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Keeping Cerana and Melefera in same bee yard?

5K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  Paul's Babees 
#1 ·
I live in Papua New Guinea, and I keep 4 hives of Mellifera bees . The Asian Cerana bees live wild around here, and are all over the place. Mostly I just spend a lot of time digging them out of my friend’s houses and sheds. But recently I decided to try to hive some. I built a small purpose built “box pile” hive, and got one colony to take residence. Now my fiend wants me to get this new hive off his property.

Is there any reason I can’t put this hive of Cerana in my same bee yard side by side with my Mellifera Bees?

I’ve always been happy to kill the Cerana as they spread mites, and possibly other diseases. And I’m having trouble with both Varroa and Tropilaelaps mites. And the Cerana help spread those. But I’ve come to the point of “if you can’t beat them, join them” and I’m giving the Cerana a try. We eat the honey we dig out of houses, and it’s a bit runnier than regular honey, but still good. And honestly I’m mostly into it because bees are super interesting. Not just for the honey.

Any advice would be great!
Thanks!
 
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