Many beekeepers are starting to find out how their bees have survived the winter, although the weather is still cold and starvation a possibility.

At a Bee Farmers’ Association meeting recently losses of 35% were being mentioned – mainly due it seems from poorly mated queens last summer.  Presumably this meant too few bees going into the winter.

The BeeBase website reports the following consistent losses over winter:
2009/2010 – 21%,
2010/2011 – 19%,
2011/2012 – 16.1%.

Let us know how your bees are doing on the website or our facebook page.