EU study finds honey bees death rates are lower than feared

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A pioneering European Union survey into the impact of pests and diseases on honey bees found death rates were lower than feared, in part countering concerns about the collapse of colonies of the crop-pollinating insects. The study of 32,000 bee colonies across 17 EU member states from late 2012 until summer 2013 found winter mortality rates ranged from 3.5 percent to 33.6 percent. The winter of 2012-13 was particularly cold and the highest mortality rates were in northern countries with harsher climates. During the beekeeping season, when the insects are active, mortality rates were between 0.3 percent and 13.6 percent.