Honey bee colonies for operations with five or more colonies in North Dakota as of January 1, 2022 totaled 75,000 according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The number of colonies in North Dakota on April 1, 2022 was 90,000. During 2021, honey bee colonies on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 were 51,000, 42,000, 510,000, and 485,000, respectively.

Honey bee colonies lost for operations with five or more colonies during the quarter of January-March 2022, was 120 colonies. During April-June 2022, 16,500 colonies or 4% of colonies were lost. The quarter of July-September 2021, at 67,000 or 12%, showed the highest number of lost honey bee colonies of any quarter during 2021. The quarter of January-March 2021 had a loss of 180 colonies, the lowest number of honey bee colonies lost in 2021.

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Honey bee colonies for operations with 5 or more colonies in Minnesota as of January 1, 2022, totaled 95,000 colonies. This was up 56 percent from 61,000 colonies on January 1 last year but down 5 percent from 100,000 colonies during the October-December 2021 quarter. The maximum number of colonies during the January-March 2022 quarter was 98,000.

Honey bee colonies lost for operations with 5 or more colonies for the January-March 2022 quarter was 1,500, or 2 percent. This was down 2 percentage points from the same period last year and down 9 percentage points from losses reported during the October-December 2021 quarter.

Varroa mites were the number one stressor for operations with 5 or more colonies in all of 2021