Wisconsin Honey Bee Colonies Decrease Compared to Last Year
Thursday, August 8th, 2019 -- 8:52 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Wisconsin honey bee colonies totaled 16,500 as of the first of the year, a whopping 21-percent decrease compared to the same time a year earlier, according to the Wisconsin Ag Statistics Service.The annual summary noted that producers boosted their inventory by moving colonies into Wisconsin and adding colonies to a maximum of 17,000 during the first quarter of this year. Since January 2018, the third quarter of last year had the largest maximum number of colonies with 69,000.
Varroa mites were the main stressor for operations with at least five or more colonies during the past year. Nationally, there were 2.67 million colonies in the U.S. up one percent from early 2018.
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