managing apis cerana

[tig]

i'm planning to raise A. Cerana hives in the mountains but i can barely find any information as to the management of this particular specie.  having read several publications and talked to some beekeepers who have handled A. Cerana, aside from the tendency to abscond and swarm, there seems to be no cut and dried method of honey extraction like in A. Melifera.  Is there anyone who is familiar with handling this kind of bees and/or has any relevant information as to production figures and hive management?

[mattoleriver]

I have never seen very much written about managing A. cerana.  Try searching this BB for posts by Sean Chan, I believe he raises A. cerana.
Good luck
George

[SeanChan]

Hi,

Try the following links:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0083e/X0083E00.htm#Contents

http://mandafamily.com/beekeepinginindia.htm

http://peacecorps.mtu.edu/beebutts5.htm

If You need more let me know since I have 3 to 4 hives in my durian smallholding for a year now but mine are rather primitive as I can't get them to stay in my asian A Cerana sized langstroth hives.

Sean :D

[kempf]

Apis cerana ------You can capture it in wild.
1. They are fear of light ---- don't need to open the window
2. not easy angry------but easy disorder
3. fly very fast
4. like to concentrate at the bottom of frame
5. when small larva appear in queen cell , the colony will  easy get angry
6. not to use smoke , water fog is better than smoke .smoke will lead to disorder and angry
7. pollen coming is normal . If no pollen coming , your colony is in big trouble (loss queen/disease/hornet attack...)

I thinlk China and Japan maybe have more data about Apis Cerana . China beekeeping A.cerana more than one million colony.