Honey bee colonies for operations with 5 or more colonies in Wisconsin as of January 1, 2024, totaled 31,000 colonies. This was up 15 percent from 27,000 colonies on January 1 last year but down 37 percent from 49,000 colonies on October 1, 2023. The maximum number of colonies during the January-March 2024 quarter was 55,000.
Honey bee colonies lost for operations with 5 or more colonies for the January-March 2024 quarter was 1,600, or 3 percent. This was down 8 percentage points from the same period last year and down 10 percentage points from losses reported during the October-December 2023 quarter.
Varroa mites was the number one stressor for operations with 5 or more colonies in all of 2023.
Leave a Reply