New Hobby: Bee Keeping

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Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

Bee killers!!!!


You two are like the NYC of covid for bees.

True but, it's not just us. Northern states lose 30-80% of colonies annually thanks to Varroa mites and the 2-3 dozen pathogens they introduce to the bees, not to mention the parasitic feeding itself damages them.

Northern bees hatched in October have to live until April or May before they can bring in new pollen and nectar, which is needed to raise new brood. Southern "winter" bees only have to live from Nov/Dec until Late Jan or Feb. So they suffer the same parasitic problems but their winter bees don't have to survive as long so their losses are much less. At least that's the prevailing theory.

My friend who has been keeping bees in Michigan since the 70s told me losing 1 of 20 colonies was unusual, worthy of inspecting to see if you could find out why. Once varroa mites showed up everything changed.