)

The average size of a swarm in Thailand is a lot smaller than the average size of a swarm in Europe.

The exception here of course is the giant asian honey bee which can produce well over 50kg's of honey - but all I can say is, have a nice day try to coax that "thing" into a hive, or take its honey away from it - it'll be a day you will not forget in a rush!

[egg6447]

hi maizfarmer, i to am glad to see you about. ref the giant honey bee, asian, have you any pics of it and are you sure its a bee, cant find any ref to ghb,s and i have the beekeepers bible to hand, thanks egg6447

[ozzydom]

hi maizfarmer, i to am glad to see you about. ref the giant honey bee, asian, have you any pics of it and are you sure its a bee, cant find any ref to ghb,s and i have the beekeepers bible to hand, thanks egg6447

Giant honey bees - subgenus Megapis

There is one recognized species which usually builds single or a few exposed combs on high tree limbs, on cliffs, and sometimes on buildings. They can be very fierce. Periodically robbed of their honey by human "honey hunters", colonies are easily capable of stinging a human being to death when provoked. Their origin as a distinct lineage is only slightly more recent than that of the dwarf honey bees.

* Apis dorsata, the Giant honey bee proper, is native and widespread across most of South and Southeast Asia.

egg6447,if you google giant honey bee + thailand ,you can see pics.

cheers

ozzy