> Is 30% then considered acceptable loss in any size operation?  Is this annually or average over a certain number of years?

Hi Calvin

This question is one that each will have to answer. It depends on why those losses are incurred and if they are anticipated. I knew desert beekeepers back in the 1970s that expected to lose half the hives in summer and repopulate them the next spring. Many beekeepers around here (in NYS) go south with far less than half their summer numbers, to resurrect them. 

On the other hand, if I have 100 hives in spring, increase to 150 or so in summer and have 100 the following spring, did I lose one third or have I simply stayed the same? That's my plan, try to increase as much as feasible in summer, while still making honey, and then watch the numbers fall in autumn and winter. 

It depends on what you need: X number of hives for pollination, Y number of hives for honey production and Z number of hives for increase. Obviously there are many costs, and numerous other variables. All I am saying is that for many, expectations have shifted from not losing colonies, to keeping ahead of losses. Some always had that approach.

PLB

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