A survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the Agricultural Research Service indicates that losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8% from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010. Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations. Previous losses were reported at 29% covering the winter of 2008-2009 and 35.8% for the winter of 2007-2008.
Jeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, says the continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured. Researchers say continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers.
In the most recent report, 28% of beekeeping operations reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present - a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder. They lost 44% of their colonies. This compares to 26% of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32% in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25% of their colonies.
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