I believe inporting any bees into the united states is forbidden.

I have also heard that the Asian hive bees are not suited to our type of apiculture- they are smaller, require a smaller cell size, a smaller hive, and smaller beespace.  Old reports of attempts to keep them in areas outside their natural range reported  to be temperamental, and tend to either swarm or dwindle, and either way, they dont produce much excess honey for their keeper. (Not compared to our european bees, anyway.)

This is what I recall from some stuff I read a year or two ago in old issues of the beekeeping journals- my recollection may be faulty, so if anyone has more solid information, please correct me!

We probably got varroa in the US because somebody knew better than US customs, and snuck bees (Probably queens) into the United States illegally.   We got Africanized bees because someone thought they would be better than what we had.  Before anyone thinks about bringing in new species or types of bees, they should carefully review the poor track record we already have, and then think again.  We don't need any more new pests and diseases.

We are getting some new strains of bees brought in from Russia, legally, and some US breeders are having luck in selecting for resistance.  Patience and persistance seem to be our best bets.



Ellen Anglin


  "Joseph A. Clark" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello All,

My wife was watching the Discovery Channel on Thursday night. The show
"Wild Discovery" had a segment on varroa infestation on European honeybees.
They showed how the bees in Thailand have adapted to the varroa when an
individual bee signals she is under attack by dancing. The other bees wait
for an opportunity to pluck the mites from the affected bee, and kill it with
their mandibles.

Is there something in the temperament or the makeup of Thai bees that they
cannot be used in place of other bees? If a beekeeper in the United States
were to want to raise Asian bees, would it be permissible?

Thanks,

Joseph A. Clark