Source: USDA, 5/4/16

Note: This is a preliminary analysis. Sample sizes and estimates are likely to change. A more detailed final report is being prepared for publication in a peer-reviewed journal at a later date.

The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org), in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),  conducted the tenth annual national survey of honey bee colony losses, funded by the USDA NIFA.

For the 2015-2016 winter season, a preliminary 5,756 beekeepers in the United States provided validated survey responses. Collectively, these beekeepers managed 389,083 colonies in October 2015, representing about 15% of the country’s estimated 2.66 million managed honey producing colonies1. An estimated 28.1% of the colonies managed in the United States were lost over the 2015-2016 winter. This represents an increase in losses of 5.8percentage points compared to the previous 2014-2015 winter, but is close to the 10-year average total winter loss of 28.6% (see figure 1).

Just over half of the survey respondents (59%) experienced winter colony loss rates greater than the average self-reported acceptable winter mortality rate of 16.9%.

Beekeepers not only lose colonies in the winter but also throughout the summer.  In 2015, summer losses, at 28.1%, were the same as winter losses. When all results were combined, beekeepers lost 44.1% of their colonies between April 2015 and March 2016.  This high rate of loss is close to the highest annual loss rate over the 6 years we have collected annual colony loss numbers.

To see the full report, click here.