Honey flow time in Chiangmai

[Chiangmai member]

Just back from looking at our hives (7; Apis mellifera), and its all systems go for the bees. They are out foraging from well before dawn to dusk. Supers are on and its looking like it could be a good season, (our third). Hornets were not so much of a problem in the last wet season, so colonies were quite strong going into the cool time.

Nectar flows are short here. In December there is a small flow from wild flowers but January this year was hard going and most colonies used up their stores. Its not until a few days ago and temperatures rose that things really started to get interesting. The Lum Yai (Longan) trees have started to blossom and the bees go crazy for their nectar. The Lum yai will flower from now until mid-April and that will be it for another year.

Lychee trees are also in flower at the moment and the bees seem to like them too but they are not as significant as Lum Yai. It always surprises me that bees do not seem at all interested in mango flowers. The tiny flowers smell sweet and yet the bees ignore them completely. Anyone ever heard of mango honey outside of an ice cream parlour? No I didn't think so.

Another thing that surprises me, is all the talk on the forum of swarm prevention, collection etc. Here, we never see a hive swarm from one year to the next. And that is not through good management from our side, I assure you. Anyone have any ideas on why this might be the case?

This might be my 10th posting so I may be able to post some photos soon.

Anyway, good luck to you all. Last year sounded impossible in the UK. Hope you have a decent summer this year.

 

[susbees]

Interesting stuff. And good to hear your bees are busy. The mango situation is an interesting one:

bee pollination of mangoes

The swarming issue (or lack of it) may be due to the short flows.

 

[JohnyP]

Fascinating stuff. Keep it coming, especially some photos. Haven't been to Chang Mai since 1985

 

[biglongdarren]

very interesting indeed and luck.
Darren.

 

[whoosling]

Great to hear from Thailand, looking forward to the pics, especially of somewhere sunny and warm after our particularly grey autumn and winter.

 

[Finman]

.
How many boxes you use to have in hives?

-

 

[Excession]

Love to see some pictures, and like Finman, interested to hear about your setup.

Is it the same way as they use in China? No excluder, add boxes to the bottom, and take full boxes with no bees off the top?

Or because of the shorter flow do you need to handle things differently?

Thank you, for sharing.

 

[Chiangmai member]

ah it seem that I can now post photos. So here's a few. We use Tawanese boxes in Thailand. These can take 11 frames. We put supers on them, that don't quite fit, as each box has slightly different dimensions.

The pics which I hope have attached show 1. the typical Taiwanese boxes that we use, (although we have a friend who made us a very nice Langstroth), 2. The dreaded bee-hawking hornet, Vespa velutina, which I am afraid that you may all get to meet in the near future. 3. A swarm of the Giant Himalayan Honey bee Apis dorsata, (blurred as I was running away from them at the time and 4. The Mae Deng farm, in the wet season, where we keep some of the colonies.

 

[Finman]

.
I live in Finland and during maind flow I have 5-6 langstroth boxes.
In winter they have 1-2 boxes.

Couple of years ago I dove in Malaysea 8 days and I did not met European honeybees.

 

[Mellifera397]

Fantastic pictures!

Love to hear more from Thailand in the future

 

[REDWOOD]

Brill photos but still puzzled why they don't swarm, do you re-queen every year ?

 

[Easy Beesy]

Interesting stuff. And good to hear your bees are busy. The mango situation is an interesting one:

bee pollination of mangoes

Ok susbees

What were you doing when you stumbled across this! Do you just have some weird mango fetish or are you living in an alternate weather climate to the rest of the uk?