By Ana Heck
Several migratory, commercial beekeeping operations have reported high losses of honey bee colonies. According to a survey of beekeepers administered by Project Apis m., commercial operations reported an average loss of 62% between June 2024 and February 2025. These losses are much higher than the average honey bee losses typically reported by beekeepers, which is typically around 30-50%. U.S. Department of Agriculture and university researchers are processing samples to try to identify causes for the colony losses, but the cause of the higher losses is currently unknown.
At this time, it is not known if or how the large losses of colonies among some beekeeping operations will affect pollination and honey production in Michigan this spring and summer. Many beekeepers split honey bee colonies that are healthy and strong in population in the spring to recuperate from the colony losses. Weather and foraging conditions can also affect whether colonies are strong enough to be split. While several large-scale beekeeping operations reported abnormally high losses of honey bee colonies, many others reported fairly standard losses.
Honey bees face many stressors that can contribute to losses: