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Author Topic: Does anyone know anything about Asian bees?  (Read 906 times)

Offline Emily in Hanoi

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Does anyone know anything about Asian bees?
« on: August 06, 2019, 04:44:00 am »
I am a new bee keeper living in Hanoi, Vietnam.  I have an Australian hive with Asian bees.  This seems to be creating lots of problems for me.  The frames here in Vietnam are smaller than the ones I have from Australia.  When I obtained my bees a bar was placed in my hive so that the Vietnamese frames would fit.  This has worked ok, but I tried to use the larger size frames in the supper and that hasn't worked.  I will now ensure that the frames are all the same size in both parts of the hive.

My other problem is I have come back from 2 months away from my hive to find lots of bees and very little honey (it is summer here) and I can not figure out why?  There appears to be a lot of flowers around and we have had lots of rain. Could it be ants taking the honey?  Do I need to feed my bees?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Does anyone know anything about Asian bees?
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2019, 07:37:32 am »
Emily,
Welcome to Beemaster.
Ants do eat honey and will rob it. Try putting the legs in Coffee cans and add some oil. Make sure the weeds do not make a ladder to your hive.
Feeding is a double edge sward. Not only does it draw ants, it also causes robbing. Are the bees flying a lot or are they pretty much staying home. If they are not flying dry much, then you may need to feed them since they do not have any stored food. Feed inside of the hive, don?t use an entrance feeder or use a feeder that is at one hundred feet of away from your hive.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: Does anyone know anything about Asian bees?
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2019, 07:06:17 pm »
Emily, I also want to welcome you.  I am pleased that you posted your question here. It is nice to have someone from Vietnam posting here. Please continue your post and sharing the beekeeping experiences that you have along your way of beekeeping in  Hanoi.
Phillip
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Does anyone know anything about Asian bees?
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2019, 10:06:04 am »
I'm not expert, but from what I understand you will need to manage space more judiciously and probably at more granularity than Langstroth equipment will allow.  Maybe if you ran five frame medium depth hives you could use Langstroth equipment.  The colonies don't get as big and will abscond if you give them too much room or mess with them too often.  Part of the problem with too much space is the bees have to guard that space from ants, small hive beetles (I don't know if you have those there or not...) wax moths etc.  A colony with the right amount of space thrives.  Too much space and they languish.

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