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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).