Colony Loss And National Management Survey

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The Colony Loss and National Management Survey are both part of a nationwide colony health questionnaire for beekeepers managing honey bee apiaries across the country.   These two surveys combined produce the largest data collection of managed honey bee colony health in the country.  

Since 2006 the Colony Loss Survey has been monitoring colony losses throughout the country and observing the trends of honey bee mortality from year-to-year.  The results of The Colony Loss Survey are published each year to observe changes over time.

The National Management Survey, conducted since 2010, takes an epidemiological approach to acquire a greater understanding of the effects of various colony management practices and their relationship with colony health.  We compare the data of apiaries that suffered high colony losses with those that suffered low colony losses and search for patterns in management practices that lead to lower mortality rates.

Over the years we have been able to work with beekeepers to integrate the best performing management practices that have resulted in fewer colony losses.  In addition, we have also been able to observe the practices that have lead to a decrease in the viability of colonies.  An epidemiological study of this magnitude takes years to  complete and each new discovery is a smaller piece of the larger puzzle.

View and compare the data from every year of the survey using the Bee Informed Partnership research portal at https://research.beeinformed.org/ or click the links directly below.

Colony Loss Survey Results Map
National Management Survey Data

For the most recent results and data use the links above.
To read more, see our publications from previous years.