Reports of commercial colony losses are coming in.
50% to 75% estimated losses, by commercial beekeepers. Entomologists have taken on the task of examining dead bees, live bees, wax, and stored pollen to understand the cause(s).
These experts are assessing if the colony collapses are due to virus load, pests, or pesticides or something entirely different.
Hobby beekeepers usually lose a significant number of hives due to inexperience. But in this case, hobbyists and sideliners have experienced higher survival rates, so far. The commercial losses are not related to migratory practices it seems. We all anxiously await updates and answers.
Should you start beekeeping Now?
Is it still a good time to get into beekeeping? Yes it is. If you are interested, please spend time learning about bees, their biology, challenges, and best way to keep them healthy. Read books, watch youtube (yes there are quite a lot of beekeeping videos that show the basics) but don’t waste time on videos that invite you to ‘come along as we learn’. Watch beeks that have experience and help you learn without pushing a product for sale.
One thing you need to know about bees, they don’t read the books. You cannot learn beekeeping ‘as you go’ and consistently succeed. Read it all, learn about their pests and diseases. Learn about dearth (a time of no nectar), how and what to feed, and how to control swarming. Try to acquaint yourself with ‘everything bee’. And then go back and really learn it. That is my best advice. Even long-time beekeepers admit they are still learning.
One bit of important advice, get a mentor, join your local club. They are a resource of information. But keep in mind, there are various ways to keep bees, various ways to overcome a problem, and it is up to you to use your mentor’s advice, and then possibly adapt it to fit your own practices.
The last advice, and it is mandatory. NYS requires all hives/apiaries to be registered. This is not to oppress us. It is to keep everyone in the loop, informed of something important that we need to know about. This current loss of colonies is an example. Another protection is that we need to keep American Foulbrood out of our apiaries.
American Foulbrood is a serious disease caused by a bacterial spore. So far, the original spores studied from about 85 years ago is still viable. No amount of scrubbing can get rid of it. We really don’t know yet if there is an end to it. So best practices is: start with new equipment. If you take on used equipment, it should already have bees living in it so that you can study the health of the brood. Never take on equipment that you have no knowledge of its history, or what happened to the bees that used to inhabit.