Photo: Stephen JaquieryIt's estimated that almost 13 percent of the country's almost half a million bee colonies were lost last winter - equivalent to about 63,000 colonies. One big takeaways was the uptick of colonies dying from varroa mite - an external parasite that can weaken or even destroy entire colonies. "For queen problems, starvation problems and wasps the numbers are always about the same, they just don't really change very much. Foster added any hive that doesn't get treated at the right time becomes what he described as a "varroa bomb." In fact, five beekeepers estimated they eliminated at least 500 wasp nests during the previous season.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 09, 2026 06:04 UTC