Got this today- maybe Aaron will et thegraph through- interesting stuff

Note: This is a preliminary analysis. A more detailed final report is being
prepared for publication at a later date.

The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org), in collaboration
with the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), is releasing preliminary results for the
eighth annual national survey of honey bee colony losses. For the 2013/2014
winter season, 7,183 beekeepers in the United States (U.S.) responded.
Collectively, they managed 564,522 colonies in October 2013, 21.7%[1] of
the country’s 2.6 million colonies.

For the winter of 2013/14, 23.2% of managed honey bee colonies in the U.S.
died. Nearly  two-thirds of the respondents (65.4%) experienced winter
colony loss rates greater than the average self-reported acceptable winter
mortality rate of 18.9%. The 2013/14 winter colony loss rate of 23.2% is
7.3 points (or 23.9%) lower than the previous years’ (2012/13) estimate of
30.5% loss. (Figure 1) and is notably lower than the 8-year average total
loss of 29.6%[2].

Preliminary results for the 2013/14 survey indicate that 20.0% of all
colonies managed between April 1 2013 and Oct 1 2013 died.   Responding
beekeepers who managed bees over the entire April 2013 – April 2014 survey
period reported losing 34.2% of the 670,568 colonies managed over this
period.  The annual loss differs from the sum of summer and winter losses
reported above because the respondent pool differed as only respondents who
reported for both the summer and winter period are included in the annual
loss rate calculation.

The 2012/13 survey expanded beyond winter mortality estimates to improve
our understanding of colony losses by collecting data pertinent to
calculating summer and annual colony mortality rates. Results from the
2012/13 survey indicated that that summer colony losses (defined as the
period of time between April 1 2012 and Oct 1 2012), were 25.3%.   Loss
estimate for the 12 month period last year was 45.2%.

This survey was conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership, which receives a
majority of its funding from the National Institute of Food and
Agriculture, USDA (award number: 2011-67007-20017).


   1.     University of Maryland, [log in to unmask],
   717-884-2147
   2.     University of Tennesse
   3.     University of Illinois
   4.     Oregon State University
   5.     University of Georgia
   6.     University of Florida
   7.     The Pennsylvania State University – Hershey
   8.     USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab\
   9.     USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
   10.     North Carolina State University
   11.     University of Minnesota
   12.     Appalachian State University

*Corresponding author

[1] Based on NASS Honey report 2013 figures

[2] Previous survey results found a total colony loss in the winters of
30.5% in the winter of 2012/2013,  21.9% in 2011/2012, 30% in 2010/2011,
34% in 2009/2010, 29% in 2008/2009, 36% in 2007/2008, and 32% in 2006/2007
(see figure attached)



Figure 1: Summary of the total overwinter colony loss (October 1 – April 1)
of managed honey bee colonies in the US across the 8 annual national
surveys (red bars). The acceptable range (blue bars) is the average
percentage of acceptable loss declared by the survey participants in each
of the 8 years of the survey

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html