The most commonly reported reasons for a colony death was problems with queen bees.
Photo: 123RF
The Ministry for Primary Industries has commissioned Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research to conduct a colony loss survey annually since 2015, to help it monitor losses over time and understand what is driving them.
About 30 percent of New Zealand's registered beekeepers completed the 2020 Colony Loss Survey. A report released this week on the results showed the overall loss rate for winter 2020 was 11.3 percent - approximately 99,150 colonies - an 8.5 percent increase on 2019.
The most commonly reported reasons for a colony death was problems with queen bees (33.1 percent), suspected varroa mite and related complications (31 percent), followed by suspected starvation (7.6 percent) and wasps (6.6 percent).