Bees are important - but by no means a matter of course. Every winter beekeepers have to report significant losses. How hard the cold season turns out plays a role.
Bonn / Wachtberg (dpa) - Around every seventh bee colony in Germany did not survive the winter. Around 15 percent of the wintered bee colonies have died, according to an evaluation by the specialist center for bees and beekeeping and the German Beekeeping Association.
This means that the loss is at a similar level as in the previous year, but somewhat lower than expected by the experts. These had previously assumed that 18 to 22 percent of the peoples would be left behind. This was due to the fact that a number of peoples had already died in autumn, but December was unusually mild.
"Probably the above-average temperatures in December had less negative effects on the bee colonies than it seems to be the case in colder wintering phases. Evaluations for previous years have already shown this," explains bee expert Christoph Otten, who is responsible for the investigation. The losses are often caused by parasites such as mites that affect the peoples. For the evaluation, tens of thousands of beekeepers in Germany are interviewed every year. More than half of them were affected by the loss of at least one people.
If the loss is calculated financially, the researchers estimate that the loss will be around 30 million euros. Then there was the lack of income that the peoples should have brought. The greatest losses were in the north - namely in Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein. What is the reason, however, needs to be researched further.
In total there are more than 100,000 beekeepers and one million honey bee colonies in Germany. Most beekeepers are hobby or part-time beekeepers, less than one percent are full-time beekeepers.