Pattaya Bar/Go-Go Death Watch

[Ricardo]

As those of us who keep bees in Chiang Mai will be aware, scientists from Mae-Jo Agricultural University have been working up in Samoeng to boost yields of locally-grown strawberries, by encouraging bees to increase fertilisation of this popular winter-season crop, so that production enables increased-exports to China & other nearby countries.

A secondary aim has been to develop a special new honey, in much the same style as longan or sunflower honey are popular, as a distinct flavour carrying the scent and flavour and beneficial pollen, from these healthy and tasty soft-fruit. The development would thus benefit both farmers and beekeepers equally.

They have hoped that this laudable aim might be achieved, by inter-breeding bees from northern-Thailand, where Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai are the main honey-producing provinces in Thailand, with bees from other fruit-growing parts of S.E.Asia, to boost the bees' vigour and nectar-collecting attributes.

Unfortunately this technique carries a minor risk, last seen in Brazil a few decades ago, when the new hybrid-breed of bees were discovered to be more-aggressive and protective of their stored-honey, which in any case turned out to be reduced rather than augmented production. Things don't always go the way the scientists might hope !

I've seen this week a couple of pick-up loads of bee-hives, heading northwards in mid-evening, as the local commercial beekeepers move their valuable colonies away from the area. I've also noticed that there seems to be a growing-shortage of insecticides on the shelves, at local shops like Rimping & Carrefour, which suggests that those in-the-know might be stocking-up in advance of potential problems.

TV-posters might be well-advised to follow this example since, in the event of a serious problem developing, there would be no point in 'heading for the hills', because that is exactly where the 'Killer Bees from Samoeng' will be lurking in wait for us !

[Raindancer]

I have sent you a query, via PM.

[Ricardo]

I have sent you a query, via PM.

Hopefully they're not MJU-hybrid bees, as per my OP, your wild-colony would bear close (but not-too-close) observation !