bee loss survey

[karen]

It seems the losses get worse every year. My hives wintered over well and I didn't lose any through the 2014 summer either.

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5fd ... df8d36cef5

[Allen Dick]

I have to wonder about the data collection methods, and how consistent they are.

I recall that up here there were far more losses in years when we had indemnification for winter loss and the hive counts always went up when there was a grant based on numbers of hives under management.

[karen]

There is no indemnification program for hobbyist and the losses where mainly hobbyist.

The data is collected by a survey and more hobbyist take the time to fill out the survey than commercial beekeepers. The survey takes about 20 minutes and I have to go through my records to do it accurately. I can't remember the details of all the information they want. So if one doesn't keep half way decent records the data would be wrong, you would only be guessing. I suppose if I only had 2 hives I would remember more than I do with 50. Most hives are treated the same over all when I work yards but they want to know things like how many nucs I made and things that require a look back at records.

[Countryboy]

I have to wonder about the data collection methods, and how consistent they are.

I recall that up here there were far more losses in years when we had indemnification for winter loss and the hive counts always went up when there was a grant based on numbers of hives under management.

Another thing is that many people don't believe the government has any business collecting their personal information, so they won't reply. I know I don't participate in USDA surveys, and I know other beekeepers who don't participate either.

Another thing to keep in mind is that people with higher losses are more apt to report losses than people who have low losses. This also skews the results.

How many of these reporting beekeepers were in western states like California that are under drought conditions? Of course, the western half of the country being below normal rainfall couldn't have anything to do with summer losses, could it?

According to the Yahoo news article, 6,100 beekeepers managing 400,000 colonies responded to the survey. Each reporting beekeeper averaged 66 colonies of bees.