United States Honey Bee Colony Losses 2022–23: Preliminary Results From the Bee Informed Partnership

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. Previous years’ peer-reviewed publication can be accessed on the survey information page: https://beeinformed.org/citizen-science/loss-and-management-survey/. View the PDF version of the abstract here: BIP 2022-23 Loss Abstract To hear more about the results from BIP Science Coordinator Nathalie Steinhauer, watch this video interview from InsideTheHive.TV with Humberto Boncristiani: https://youtu.be/zYyFxjFLVjs Nathalie Steinhauer1, 2, Mikayla Wilson1, 2, Dan Aurell3, Selina Bruckner3, Geoffrey Williams3 1Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 2Bee Informed Partnership, College Park,…

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Bee a Part of Something Big: Participate in the Loss and Management Survey

An important sign of spring is here: The Loss and Management Survey from the Bee Informed Partnership is live! We need your help to make this year's survey the best one yet! As you know, the survey helps us understand the challenges that beekeepers across the country face. This informs extension specialists, scientists, and policy makers about the issues that matter to beekeepers. By participating in the survey, you can help us gather data on colony conditions, management practices, and other important factors that affect the health, productivity, and survival of your bees. Our survey is a long-term effort: We have run the loss section…

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United States Honey Bee Colony Losses 2021-2022: Preliminary Results From The Bee Informed Partnership

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. Download .pdf version here Dan Aurell1, Selina Bruckner1, Mikayla Wilson2, 3, Nathalie Steinhauer2, 3, *, Geoffrey Williams1, * 1Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA 2Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 3Bee Informed Partnership, College Park, MD, USA *Joint last authors Corresponding Authors: nsteinha@umd.edu (NS) & williams@auburn.edu (GW) The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org) is a non-profit organization that works alongside beekeepers to improve honey bee…

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United States Honey Bee Colony Losses 2020-2021: Preliminary Results

Embargoed until Wednesday, June 23th, 2021, 12.00 PM Noon CST 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. Download .pdf version here Nathalie Steinhauer1, Dan Aurell2, Selina Bruckner2, Mikayla Wilson1, Karen Rennich1, Dennis vanEngelsdorp1, Geoffrey Williams2 1Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 2Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA Corresponding Authors: nsteinha@umd.edu (NS) & williams@auburn.edu (GW)   The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org) is a non-profit organization that works alongside beekeepers to improve honey bee…

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This year’s Survey is mostly ‘new hat’!

Consistency is important. Not only in research but also in our daily lives and beekeeping. For example, as beekeepers we should consistently inspect our colonies for disease, for food stores, for adequate space! This is especially important at this time of the year when bees feel the urge to swarm. Another consistent activity we hope is in a beekeeper’s calendar: taking The Bee Informed Partnership’s Annual Colony Loss and Management Survey. As usual, the online survey went live  on April 1st. In the first week, almost 2,000 beekeepers have participated. If you haven’t participated taken it yet, please consider doing so here: Take the survey.…

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BIP National Loss and Management Survey Open!

The 2020-2021 Annual Loss and Management Survey is live! The Bee Informed Partnership team, in collaboration with the Auburn University Bee Lab, are enthusiastically inviting all U.S. beekeepers to take part in this year’s survey. The survey is open from April 1 to April 30, 2021. Take the Survey Today! The BIP survey is the longest national effort to monitor honey bee mortality rates in the U.S. The Loss survey was initiated in 2006 by the Apiary Inspectors of America. Then in 2010 the Management section was added in collaboration with the vanEngelsdorp Bee Lab at the University of Maryland. The survey not only estimates the…

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Happy Holidays from Bee Informed Partnership!

Season’s Greetings! As the Holiday season approaches, The Bee Informed Partnership team would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for the support you’ve shown throughout this year! You have helped us push through many obstacles that the global pandemic has put in front of so many nonprofits, and we can’t thank you enough. With your support, BIP serves the U.S. beekeeping community through several programs: The Technical Transfer Team Program offers commercial beekeepers access to a wide range of resources and reports on the health of their colonies to help them improve on their management practices to strengthen the health of…

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Hot off the press: BIP’s State Specific Colony Losses!

This blog comes to you from the Southern part of the U.S. - Alabama specifically - where beekeepers are currently sweating away as they diligently check their colonies for food and mites! They’re preparing for winter already! As you know, these past months has been unusual in many ways. For example, lots of beekeepers report difficulties finding sugar right now. Another example comes from the 2019/20 BIP Colony Loss Survey results. If you’ve read this year’s abstract or watched the news, you already know that we recently reported that beekeepers experienced the highest honey bee colony summer losses on record last year (2019). It was…

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IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

This just never gets old: “IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! DO DO DOO DOOOOOO. DO DO DODODO!” – Europe The Annual Colony Loss and Management Survey is closing on April 30th May 8th! Please take advantage of the last couple of days to complete the online survey and tell your beekeeping friends to do the same. Every answer counts. This is especially true because the participation rate is so far lower compared to previous years. To be fair, this year is different in so many ways, but we are in this together. Therefore, we encourage you to Take the Survey Today and support BIP’s long term…

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Beekeeper’s Stewardship Practices and the Colony Loss Survey

How do beekeeper’s stewardship concepts relate to beekeeper beliefs and practices around Varroa management? That is the question asked by Christopher Thoms et. al. in their 2018 paper titled, "Beekeeper stewardship, colony loss, and Varroa destructor management" linked here. This study was based on data collected from the Bee Informed Partnership Loss and Management Survey, in collaboration with a team of environmental sociology experts from the University of Minnesota. They ask beekeepers about the advantages and disadvantages they see about managing for Varroa mites, and their motivations behind their treatment regimes. Two primary groups emerged, those whom we describe as Treatment Skeptics who avoid disturbing beehives…

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