Flow in Philippines


Some might call it sacrilege, but I painted my Flow white as we think that it keeps the hive just that bit cooler. It now looks dandy with the removable parts in natural cedar. The 8 frame super is on a 10 frame broodbox, just because this hive was ready for a super. Now the exciting time starts. Will the girls like their new home?

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I think it looks lovely & very suited to tropics architecture, especially your use of bamboo :wink:

Pablo,

Hey my friend… That white with bare cedar looks fine n dandy to me ! Looks rather classy ! :+1: it’s great to break the mold n do your own thing !! Way to GO !

Thankz for the share,

Gerald yours looks unique mines just clear cedar. I live here in the Pacific NW where cedar grow. Some cedar us stained or painted here too. I just wanted the natural. Keep up the great beekeeping n share a pix or two once in awhile so we can see your progress ! :ok_hand::wink:

Looks great Pablo
I am taking a flow hive to PH next month (November 2016)
to set up on my small farm in Echague Isabela province.
After seeing yours, I think I will also paint mine white when I set it up.

My bees seem to love epoxy paint and get mad when I use normal enamel.
I should have painted everything, also the cover. The cover looked nice, I
oiled it 5 times, but now it looks shabby. Wished I pained everything.
Succes, keep contact, I tried to set up something for mutual support in
Phil, but it seems there is lots of in-fighting and only a few people
really dedicated with the result that it is difficult to get nucs, queens
and info. But http://www.pinoybeekeepersforum.com/ gives the best handle.
Have fun.

Yeah i know what you are saying too many with crab mentality sadly
Any way now you know some one else trying to do something in PH…
I hope we can learn here and encourage each other.
I tried to joining that forum but for some reason it is not letting me sign up ???
You know in UP Los Banios they run training seminars I think there is one in New Year for 6 days …
Thanks for the tip with painting the flo box i think i will paint it mostly white ( opoxy ) and some other color for the covers so that all parts are painted and protected some what from weathering.

Some of the Los Banos people are the rootcause for the problem. The Baguio
setup is much more beekeeper friendly and also can provide queens. They run
a system of 3 day courses and an expensive 6 month training of you want.
The first 3 dat course gets you setup for normal beekeeping.

Regards,
Paul Holtslag
Nasidman Island
Ajuy CLUP teamlead. AURA & beekeeper.

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Hey Pablo
Thanks for that info. Baguio would be a much better option for me and my farm worker to get to, then going all the way to UP Los Banos.
Who do I contact and were can I find out when they are doing training seminars in Baguio ?
I had a few messenger conversations with the people in Lao Banos and they do seem a little hard to talk with and stand offish… I was looking for advice and they just kept giving me the run around…
Sad we are all trying to do our best and make a success yet I got the impression they were not willing to be helpful …

The Baguio beekeeping crowd

Eissif@gmail.com and edbenavides@yahoo.com
+639123044390
+63744439573

Phase 1, Ciudad Grande
Bakakeng, Baguio City

Google earth 16.38593,120.591817

Just contact them for their training plan, but they had problems recent
with the typhoon.

Pinoy Beekeepers Forum is still recommended to lay contacts. Just ask the
administrator to get you on it.

The facebook site of Beekeeping Philippines, managed by Miel-de-Oro staff
Arence is also worth while for buying stuff in Philippines.

The UPLB stated that they lost many hives because they lack queens, and
they stated that it is impossible to import queens now (while as they also
claim to be the authority on bees, it is their task to inform the
Agriculture dept. and get it resolved).

Anyway, welcome to Philippine beekeeping and hopefully, we can find ways to
improve the situation before we loose control completely.

P

Regards,
Paul Holtslag
Nasidman Island
Ajuy CLUP teamlead. AURA & beekeeper.

1 Like

Awesome Pablo
Thanks will save this info and get in contact with them ASAP
Funny you mentioned about UPLB and queens… I was going to buy some queens here in Australia and take them with me to Manila next month $40 for 9-10 pcs.
The UPLB people told me not to do it, as it might possibly cause the destruction of the local population which had happened from others bringing in queens in the past they said…also I would need to get an import permit which is very hard to get…
PS>> sent an email to both addresses but the one to edbenavides@yahoo.com bounced back as unable to deliver

Ofcourse, it is smuggling, but my friend takes queens every time from
Australia. I have a record that UPLB imported hundreds of queens yearly
from Australia but that they stopped 3 years ago and now their hives have
dwindled…
So, they cannot help me with new queens, but they are very willing to
train me for P6000 on Stingless bees and they can provide me with stingless
bee colonies (as they say: not cheap, but good).
WTF?
A picture starts ro emerge.

In the mean time, Philippine imports some 75% of their honey consumption.

I thought that was the case . It was an apiary supplier in Manila that sells queens who first suggested to me , why buy them here, when you can bring your own from Australia…it was only after I inquired on the Beenet Philippines Facebook page about training seminars at UPLB that they discouraged me from doing it. I gather the admin was connected to UPLB as they also recommended sting-less bees and doing the course in the New Year…
they wrote; You would need a permit to bring those queens in. We are having problems bringing in queens from abroad and that is why the A.Mellifera are collapsing.
Strange Edwin Madrid in Manila sells locally bred A.Mellifere colonies , so maybe its only UPLB that has an issue .
Any way I’m going to keep moving forward in spite of the discouragement.

Can you please safeguard that conversation for future use?
I will start a little rant about UPLB with various good beekeepers here and
ask them to contact the Department of Agriculture. UPLB is actually
un-ethical and probably criminal and they are damaging the Philippine
economy by now having to import the majority of the honey instead of
exporting the honey like Vietnam or Australia do. With all these islands,
Philippines COULD be the major producer of certified healthy queens (like
Pitcairn) and high quality honey. You see the results instead. The UPLB
team is to blame, they are only interested in giving courses, collecting
money, making the yearly Apimonda summary and do lots of travel. The
results are disastrous.

With your written evidence and a recorded telephone conversation from me, I
will try to get an NGO interested to work together to advice the DA of the
situation.

It probably will not work (it is Philippines after all), but what the heck,
if we do not try, the bee industry will be limited to Miel d’Oro only
(because they have sufficient stocks) and a few selected small beekeepers.
The Baguio crowd is in the typhoon path and often get wiped out, so their
queen rearing is very haphazard.
You can get local bees from Romy Fenol in Cavite, but please, please take
your queens from Downunder. But make sure you are properly set-up here
before…

I have them all saved and will also save screen shots as well…
I would take some Queens this trip, but I am not set up in any way as yet …I have 2 hives tools and some other equipment ready , so this trip was the start up for me. Training is important and some thing I really want to do when I am there.
the son of my farm manager who is studying Agg Science is also keen to do the training seminars with me.
I have good land in Pangal Sur and I think it would be perfect for beekeeping.
My greatest ambition is to have a fully productive farm.
I already produce rice corn and cassava as well as pigs chickens and turkeys.
It also annoys the hell out of me that it is a characteristic of some in the PH to have a crab mentality and a defeatist attitude… I have come across this on many occasions and it just holds the development of the PH and its agri businesses back.

Some things I saw here which might interest you:

  • I am convinced that going organic is the future. Organic restaurants
    in the city are fully booked all the time. And the ones which have an
    end-to-end business (growing it, selling it, cooking it and restaurant) are
    doing very well. But they need to improve their presentation significantly
    if they want to be comparable to foreign organic businesses.
  • My mate across the water is a “chaoic planter” He mixes up everything
    and therefore is less efficient (obviously), but has no diseases on his
    plot. He transferred a bare mountainside inot part of paradise in 10 years.
    Now he is planting 200 cacao seedlings.
  • Another engineer (Filipino) has changed the rice-farm he inherited
    from his parents into an organic, professional farm. H

Some things I saw here which might interest you:

  • I am convinced that going organic is the future. the 2 organic
    restaurants in the city are fully booked all the time. And the ones which
    have an end-to-end business (growing it, selling it, cooking it and
    restaurant) are doing very well. But they need to improve their
    presentation significantly if they want to be comparable to foreign organic
    businesses.
  • My mate across the water is a “chaotic planter” He mixes up everything
    and therefore is less efficient (obviously), but has no diseases on his
    plot. He transferred a bare mountainside into part of paradise in 10 years.
    Now he is planting 200 cacao seedlings. He now has at least 6 species of
    local bees, birds are back and he now does some simple resort businesses
    because people are attracted to his land, the same ones who said he was
    crazy to start planting on a bare hillside :slight_smile:
  • Another engineer (Filipino) has changed the rice-farm he inherited
    from his parents into an organic, professional farm. He delivers to
    Shoemart and manages it like an engineering project. e.g. he makes P32000
    profit from a 400m2 salad plot. And he produces only high-value crops. Very
    professional.He manages the farm, his daughter the guesthouse, his other
    daughter the restaurant and his son further development.
  • Bees need chemical-free space. at least a radius of 2 km no
    pesticides. Difficult to find in Philippines. Normally only in coconut
    land. Forest land is no good for honeybees.
  • An organic farmer close-by has bees. A neighbour spraying chemicals
    seriously damaged his colonies recently.
  • A beekeeper in Negros lost all his hives in coconut land when a Tuba
    maker (who tapped illegally) poisoned the 50+ hives because he thinks that
    the bees take away the tuba before he could harvest that.
  • Another beekeeper who managed for 3 years to keep her bees inside when
    the neighbors sprayed chemicals lost 22 out of 25 hives when a neighbour
    "forgot" to inform her of his plans to spray. Sad thing is that she is
    dependent on the honey income.
  • Find a carpenter to make nice hive boxes for a reasonable price. My
    carpenter made them out of mahogany and I painted them with epoxy. Good
    value and very durable, better than marine plywood.
  • Why not take queens this trip and sell them (give them) to a local
    beekeeper, maybe with the agreement to get the same amount of queens back
    later. Maybe Romy Fenol is interested. Genetic diversity is always an issue
    and getting bees from other area’s could be interesting. Both parties win.

Have fun

Thanks Pablo
Some good ideas and insights for me to digest.
My farm land is near the Cagayan River.

This is my land in Pangal Sur has piggery and ware house.
This is land we own also and were I am thinking would be ideal fro an apiary. We also own the green space above in Picture between the houses to access the road .
Rice Corn and cassava lands.
this is all Rice lands.
Some rice + corn and I want to plant vegetable gardens here in the future.

Pablo could you double check the emails
also, who belongs to which number ?
thanks

Looks to me that there is rice-farmland all around, therefore likely to
have chemical use within a 2 km radius and therefore a problem in honey bee
management. You are already using Google Earth, I have used it to find a
place without riceland in the vicinity and failed so far. Philippines seems
to be one of the pesticide capitals of the world. Only in the forest
area’s, there is no problem, but then, honeybees do not like our forest
lands. Mangroves, they do like, but then they tend to be close to fishponds
and there again they use loads of chemicals…
Happy hunting.

Ed’s email is wrong, it should have been edbenavidez@yahoo.com sorry. the
phone numbers all should connect to him.

Regards,
Paul

Thanks Pablo
will try again