In 2018, Virginia lost the fourth most bees. Other states with a great bee lost were Arizona, Tennessee and Louisiana, according to the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership.

Winter bee loss is different from the bee colony decline During the winter, honeybees stick together to survive forming a bee ball. The bees cluster to share their body warmth. As the hive starts to shrink, the bee ball gets smaller and less efficient, until progressively lower temperatures eventually kills them off. Honeybees face increase levels of parasitic Varroa mites and infections from nosema fungi during the winter. The switching between warm and cold days constantly confuses the bees and tricks them into thinking it is time to come out and search for food, only to find it is to cold and they die.

To prepare hives for the winter beekeepers have to: (1) ensure the hives have enough honey in them, (2) entrance reducers are one so mice do not try to enter the hives to stay warm, (3) supplement with sugar water and/or sugar cakes, (4) ensure the hives have proper ventilation, because moisture can from the bee ball, (5) provide protein via pollen as needed, and (5) ensure your hives have some protection from the wind.

It is important for beekeepers not to break the cluster. When examining the hives during one of the warmer days of Winter. Novice beekeepers often do this and basically harms the bees. The point of a winter inspection is to make sure there is some honey next to the cluster (move it if there is not) and that the bees have a little pollen.

So when you purchase honey products from a local beekeeper, remember they worked hard to help the bees survive the winter and to be able to pollintate your garden in the spring.