It was a hard Winter for honeybees
by Neil on May.25, 2010, under Beekeeping, Beekeeping News
Well now we are well into Spring its time to take stock of how our bees coped with the unusually harsh Winter. It has been estimated by the British Beekeepers Association that loss of the UK honeybee population is around 17% which compares to around 19% last year the huge 30% loss between 2007-2008!! However I have heard some stories and rumours of the losses in Scotland being as high as 50% for some beeks up here. The BBKA survey did reveal marked regional variations. Beekeepers in the north of England lost more than a quarter of their honeybee colonies, while the south-west recorded the lowest losses: 12.8% of colonies between November 2009 and March 2010.
Martin Smith, the president of the BBKA, said this year’s losses showed a “small and encouraging improvement” on the previous year and are “much better” than the “disastrous” losses of three years ago. “It shows that our honeybees are slowly moving out of intensive care, but they are still not healthy enough,” he said. “Winter losses between 7-10% are acceptable.”
So definitely an improvement especially when considering we have had such a harsh Winter! Personally I think the harsh Winter will prove useful, being a Darwinian believer; these weaker bees can no longer reproduce and so any deficiencies or unwanted traits they may have had die with them.
The other great news is that mebership of the BBKA has gone up by 20%. I personally know that some of our local associations in Scotland are seeing record numbers attending their courses. Plus this website is becoming more and more popular with visits increasing each month!
The number of hives estimated to be in the UK is around 80,000 with 48 billion bees.
The US in comparison has suffered over one third of their colonies wiped out for the fourth year in a row. Not good! CCD is the main unexplained cause.
It is thought that honey bees contribute around £200million annually to the UK agricultural economy by pollinating a huge variety of crops. Its scary to think what would happen if we lost our bees!
May 31st, 2010 on 11:22 am
I’m not a bee keeper but would be very interested for an explanation of the following phenomenom:
I have a few citrus plants in tubs which are on the patio for the ’summer’. I just noticed on a lemon tree that is in flower there are four bees in what can only be described as a catatonic state. They are not dead but all of them are settled on a flower. If they are gently prodded, they all move – very much like someone completely under the influence. I have not used any pesticides in the garden or on the citrus plants while they were indoors.
This is a suburban garden in South London.
What causing this, does anybody know?
May 31st, 2010 on 6:00 pm
Well im not sure its a phenomenon. It could simply be that the bees are tired or indeed dying. But I guess to answer the question fully questions have to be answered:
1. What kind of bees are they?
2. If honey bees do they have full pollen loads?
3. Have they moved at all or have they spent the night (and possibly died)?
Ive seen honey bees resting for quite long periods of time, sometimes they seem incapable of flying, this could be due to a massive pollen load and tiredness, or when they have worked themselves to near-death.
July 21st, 2010 on 8:49 pm
During winter, there is not much to do with the hives if you already did all the right things in late summer and fall. However, you still have to keep your sight on mites. Count for mites in sticky-board for three days and treat them if necessary and remove the chemical strip after six weeks. During winter, you can decide the number of hives you would want for the next year and the number of bees to make a strong colony.