WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On Feb. 20 the Honey Bee Health Coalition (HBHC) announced that beekeepers “across the United States” were reporting “catastrophic honey bee colony losses.” Commercial operators, HBHC said, had an average loss of 62 percent between June 2024 and February 2025. This grim picture was drawn from an HBHC survey sent to commercial, sideliner and hobbyist beekeepers. The survey was in response to wintertime reports about colony losses. HBHC wanted deeper insight into whether the losses were singular and limited, or extensive and systemic.

HBHC reports “striking losses” based on data from 702 surveys, which HBHC estimates accounts for over 1.8 million colonies or approximately 68 percnet of the nation’s bees. 

Hobbyist beekeepers (1-49 colonies) lost an average of 50 percent of their colonies.

Sideliner operations (50-500 colonies) lost an average of 54 percent of their colonies.

Commercial beekeepers (more than 500 colonies) lost an average of 62 percent. “A reversal of typical trends,” HBHC writes in a press release, “where commercial beekeepers generally experience lower losses due to their scale and resources.”

US honey bee pollination has an $18 billion economic impact. Beekeeping organizations are comparing these recent losses to the “Colony Collapse Disorder” which occurred in 2007-2008 when bees suddenly disappeared from their colonies.

HBHC writes that these losses could significantly impact U.S. agriculture, particularly crop pollination for almonds, fruits, vegetables, and other essential food sources. Project Apis mellifera (PAm) is a national honey bee advocacy group which funds research on bee health and pollination. PAm Boar Chair Zac Browning, a North Dakota beekeeper, commented that “honey bees are the backbone of our food system. If we continue to see losses at this rate, we simply won’t be able to sustain current food production. The industry must look inward and outward for solutions to chronic bee health failure.”

The survey asked beekeepers what caused the losses. Weater, Varroa mites and queen failure were the top three responses. Varroa mites are an invasive pest that feeds on developing and adult bees and also spreads viruses. The mites demand constant attention from beekeepers.

Krispn Given is the Senior Apiculture Specialist in the Department of Entomology at Purdue University. He said Varroa mites are likely a primary cause. But he added that other factors are at play, including pesticides and the loss of natural spaces for foraging. He used the expression “death by a thousand cuts” to describe the bees’ demise. Given said that the Varroa mites present as an outsized threat to bees. Physically, the mites are huge, Given said, at least compared to a bee, like a fist landing on a human.

At Purdue, Given is part of a team of researchers leading a honey bee breeding program aimed at mitigating the harmful effects of Varroa destructor mites. The Purdue team has developed a strain of honey bees known as the Indiana-Mite Biters. These bees are unique in their ability to combat mites by grooming and biting them, which helps reduce the number of deadly mites within colonies. Since Varroa mites are the leading cause of honey bee losses in the U.S.—primarily due to the viruses they transmit and their impact on bees’ immune systems— Purdue’s work could offer a valuable lifeline to beekeepers across the country.

Following the survey, HBHC hosted a national webinar on Feb. 28 to present survey findings and to let beekeepers know that officials were trying to stay ahead of these developments.

USDA has started screening for pathogens and pesticides in California. Field scientists have collected dying bees and collected samples from colonies, wax and stored pollen. In addition to USDA’s work, other national labs are analyzing field data, weather patterns, and chemical risks.

First reports about losses were from beekeepers readying their hives for transport to California almond groves. Prepping for this early commercial pollination provides a critical indicator. If bees and hives are unhealthy when checked in late winter, that has worrisome implications for work.

In the Midwest, cold weather makes colony assessment difficult. The PAm survey of commercial operators includes a list of responses from each state. However, Midwest data is sparse. The survey indicates that 47 percent of commercial hives in Illinois had recent losses. But that’s information from less than four respondents. Similarly, Ohio and Michigan beekeepers reported losses of 66 percent and 64 percent, respectively, but again, that’s based on fewer than four survey replies from each State. The survey has no data for Indiana commercial operators.

Jamie Walters is president of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association (OSBA). He said Ohio beekeepers started hearing about collapse issues in early January, based on reports from Wisconsin. For protection, some beekeepers winter their hives in warehouses, at a controlled temperature. Those more protected hives can provide earlier updates.

With outdoor hives, Walters said that colony health in Ohio won’t be assessed until later in March and even April, after it warms up. Walters said beekeepers in the northern states will see impacts, if any, in about three months.

Walters commented that “the best researchers and organizations are on top of (this). I wish it would come down to one thing”, he said further, “but it’s way more complicated than that.”

In Indiana, Chuck Daily is a Certified Master Beekeeper and the Senior Beekeeper at St. Peter’s Apiary in Lebanon, Ind.. He was on the HBHC webinar and he noted that there was no information from Indiana. Daily said that so far, the Indiana beekeepers he’s spoken with think their stock wintered well and is in pretty good shape. But he, too, said it’s too early to make a full and confident assessment.

Daily appreciates that HBHC and others are moving quickly with research. “I like that they’ve gotten on top of this and didn’t wait,” Daily commented, noting slower responses in the past. He thinks the new research is properly focused, including a hard look at pesticides and parasites. Like everybody else, he is waiting for the next round of updates – and hopefully answers.