Wisconsin honey bee colonies totaled 39,000 as of the first of the year--down seven percent compared to the same time a year earlier, according to the Wisconsin Ag Statistics Service.
The annual summary noted that Varroa mites were the leading stressor for operations with five or more colonies in all of 2021.
The maximum number of colonies during the January-March 2022 quarter was 53,000.
Nationally, there were 2.88 million colonies in the U.S., which was down one percent from early 2021.
Categories: Wisconsin, General