Honey bee colonies for operations with 5 or more colonies in Minnesota as of January 1, 2022, totaled 95,000 colonies. This was up 56 percent from 61,000 colonies on January 1 last year but down 5 percent from 100,000 colonies during the October-December 2021 quarter. The maximum number of colonies during the January-March 2022 quarter was 98,000.
Honey bee colonies lost for operations with 5 or more colonies for the January-March 2022 quarter was 1,500, or 2 percent. This was down 2 percentage points from the same period last year and down 9 percentage points from losses reported during the October-December 2021 quarter.
Varroa mites were the number one stressor for operations with 5 or more colonies in all of 2021
Categories: Minnesota, General