Honey bee colonies for operations with 5 or more colonies in Wisconsin as of January 1, 2023, totaled
27,000 colonies. This was down 31 percent from 39,000 colonies on January 1 last year but up 4 percent from 26,000 colonies during the October-December 2022 quarter. The maximum number of colonies during the January-March 2023 quarter was 29,000.
Honey bee colonies lost for operations with 5 or more colonies for the January-March 2023 quarter was 3,300, or 11 percent. This was up 6 percentage points from the same period last year and up 4 percentage points from losses reported during the October-December 2022 quarter.
Varroa mites was the number one stressor for operations with 5 or more colonies in all of 2022.
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