Beekeepers In Thailand

[volk]

Rubber trees can give 60 kg per colony,......

I was in Chiang mai,but what I saw,beekeepers have colony in one hive with 10 or 12 frames.Similar I got to Cambodia.In Cambodia in Pursat in wery bad place,we had colonies in 20 frames.One queen need about 10 frames for brood,than in bad conditions you need 10 frames more for honey.Queen will lay 1500 to 2000 eggs per day,that means that you can have from 40000 to 70000 bees in colony.This are strong colonies.Sometimes good queen can lay 3000 eggs.In one frame of brood there can be 4000 to 7000 cells with brood.You must know,that bees swarm if there is more than 535 bees for 1 L of volume.In reality this means that you need 1 frame for about 1500 bees.If you have in colony 45000 bees,you need 30 frames.

I work with Carniolian kind of bee.This bee have about 10000 bees in winter(one colony),but than in March and April go to 60000 or more.This year I had colony with 17 frames of brood in April.I know that Italian bees are slow about this.For Italian bees swarming is not big problem,but Carniolian bee can give first second and third swarms in May,and than in start of July again.

I know that Thailand has sunflower fields,normal colonies(with 8 frames with brood,2 with honey reserves,another 10 for honey) must colect 25 kg of honey in sunflower fields.

If you have bees in lytchi, bees must colect the same amount.If they do not want,just take queen out.Or give queen for 20 days to cage.(or to isolator with one frame,isolator is one frame,in each side you have queen barrier,queen can be only in this frame,will lay this frame,all mite go there,after 25 days make queen free and destroy frame with brood and all mite.).Bees need 2,5 kg honey for one frame of brood,that means that you will get more honey.

One my friend went to China last year,he saw all this systems.They can colect large amount of honey.

I have no project in Thailand jet,I have deal with one teacher in Chiang mai,I will try there,than I have deal in Ranong province in South.In areas with rubber trees and cashew.I run project in Pursat province in Cambodia,there we have school for beekeeping,and a few more projects.

Here I have question,what about nectar sources,like rubber,eucalyptus,cafe trees,tea trees,neem,......about longan.....What nectar sources exist in Thailand?

[MrWiggle]

MF....if I recall the left side is quite open, shall take another look but and the plant stall have been there for the 2 years I have been coming here. Hope we have the same research farm....or not actually.

The sweeping bend heading to the park is downhill.

How far from your field with the mounds, if I have identified the same field it is about 5ks.

But for the sad news, we wnet in yesterday and when enquiring about info, they told us to look up the internet, there is plenty of info there, much more than I know he said.

Only one guy there and 3 hives and the wasps are killing all of them.

His words to my missus were 'government run away'.....no longer supported, no longer operating, nobody knew anything.

Never mind. the dude we got our bees from is great, but just a little out of our way, this Pak Chong place would have been ideal for support and info.

[Maizefarmer]

I have no doubt its the same place -but for what it worth I have heard seperately as well over the last 24hrs that the place has all but been abandoned by the Department of Ag and that other than for a small budget to maintain the place, most research is now taking place up in Chang Rai.

Oh well, it was try ........

Detail on the location? - I was trying to picture how good my memory was/was not thats all.

[MrWiggle]

Here I have question,what about nectar sources,like rubber,eucalyptus,cafe trees,tea trees,neem,......about longan.....What nectar sources exist in Thailand?

Plenty of rubber tree plantations, plenty of neem trees everywhere on roadsides, plenty of euca plantations also. tea trees never seen and fruit plantations in many areas.

Did not know neem was usefull for bees.

I am wondering if living on the edge of a large national park, that if native jungle trees would be enough to supply hives ? The idea of wild honey is nice.

[Maizefarmer]

Yes - most defienatly so: wild flora in that area is a significant contributor to honey yields, but if you know that area you will know that come the dry season each year all that lush green flora goes brown and paper dry - it really is quite a contrast, more so than many other parts of Thailand if only because of how lush and green it is in the rainy season - and then the bees are reduced to surviving of what they have collected over the rainy season.

Stripping out the honey at the end of the rainy season will split the colony at some point in the dry season - about half the colony will swarm and fly off to find somewhere else to live because of the food shortage.

[volk]

[Wild forest can bee big problem.In rainy season is nectar and polen,but in in dry season can be nothing.and I think,that European bees must be in territories with rubber......I have bad opinion for beekeeping with european bee in rainy forest.

Neem is important in india for beekeeping.Some informations are in Khadi Istitute for beekeeping.

[MrWiggle]

Heres my bees....hope this is the queen....otherwise I might be stuffed...

[volk]

Third picture is very good,yes,this is queen.

[MrWiggle]

Seems we had a revolt recently.....Queeney departed and took some boys with her.

But we found a new Queen, so they have taken care of themselves and made a new one.

We also went and got another hive box and a new Queen and split what we had in the original hive.

The farm where we get them from said if the Quenn was made on the roof of the hive, then it may be that the original Queen died and if they made her on the floor of the hive it is a sign of them swarming and running off.......no idea myself....any thoughts ??

[Ricardo]

I'm planning to start beekeeping as a hobby, living just outside Mae-Jo, and recently was introduced by a friend to a company called FORA-Bee, whose factory is several km south of Chiang Mai, on the main-road to Lamphun/Lampang.

They are buying/packaging bulk-honey from commercial-producers in the area, with a good shop on-site, for finished-products.

One room next to their equipment-shop had a banner for the Northern Beekeeping Association, which I guess must be based here.

They can supply all the equipment needed, for example a brand-new Thai-manufactured hive (excluding frames) for 375-400 Baht, and also kindly took us to see a local family-team harvesting from some 40 hives, in the middle of a local longan-orchard ! The honeyflow is in full swing, so this was a very impressive operation, all the frames being removed & the bees brushed-off into the empty hives, while the frames were spun to extract the honey and then returned.

The hives were all the single-box (Taiwanese-style ?) hives, does anyone have any experience of people using 'supers' here in Thailand, in the more-familiar European/American style ?

Also the manual spinning-drum held 8 frames at a time, which is great for a commercial-operation (doing several sites per-day), but there must be a simpler/cheaper method for small-scale extraction, can anyone suggest what that might be ?

[Maizefarmer]

Yes ..... I have supers (Langstroth hive).

The problem with supers and the Langstroth is: hive volume - it's a constant battle, I wouldn't reccomend it - though it might be a different situation up round Chang Mai and Chang Rai.

In the North East we simply don't have the fauna/flora densities (except in some of the small remaining natural forest areas) to support swarm sizes large enough to justify, or make sense of, keeping bees in super type hives (i.e Langstroth type hives). Check out the the size/volume of a Eastern/Thai type hive with that size/volume of a Langstroth with a brood box and just one super, let alone any more than one.

Chang Mai/Rai areas are Thailands' bee keeping areas - both the climate and agriculture (fruit farms) work together to provide an enviroment that is great for beekeeping. Swarms are larger and yields are higher than else in Thailand and you may well be able to support colonies successfully in Langstroth type hives.

Alternatives for extraction?

Cap the comb (thick long bladed very sharp edged knife and boiling water - to periodicaly reheat the blade) then hang the frames somewhere warm (in the sun) - above a large bowl: a 2" x 2" wooden framework covered with transperant plastic sheeting serves [me] well to keep bees/insects and wind blown dust off dripping frames. Slower - yes, but if the sun is shinning and its a hot day, 3 or 4 hrs hanging will do as good a job as any drum extractor. Cover the bowl with a sheet of musalin cloth or fine mosquito type mesh to catch any pieces of comb/wax/brood ect .....

...... before folk ask where I have been: just getting over a dose of good old meningitis (bacterial) - theres no mistake like the mistake of thinking you have flu and deciding to ignore the symptoms!

[Maizefarmer]

Seems we had a revolt recently.....Queeney departed and took some boys with her.

But we found a new Queen, so they have taken care of themselves and made a new one.

We also went and got another hive box and a new Queen and split what we had in the original hive.

The farm where we get them from said if the Quenn was made on the roof of the hive, then it may be that the original Queen died and if they made her on the floor of the hive it is a sign of them swarming and running off.......no idea myself....any thoughts ??

Yup - I've heard that one before as well and oddly enough, there is some truth to it, but I don't think many beekeepers understand exactly just what is going on.

The truth is it is temp, humidity and ventilation that are the determing factors for workers when locating and queen cell - hence the position of a hive i.e. the side of the hive that gets more/less sun, or the side with the entrance most exposed to prevailing wind, rain, are indeed all factors which contribute to the micro-climate in a hive ( and bees are pretty good at regulating the temp & humidity in a hive - they are able to maintain different areas in a single hive at different temp and humidity levels) and will therefore impact on where workers may locate a queen cell.

So, in the case of a queen suddenly dieing, workers will be keen to get a new queen bred as quick as possible - hence they may well select a location in a hive that has the right temp and humidity for a queen to develope quickly - and just where is this most likely? At the top of the hive where the timber is often damp from rain (humidity), and where the hive is warmest (temp)! Elevated temp and humidity are condusive to faster queen development.

However, in the case of prepearing to swarm, which will not be such a rushed affair, workers will probably locate a queen cell where it is cooler i.e. on the floor of the hive which is closer to the entrance and more susceptible to temp and humidity flucutation from air movement in/out of the entrance of the hive.

So yes, there is indeed truth to the statement that the location of a queen cell can often be an indicator of what has happened to the colony (e.g. has lost its queen), or what is about to happen to a colony (prepearing to swarm).

[Ricardo]

I'm planning to start beekeeping as a hobby, living just outside Mae-Jo, and recently was introduced by a friend to a company called FORA-Bee, whose factory is several km south of Chiang Mai, on the main-road to Lamphun/Lampang.

Update :-

Yesterday-evening was spent helping a friend move a total of 9 hives, to 4 different locations, in the Chiang Mai area, including my own 4 new colonies, which I've placed in two different locations in my garden. They're Here !

My investment so far is B7,040, made up as-follows :

4 hives, occupied, with 6 frames each @ 1,200 per-hive

1 empty-hive, as a spare @ 370

4 frames with foundation fitted @ 55 each

5 hive-stands (simple triangular metal) @ 85 each

1 hive-tool @ 150

1 smoker (small-size) @ 495

1 bee-brush @ 205

1 de-capping knife @ 90

1 vertical queen-excluder @ 140

5 green plastic feeder-trays @ 20 each

1 pollen-trap/box-collector @ 65

They also had in the shop, a slightly-larger horizontal queen-excluder, I guess for people who use supers ?

We left off buying chemicals, for control of mites etc. , until needed.

Full contact-details for Fora-Bee are as-follows :

Web-site www.forabee.com

Trading-name is 'Chiangmai Healthy Product Co. Ltd'

Phone 053 420 568

Fax 053 420 570

Location : They are on the left-hand-side (East) on Route 11, 9.3 km South of the Super-Highway/1st-Ring-Road, from Chiang Mai to Lamphun/Lampang, in the area of Saraphi. A large sign makes them easily-findable, there is a car-park at the front, and they have a shop selling honey/bee-products, as well as the shop selling beekeeping-equipment.

The hives/colonies are from a commercial-beekeeper, who is leaving the business at the end of the local Longan-honeyflow, and the price had been negotiated-down from the B1,500 per-hive originally asked, from the farang hobbyists. Khun Tor (who speaks some English) at Fora-Bee had acted as intermediary, which resulted in three of us buying our start-up equipment from him as well as the colonies. Everything was boxed & labelled, and ready for collection, having been ordered by email a few days earlier.

On arrival at 17.45, the hives were stacked ready & waiting for us, with the solid flap closed to block the two bee-entries, and gaps round the ventilation-screens plugged with folded-cardboard. There were a few escapees/late-returners buzzing round, and a few more found their way out during transportation, but stayed mainly on the screens. Driving slowly to avoid disturbing the 'girls' during their journey ! Conditions were hot (still 90* F) and humid, but not thundery, although we'd had a few storms during the previous week (an early onset of monsoon ?).

At each drop-off point we first placed the hive-stands, and clipped any standing-grass/plants blocking the main-approaches, then carried the hives carefully & horizontally from the pick-up. Once happy with their levels, being slightly downwards towards the front (so that rain runs out of the hives), we opened the solid-flap on each hive, and left them to get on with expressing their feelings at the bumpy ride !

This morning there was considerable activity round each hive, at 08.30, as they explored their new home-range and located the nearest sources of water, a fairly-dried-up pond and three ornamental garden-ponds. My experience with my friend's hives, at my wife's mango/lamyai-farm 2 km away, is that they're barely-stirring at this time, which is why we tend to schedule inspections for then, after doing the 'school-run'.

There were a few casualties, probably injured during the movement the evening before, whose bodies were expelled early-on, activity died-down when the hot afternoon-sun raised the temperature up to 98* F, and by late-afternoon the colonies seem much calmer & more settled. I plan to leave a proper inspection for a few days, to let them settle-in, but will continue to keep an eye on activities, the children & maid are all keeping a respectful distance !

I'll plan to post an occasional update, and hope that this information may help other farangs, who are interested in trying beekeeping now they're settled in Thailand !

[wdrk7]

Dear Ricardo ,

I have try fora bee in chiangrai and chingmai but they just could not get me a few hive to start with . Hope that you could help me out here . I am currently in Chiangrai . Thanks .

[Ricardo]

Update :-

Two months in, I've lost one of my four colonies, and a second one is severely-weakened & may not survive. The immediate cause being ants, which have over-run their hives & frames, despite my best-efforts using cinnamon-powder, then petroleum-jelly & ant-chalk on the legs of the stands, finally chilli-powder solution (on the theory that ants don't like to walk across it) poured round the hives.

The other two colonies are doing fairly-well, on a concrete-terrace, in a different part of the garden. They too were attacked by a pest, just about every lizard (some up to 12" long) in the garden seemed to regard them as an all-you-can eat buffet, jumping up to grab them out of the air in front of the hives ! This has been solved by replacing the (9" high) metal-stands with 21" high plastic stools).

All four colonies when received appeared fairly strong & active, but I had failed to spot that they had little/no food-stocks, having been fully-harvested by the previous-owner, just before I got them. I took their apparent activity & health, with plenty of foragers flying in & out, to mean that they were OK. But in fact they had little/no uncapped-nectar, on the first couple of weekly-inspections, and weren't finding any sources of pollen/nectar to feed upon, despite there being plenty of flowers in the garden.

With hindsight I should have fed them sugar-solution immediately upon arrival ! I now recall that the commercial-farmers, seen harvesting honey in January/February, were leaving a 4"-diameter 'cake' of pollen/sugar on top of the spun-frames, after returning them to their hives. Now I understand why.

This oversight had weakened the colonies, and perhaps left them more-exposed to attack by ants, however I've been feeding steadily for four weeks now, and am seeing reasonable stocks of sugar-nectar stored in the honeycombs. But the presence of the sweet-solution may also have attracted the ants ? !

Egg-laying had also shut-down, in all four colonies, but has now finally resumed following feeding.

Another factor in my girls' problems may have been the heat. It has regularly reached 100*F here, in the afternoons, and rarely fallen below 80* overnight. This may have stressed the colonies, I certainly observed clumps of bees emerging from the hives, and sitting outside in the evening/night, when the local hot/dry-season was at its peak. Given that (according to the books) larvae like 93*-95*F, it may simply have been too hot inside the hives, for raising new workers ?

My friend with 8-10 hives, parked at my wife's mango-farm, has also lost half his colonies during the hot/dry-season. However we hope that the gradual arrival of the monsoon may lower temperatures, and also encourage more flowers with pollen, indeed another friend with just one hive has seen continual pollen-flow, because his local tobacco-fields have been allowed to flower after-cropping, and go to seed.

Lessons learned so far :-

1. Put hives into deepest-shadow possible, the problem here is heat, not cold winters like all the farang-textbook writers face !

2. Feed immediately on-receipt of new hives, monitor nectar-levels in the frames carefully, and look for pollen on the legs of returning foragers.

3. Look for pests, and take immediate & drastic action, up-to & including relocating hives, when under-attack, despite the advise in textbooks not to do so. Better to lose some foragers than a whole colony. !

4. Just because you can see plenty of flowers, in your garden, it doesn't mean they are also sources of nectar/pollen.

[Ricardo]

Update four-months-in :-

Still soldiering-on with 2 fairly-strong colonies, plus one struggling, and probably unlikely to make it !

On a positive note, I've located another local supplier of beekeeping-equipment, they're called 'Supha Bee Farm' :-

Web-site www.suphabeefarm.com

Email [email protected]

Address 779 Moo 1

Rimtai, Mae-Rim

Chiang Mai 50 180

Phone 053-297 329 & 053-299 501

Location, on a side-road about 1 km from Mae-Rim, if you're coming from Chiang Mai then you turn left at the traffic-lights in the centre of Mae-Rim, just after passing the Police-Station & Land-Office, and they're on the left before you reach the staff & main-entrances to the Four Seasons Resort.

At the front is their shop, selling bee-products, at the back they sell equipment, although a little more expensive than Fora-Bee. I didn't meet her, but apparently the lady-boss speaks some English ? They seem mostly focused upon selling the products of their own bees.

Egg-laying resumed, in my two strong colonies, once the rains properly-arrived in June, and temperatures dropped thanks to the increased cloud-cover. I've had to continue feeding sugar-syrup, to support this, although the girls are definitely finding plenty of pollen, even enough to store a little in empty cells, but don't seem to be finding enough nectar to build-up any stores, open or capped.

This seems to contradict what happens up in the hills, as I was told on a visit last-month to Mae Salong, that they have road-side jungle-honey for-sale in May & June, at prices from 100B a bottle (roadside) to 450B (very-thick dark honey which I saw offered to tourists in the main tourist-market). So perhaps they have a different honey-flow from the fruit-orchards down on the plains ?

Pests ... the blasted hornets reappeared early-July, looking to feast upon my foragers, as they returned home from their labours. So I sit reading on the shady terrace, with a net to-hand, and occasionally leap-up to go try to catch the predators in-the-act. Highest daily-haul was four wee beasties ! My friend also found a weak (possibly queenless) colony totally cleaned-out,and several hornets inside, when we lifted the lid for weekly-inspection.

I also had a problem with 1-cm-long red-ants, the ones that build 6-inch-long leafy-nests, in nearby bushes/trees. They first made themselves known by biting me, and swarming onto my feet/legs, in the middle of a weekly-inspection ! Not a very welcome distraction, as you might guess ! They also subsequently attacked one colony, with 2-3 ants fighting each defender-bee, on the outside of the box. I have fought back by removing their nests, where they're within reach, and killing them on-the-ground, also putting the legs of one hive into a shallow tray of water, to deny access. Lastly by blocking the one entrance of each hive, to make them easier to defend, against these & any other attackers.

I want to try and re-establish my empty hives, where the combs are suffering from wax-moth, but haven't seen any drones during inspection, perhaps they don't raise any until they're actually needed ? So I will need to try to raise queens for the first-time. I've trimmed the bottom of a frame of foundation into sawtooth-pattern, and will be putting it into my most-active colony this week, trying to follow the 'Miller Method'. My friend is trying grafting, using a cell-bar frame, the 'Doolittle Method'. We shall see !

One last point, the bees seem more 'frisky' during inspections now, than they were during the depths of the cool-season, I'm definitely needing to use my smoker (previously had not) and even so had a few stings. All part of the learning-process, I guess.

To be continued ... hope these notes are useful to others ?

Edited August 15, 2010 by Ricardo

[houseofhoney]

Hi there, i am a beekeper at the same time own a honey shop here in Australia. My wife and i along with my 2 friends will be going to chiangmai this coming July. Im really hoping to meet some beekeepers and visit some honey shops as well. It's our first time to go to thailand so if anybody could help/;assist me finding a beekeeper or a honey shop it would be very much appreciated. thank you

Edited January 8, 2011 by houseofhoney

[houseofhoney]

Hi there.. im a beekeeper here in Australia. Ill be visiting Thailand this coming July and im just wondering if i could possibly meet some beekeepers there as im really interested to know your method of beekeeping and at the same time share some ideas too. thank you...

Edited January 8, 2011 by houseofhoney

[halfling]

​​​... To be continued ... hope these notes are useful to others ?

The photo is made in January, 2010

I bought Apis Melifera Itali on a farm in Chantaburi in 2009.

At first I have bought three families, and one Queen bee began to postpone only eggs of drones a month later. Then I have bought three more families and the same problems with Queen bee.

Now at me 14 families from 4 Queen bee. I am interested in purchase of a new Queen bee, but on a farm sell only a family entirely.

In 2009 honey gathering has begun in November, there was a break for February, 2010. I have finished gathering of honey in May, 2010.

This year I collect honey since December, 2010. Every week I collect 7-10 litres of honey.

I live in a province Pailin on territories of Cambodia, 17 km from border with Thailand.

Forgive my English language. I use the computer for transfer.

Edited February 13, 2011 by halfling

[Ricardo]

​​​... To be continued ... hope these notes are useful to others ?

The photo is made in January, 2010

I bought Apis Melifera Itali on a farm in Chantaburi in 2009.

At first I have bought three families, and one Queen bee began to postpone only eggs of drones a month later. Then I have bought three more families and the same problems with Queen bee.

Now at me 14 families from 4 Queen bee. I am interested in purchase of a new Queen bee, but on a farm sell only a family entirely.

In 2009 honey gathering has begun in November, there was a break for February, 2010. I have finished gathering of honey in May, 2010.

This year I collect honey since December, 2010. Every week I collect 7-10 litres of honey.

I live in a province Pailin on territories of Cambodia, 17 km from border with Thailand.

Forgive my English language. I use the computer for transfer.

Thanks for your post !

Those beehives look similar to the ones we use here, a single box with lid, no supers except on one hive at the back. But your landing-boards look bugger & sloped, did you do that, or is this how they were when you got them ?

If you're only getting drones, that would normally suggest to me that the queen is infertile or dead, so a worker has started laying. Are there more-than-one eggs in some cells ? That would confirm it. Perhaps the queen you bought was a new one, who failed to be fertilised on her nuptial-flight(s), or was injured during the transfer ?

Alternatively she may have been very old one, who was upset by the stress of the move, when you got the new colonies from Thailand ?

You "now have 14 families from 4 queen bees", what method did you use, to get your new queen-cells ? It certainly sounds successful !

I believe that altitude or latutude (north of the Equator) may alter the honey-flow season, because it alters the flowering/nectar-seasons of plants/fruit-trees, how high is your farm in Pailin ?

Edited April 12, 2011 by Ricardo

[Ricardo]

Update ... one year in.

I now have 4 colonies, 1 very strong, 1 hanging-on with an old queen still-laying but not expanding much, and 2 new colonies. My main-aim, after a year of learning, is to expand back to 4 colonies this honey-season, rather than try to harvest any honey, especially as only the 1 strong hive has had much (2-3 frames) during the past month.

The red-ants continued to be a problem, I've now got all my hives on a fairly-shady terrace, with the stands standing in an inch of water in a big plastic-tray (19B at the local cheap-shop !), and the water-barrier seems to work most of the time. When the ants do get past that, several will surround & sting each worker-bee, on the outside of the hive, until they can carry her off to their nest as food ! Grrr !

Wax-moth was also a serious problem, especially later in the rainy-season, freezing the unused-frames for a few days usually works, but you can't do that to a frame with eggs/larvae on ! Some frames from failed-colonies were totally-destroyed by them. I also discovered that my 'burr-box', where I keep scrappings off frames & any burr-comb, is also attractive to wax-moths, and also needs to be put in the freezer, from time to time. Obvious really, now I think about it, as wax-moths like wax !

Very few hornets seen this year, perhaps they don't like the strange weather we've been having, or their colony died-out ?

My attempt at raising a queen using Miller-method failed, my friends early-attempts at Doolittle-method also, but they've recently had more luck which explains my 2 new colonies, both queens survived and emerged, and one now shows larvae, which I hope are from the laying/fertilised queen rather than a worker. The other didn't work first-time, so has now got a further 2 queen-cells put in last week, fingers-crossed for good-luck !

I've only seen any drone-cells in the past few months, so suspect that there may be a natural drone/queen-season ? When there is plenty of pollen (to feed larvae) and after the cool-but-dry season ends. Does anyone else find this ?

I have been feeding a little dried-pollen (from ForaBee) as well as sugar-solution, whenever I've not seen forager-bees finding plenty of fresh-pollen, to help encourage egg-laying by boosting the supply to feed larvae.

I was able to clean & wash my old frames, leaving just the frame & wire, ready to re-use. I didn't need to use a transformer, to heat the wire, and melt the new sheet of foundation into the wire. Instead I put 3 paperback-books flat, placed the sheet of press-patterned foundation on top, with its sheet of waxed-paper stopping it from sticking to the books. Lastly I put the frame on top, slotted the bottom-edge of the foundation-sheet into the slot in the frame, and pressed the wires into the fairly-soft (air-temperature 85*F/30*C) wax-sheet using my fingers. This seemed to work quite well.

Lastly the weather, it's been a funny old year in Chiang Mai, turning cold again in March and with heavy rain-showers, which may have upset the normal run of things ? I saw pick-up loads of hives being moved northwards, one evening at the end of March, so assume that the commercial-beekeepers think that the local season has ended in Saraphi/Chiang-Mai/Mae-Rim and moved up to Chiang-Dao/Chai-Prakan/Fang or further ?

Does anyone else know whether this has been a 'good' season, for Thai beekeepers, or has the generally odd/wet weather upset the harvest ?

[Ricardo]

I just made a solar wax-melter for only 210 Baht !

My local cheap-shop had large polystyrene boxes @ 110 Baht, then my local glass-shop cut a thick pane-of-glass to fit across the top for 100 Baht, with sanded edges so I don't cut myself when handling it. I put an old saucepan in the bottom, with an inch of water for the wax to float-on, then on-top a vegetable-strainer, with a sheet of kitchen-paper in it to act as a filter.

Filled the strainer with dirty-wax, cut from an old frame of honeycomb, replaced the glass on-top and left the melter in the sun for a few days. Hey presto, crud in the paper, and a thin film of wax on top of the water in the saucepan.

With thanks to the friend, who told me how to do this, beats paying $100+ for a melter, back in farangland !

[halfling]

Those beehives look similar to the ones we use here, a single box with lid, no supers except on one hive at the back. But your landing-boards look bugger & sloped, did you do that, or is this how they were when you got them ?

I made drawings for the hives tothe frame 230 to 450 mm standard L & R. For every hive I have made on threefloors. In the photo behind a full-fledged Colony, and in the foreground standLayer. One floor of 11 frames, if the wall is 30mm. One floor of 12 frames, ifthe wall of 20 mm. Framework in two forms:

1. upper blockis cut at an angle toward the middle, such a framework can be put into a hivewithout honeycomb

2. upper blockis cut in the middle to set Foundation

Trays in the bottom of the hive, Istrengthened the bars across the bottom. I do inclined bottoms and removable. Iput the bottoms only for a while Honey yield and then not always. All full timeinstead of a solid bottom face Queen excluder. Input Group, I made out ofplywood, as in the photo. This improves ventilation and helps to quicklydispose of the bees from the hive debris and diseased bees. Through the latticemites (Varroa jacobsoni) immediately fall out of the hive.

I made the cover with vents thatare closed mesh. Height of space under the cover of 90mm. If the bees do notneed ventilation, they cover the holes with propolis. And when it is hotoutside bees clean themselves from the grid of propolis for ventilation.

To stand under the hive I put anextra strip of plywood. He needed to have an active Honey yield in the dryseason. In the rainy season it soak of rain, and I throw it.

If you're only getting drones, that would normally suggest to me that the queen is infertile or dead, so a worker has started laying. Are there more-than-one eggs in some cells ? That would confirm it. Perhaps the queen you bought was a new one, who failed to be fertilised on her nuptial-flight(s), or was injured during the transfer ?

I got the Bee package 1.5 monthsafter ordering. I was told that the young Queen bee - new. I think that theQueen bee has been poorly fertilized during her nuptial-flight.

You "now have 14 families from 4 queen bees", what method did you use, to get your new queen-cells ? It certainly sounds successful !

I keep running Brood chamber colonyon two floors. If the uterus is only on the second floor, then I change thefloor in places once in 14 days.

When does the Honey yield, I put onthe second floor of the separation grid (Queen excluder) andput the top of the third floor to collect honey.

I get a Layer one floor indifferent ways:

1. 1. I find the Queen bee, transplanted itto another floor, and leave the old place. Floor, where she worked Queen bee,bear and put in a new location. After 4 days I delete all sealed (capping)queen cells. After 2-3 days, I remove all non-sealed (no capping) queen cellsand remove the small queen cells. I leave 3 - 4 most large / beautiful queencells. After 10 days, the queen bee comes out. In 14 of the colony will remainone queen bee and she starts to lay eggs.

If duringthe inspection of the colony I do not see the queen bees and brood, I put acontrol frame with the young (1-2 days) eggs. If the queen bee in the colony upand running, then the bees seal (capping) cell in a control frame. If the queenbee in a colony is absent, the bees will build new queen cells that would getthe queen bee.

2. 2. I find thequeen bee, transplanted it to the first floor, second floor leaving scope withfresh eggs, between floors put queen excluder. The bees begin to build queencells on the second floor. Once the bees seal (cap) queen cells, I take thefloor at the new location. Then it all in the first method.

3. 3. If a strongcolony of bees, the queen of good works, and I do not want to change it, butbees have started to build a lot of queen cells, then I take one floor of theold queen bee to a new location. At the old place, everything happens like inthe way number two.

It happens that sometimes the beeslay in several pieces of good queen cells in different frameworks. Then, withone story I'm doing two new Layer using the method number 2 or number 3.

If the Queen bee has been poorlyfertilized during her nuptial-flight or a very weak colony, less than 3 frames,then I kill the uterus, and combines with the normal colony. For this work Ihave a special box for three frames, which can be inserted into the hive. I'vedone it twice.

If the colony (Layer) instead ofthe queen bees appeared Lying worker, then I give them a sealed / closed Queencell. I've done it once.

If the colony (Layer) instead ofthe queen bees appeared Lying worker, but I have no Queen cell to "repairthe colony," that I put at 20 - 30 meters from the hive sheet of plywoodon it and shake out the entire colony. The bees themselves choose their hivewhere they let in security. So I did once.

If during Supersedure I left toomany queen cells (greater than three), and left cluster (prime swarm), then Icollect it in the bag, and in the evening, after dark shake a weak colony (itis possible in an empty hive). So it was once.

In 2008 I started working with Apiscerana. I studied and practiced from 3 colonies did 7. Apis cerana does notmake honey, just "meat." In 2009 I started working with Apismellifera. In 2010 I stopped working with Apis cerana. Now I work only withApis mellifera.

I believe that altitude or latutude (north of the Equator) may alter the honey-flow season, because it alters the flowering/nectar-seasons of plants/fruit-trees, how high is your farm in Pailin ?

Pailin is located east of Chantaburi. Temperature, we like toChanthaburi, but the wind rose is different. The height of my beehives abovesea level, approximately 200 meters. The hives are in two groups, betweengroups of about 100 meters.

[Ricardo]

Update after 20 months :-

Four strong colonies on-the-go, all 7-8 frames, plus one empty (rotting) box, kept as a spare.

It's been a very-wet monsoon season up-North, and I've had problems with fungus growing on the hives, both inside & out. Therefore over the past few weeks I've cleaned & repainted the outsides of my hives, was a bit nervous about swapping-over the colony from the old hive to the new, but I needn't have worried ! I just moved the old-hive to a position in front, put the newly-painted hive in its old spot, then removed both lids & moved the frames across, using plenty of smoke & working in the cold-morning (7.00-8.00 and 65*-70*F) when they're already quiet.

Any remaining bees, in the old box, soon found their way across to the new home, and I actually saw a few bees on the front-step fanning the homing-pheromone to guide them, just like in the textbook !

One other effect of the rain was a distinct unwillingness to lay, by the queens, although feeding a little dried-pollen when feeding sugar did seem to help. Not a wonderful year ... but more-successful than my first one !

I've been working to generate new honeycomb, rotating-out the blackened old frames, and using the solar wax-melter to extract some of the old wax, hope eventually to make a little home-made beeswax-polish. The end-of-monsoon onset-of-cold-season (start of November) has seen fairly-strong production of new comb, even a little burr-comb from the roofs of the hives, if I hadn't put-in a new frame of bare-foundation soon-enough.

In October a friend looked-after my hives, as I was away for a few weeks, and he aggressively-thinned-out the unused/under-used frames, thus when I returned there were fewer frames (only 4-5 in each hive) but they were very crowded and active ! In fact two-weeks-later I had to kill swarm-cells three times, which was the first time I's seen a colony produce them like that, so I suspect that the overcrowding had prompted a desire to split the colonies. This might be a useful extra way to generate queens for a new colony ? Just transfer the frame with the queen-cells, and a second one of brood, to ensure a reasonable start for the new colony, without weakening the old one too much.

The local honeyflow started at the beginning of December, so I have just removed 3 frames for extraction, shaking & brushing the bees off above the open hive. My heart was in-my-mouth, and the smoker was close-at-hand and used liberally, but although agitated they didn't take their revenge on me ! I don't want to spin all the frames in each box, like local commercial beekeepers, just get a little honey for friends & family. My homemade extractor cost 150 Baht, using a method found on YouTube, where there are quite a few beekeeping-clips ! Search on 'Simple Honey Extractor' for the 'whirling the plastic-box round your head' method, which worked just fine for me !

The sticky tools/box are now standing on top of a hive, being cleaned-out by the workers. Waste not, want not !

And I got about 400ml of honey, from the 3 frames, one more small step along the road ! It did taste good on buttered-toast !

[Ricardo]

Just to add, the annual beehive-migration must now be on, as I saw a pick-up yesterday-evening, loaded-up with about 40 closed/secured-hives, turning off the Super-Highway & heading North towards Mae-Tang & Chiang-Dao.

But a stack of perhaps 1,000 empty-hives, at Forabee a few weeks ago, was reportedly an export-order bound for Malaysia, Amazing Beekeeping Thailand !

[hawaiiman]

I'm an ex-beekeeper most I ever had was 35 hives. An electric powered 4 frame extractor with stainless body from ebay out of China is $700usd plus $100 shipping to Asia.

The frames drop into the hive boxes. Usually we smoke them out of the box and take the whole thing, as they will still have 2-3 to live in. There is a special heated uncapping knife that melts/cuts the top off the honey cells. Do each side and then in the extractor. Spin them dry and then give the box and frames back to the bees for a refill, o leave out in the yard and the bees will clean them. Natural enemy of bees and all other farmers are ants.

[JoeBen]

Hi everybody,

Does anybody know a bee-keepers supply shop in Chiang Rai? The kind like Fora-bee or Supha Bee in Chiang Mai?

[JoeBen]

I have finished and tested my Bee Vac now! I will be able to suck swarms of newly arrived bees even from hardly accessible places like under roofs or in hollow walls, where ever sight is possible without killing them. For removal of colonies, that have already built combs, I would have to have access to cut the combs out. Anybody having problems with invading swarms of bees in my area (Fang, 150km north of Chiang Mai): I'd be willing to drive a few kilometers to catch a swarm and take away the bees (and combs, if necessary) without fee!

[wdrk7]

Hi everybody,

Does anybody know a bee-keepers supply shop in Chiang Rai? The kind like Fora-bee or Supha Bee in Chiang Mai?

By the way , flora bee has got a shop selling gears in CR . IT is behind the isuzu showroom beside the super highway .

[drscud]

This is a really old thread, but I will give it a shot anyway.

Looking for bee boxes. I live in Phuket. Anyone know where I can buy boxes or other beekeeping equipment?