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Any reason why you wanna buy European bees rather than catch a native swarm?
Yahoo auctions had swarms folks had caught a few weeks ago. Expect 4-6man just for the bees though.
Japanese honey bees are indeed lots of work, but well worth it.
Is there anyway you can get in touch with a local Bee keeper.? I wish you every success by the way, I have never kept Bees , but I know it can be difficult to start your own hives.
I have Japanese bees. I caught 2 swarms this spring. I guess they’re Japanese but they might be a hybrid.
I am told Japanese bees can manage varroa mites much better than western bees. Varroa is a huge issue that decimates colonies almost everywhere. So even you get western bees for their supposed better productivity you might find it hard to keep them healthy.
Fighting yellowjackets is another thing the native bees do by forming a ball around them and literally overheating the hornet to death. Western bees have not figured this out here – although perhaps some might.
Lastly the traditional box hive here is much more difficult to manage than western frame style hives. To me that’s a big advantage of keeping western bees. You can manage them better – treat them for diseases by removing the honey supers etc. with the Japanese traditional jubako hives that isn’t possible.
Anyway it’s getting late in the season to get a swarm – this year I believe swarming happened in in mid April in Izu. But you might get lucky.
https://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/a1201/shoushi/kyassyuresu.html For those renewing their license in Saitama (whether at a police station or the license center in…
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This seems like a post about shopping, maybe your question is solved by [the wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/wiki/shopping)?
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/japanlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Any reason why you wanna buy European bees rather than catch a native swarm?
Yahoo auctions had swarms folks had caught a few weeks ago. Expect 4-6man just for the bees though.
Japanese honey bees are indeed lots of work, but well worth it.
Is there anyway you can get in touch with a local Bee keeper.?
I wish you every success by the way, I have never kept Bees , but I know it can be difficult to start your own hives.
I have Japanese bees. I caught 2 swarms this spring. I guess they’re Japanese but they might be a hybrid.
I am told Japanese bees can manage varroa mites much better than western bees. Varroa is a huge issue that decimates colonies almost everywhere. So even you get western bees for their supposed better productivity you might find it hard to keep them healthy.
Fighting yellowjackets is another thing the native bees do by forming a ball around them and literally overheating the hornet to death. Western bees have not figured this out here – although perhaps some might.
Lastly the traditional box hive here is much more difficult to manage than western frame style hives. To me that’s a big advantage of keeping western bees. You can manage them better – treat them for diseases by removing the honey supers etc. with the Japanese traditional jubako hives that isn’t possible.
Anyway it’s getting late in the season to get a swarm – this year I believe swarming happened in in mid April in Izu. But you might get lucky.
び– keeping