STUDY OF BEE MORTALITY IN BULGARIA DURING THE WINTER PERIOD OF 2022/2023

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate and define the main reasons involved in the winter mortality of honeybee colonies during the last winter season of 2022/2023 in Bulgaria. In the survey were included 94 respondents that have reported mortality The mortality rate for farms with up to 50 bee colonies is 31%, for those with 50-150 bee colonies it is 19.27%, and for the largest bee farms that are with over 150 bee colonies, it is 19.9%. Cumulative mortality in the mortality of bee colonies is 29.66% - 1937 bee colonies died from total of 6530 in winter period of 2022/2023. The study identifies several factors such as Varroasis, insufficient nutritional substrate, unfavorable climatic changes, pesticides use, queen bee problems and others.