An informal survey amongst Treatment Free (TF) beekeepers in and around Oxfordshire has shown interesting trends over the last few years. The survey was originally intended to compare winter losses with those of conventionally managed hives (treated with miticides), one of the few metrics published by the BBKA which could be compared with.
As time has gone on, we've realised that the methodology of the survey monitors different things, so they're not directly comparable. Whilst the TF survey measures colony losses, the BBKA national survey ignores small colonies, and measures hive deaths. To put this another way, the BBKA are looking at whether a box was continuously occupied by bees, and they don't care if it's the same colony or a different one (requeened).
But if you look at the graph, there's an interesting pattern. Whilst the TF losses (blue line) have an offset, the shape is the same as the BBKA losses (dotted red line). This is a weather effect: some years have worse weather for bees.
For further details and analysis, including possible reasons for high losses this year, see oxnatbees.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/winter-losses-and-lessons/
Data collected and analysed by Paul Honigmann
Sign in to manage your listings and connect with beekeepers
Create an account to list your products and connect with customers
Enter your email address and we'll send you a link to reset your password