Author: FFP Ai Bot

Illustration of generic beehives. Not a photo of any real apiary. Illustration: The Fostoria Free Press.

NATIONAL- U.S. beekeepers lost an estimated 39.9% of their managed honey bee colonies between April 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026, according to the annual U.S. Beekeeping Survey. That is a sharp drop from the record 55.6% loss reported the year before, but researchers and industry leaders say it is still far too high.

The survey is led by Auburn University in collaboration with Oregon State University and the Apiary Inspectors of America. It carries on the national colony loss survey started in 2007 by the Bee Informed Partnership and has been run by the current team since 2024. Beekeepers filled out the survey from April 1 to April 30, 2026, and Auburn released the results on June 24, 2026.

A total of 2,327 beekeepers gave valid responses. Together they managed 318,493 colonies on Oct. 1, 2025, or about 13.2% of the estimated 2.41 million managed honey-producing colonies in the country.

Losses Back to the Long-Term Range

The 39.9% annual loss is 15.7 percentage points lower than the 2024-25 figure, which was the highest ever recorded, and 2.4 points below the survey’s 15-year average annual loss of 42.3%. The previous two years were both record-setting, at 55.1% in 2023-24 and 55.6% in 2024-25.

The estimate carries a wide 95% confidence range, from 30.1% to 53.1%, so researchers caution that the true figure could be noticeably higher or lower. The survey also notes that a loss rate measures colony deaths, not the size of the national population, because beekeepers replace lost colonies through the year.

By season:

• Summer 2025 (April 1 to Oct. 1, 2025): 23.3% of colonies lost, 5 points lower than the year before.
• Winter 2025-26 (Oct. 1, 2025, to April 1, 2026): 30.3% lost. That is about 10 points lower than the prior winter’s record, but slightly above the 18-year winter average of 29.9%.

Beekeepers told the survey that a winter loss of about 21% would be acceptable. Nearly half of the beekeepers surveyed, 48%, reported winter losses above that level.

“While it’s encouraging to see colony loss rates come down from last year’s historic highs, losing nearly 40% of managed colonies in a single year is not a victory – it’s a crisis in slow motion,” said Steven Coy, president of the American Honey Producers Association, in Auburn’s release.

Geoff Williams, director of the Bee Center at Auburn University and lead of the survey, pointed to parasites and poor forage. “It’s been a very challenging time for beekeepers, and this continues despite the welcome news of lower losses compared to the last 2 years,” Williams said.

Backyard Beekeepers Had a Worse Year

Most of the improvement came from large operations. Commercial beekeepers, those managing more than 500 colonies, lost 38.7% of their colonies, down 17.5 points from the year before.

Backyard beekeepers, those managing 50 or fewer colonies, went the other way. They lost 54.8%, up 3.4 points from 2024-25 and 5.7 points above their 15-year average of 49.1%. Their summer losses were especially high at 35.4%, more than 14 points above their 15-year summer average.

Backyard keepers made up 94.8% of the beekeepers who answered the survey but managed only about 5% of the colonies counted. That is why their high losses do not pull the national number up very much. The Fostoria Free Press recently looked at how those losses affect beginners in 80% of New Beekeepers Quit? The Famous Figure Is Hard to Trace, but Hive Losses Are Real.

USDA Count Shows Colonies Rebuilding

A separate federal count tells a similar story. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Honey Bee Colonies report, released Aug. 3, 2026, covers operations with five or more colonies. It found:

• 454,890 colonies, or 16%, were lost from January through March 2026.
• 321,910 colonies, or 11%, were lost from April through June 2026.
• The country had 2.81 million colonies on Jan. 1, 2026, up 6% from Jan. 1, 2025, and 2.84 million on April 1, 2026.

Total colony numbers can rise even in a heavy loss year because beekeepers rebuild. USDA counted 464,320 colonies added in the first quarter of 2026 and 619,850 added from April through June, as beekeepers split surviving colonies and bought new bees. Varroa mites remained the top reported stressor in every quarter.

What It Means in Ohio

In the same USDA report, Ohio operations with five or more colonies had 17,500 colonies on Jan. 1, 2026, compared with 20,000 a year earlier. Ohio lost about 1,500 colonies, or 7%, from January through March 2026, and about 1,400, or 5%, from April through June. Varroa mites affected 47.8% of Ohio colonies during the first quarter of 2026, the highest rate of any state listed and more than double the national rate of 21.8%. USDA’s state numbers do not include the smallest hobby operations with fewer than five colonies.

Ohio law requires anyone who keeps honey bees to register each apiary location with the state every year by June 1, or within 30 days of getting bees. Registration, inspections and beekeeping resources are available through the Ohio Department of Agriculture Apiary Program.

The next annual U.S. Beekeeping Survey, covering April 2026 to April 2027, is expected to collect responses next April, with results around June 2027. A full peer-reviewed report on the 2025-26 results is still being prepared.

Sources:
Apiary Inspectors of America, “Preliminary Results from the 2025-2026 US Beekeeping Survey: Honey Bee Colony Loss and Management,” apiaryinspectors.org
Auburn University, “Honey bee colony losses stabilize following record highs, yet pressures persist,” June 24, 2026
American Bee Journal, “U.S. Beekeeping Survey Releases Annual Colony Loss Estimates,” Aug. 3, 2026
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Honey Bee Colonies,” released Aug. 3, 2026
Ohio Department of Agriculture, Apiary Program; Ohio Revised Code Section 909.02