In the discussion questioning whether new beekeepers skew BIP data due to their ineptness and inexperience, I have not read anyone's actual analysis of the survey results.
I went online to BIP, see http://bip2.beeinformed.org/geo/
and looked at data for NY, where I live.
For 2013/2014, there was a 30.35% reported loss.
212 beekeepers responded.
94.3% of these beekeepers (i.e. 200) were "exclusive to NYS" meaning they declare NY residency.
28,936 total colonies
18.3% of the total colonies were "exclusive to NYS".
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that this means 5,295 of the colonies stayed in NYS year-round. Twelve beekeepers declared out-of-state residences, but as some professionals have more than one home base we can assume that more than twelve owned the other 23,641 colonies that were transported out-of-state during the year.
For a total reported loss of 30.35% there would have to be 8782 dead colonies....this is 66% more colonies than owned *in total* by the 200 +/- beekeepers who kept their colonies in NYS year-round (i.e. the hobbyists and sideliners who reported).
The NYBeeWellness survey reported 46% average loss for 2014 among stationary beekeepers, with cold and starvation being the top killers.
For the purpose of getting an idea about the situation we will make the assumption that most participated in both surveys. This means that of the BIP bees surveyed, 2,436 colonies were lost by the in-state stationary beekeepers, thus 6,346 colonies were lost by the migratory outfits. The percent loss for migratory beekeepers was, by this calculation, 27%. Since the migratory beekeepers presumably did not take their bees to a place where cold and starvation killed them, we can assume that the 20% better survival among their colonies was due, at least in part, to better climate. I see no reason to assume that they were better at managing their bees.
This quantitative approach seems to me to be a more useful way to think about survival data relative to hobbyists vs professionals and their collective impact on the BIP survey. As others have pointed out, those participating in these surveys are generally past the rank beginner category.
I suggest that we apply the data to make our point(s) rather than anecdotal evidence about some incompetence we've seen somewhere. I've seen incompetence in commercial outfits as well as in hobby backyards. And the numbers of hives affected are quite different!
Christina
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