Mild winter weather followed by a cool spring takes its toll on bees, impacting pollination and honey production.
This checkered spring has consequences on nature, particularly on bees. Mild winter weather followed by a cool spring has a direct impact on bees. It is too cold for them to come out, despite the presence of 7 to 800,000 bees in around twenty hives.
“The current freshness has a real impact on the balance of the hives, explains Didier Duhem, a beekeeper for around thirty years. The colonies are ready to work, but reocclusion from cold causes them to raise new queens, which can disrupt the colony.”
The beekeeper also highlights the impact on pollination, due to the frost which prevented bees from foraging properly, which could result in “probably less fruit depending on the variety.
Finally, it is expected that the end of the beekeeping season will be delayed by several weeks, leading to possible stress among the colonies which seek to forage without success, which pushes them to become “looters“.
This mixed assessment will have to wait until the end of the season, at the end of June, to assess the impact on the honey harvest, knowing that on average a hive produces 10 to 20 kilos of honey per year.
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