2025 Colony Winter Loss Poll of the OTS Community
If you're a beekeeper who has been following the news this past winter, you've likely heard reports of increased colony losses compared to previous years, with few clear explanations. While "on-the-spot" (OTS) queen rearing techniques typically help our colonies survive at higher rates than regional averages, I personally experienced a heavy loss of 15 out of 17 colonies this winter (2024-2025).
To understand whether my experience was an anomaly or part of a broader trend within our community, I conducted a poll in our Facebook OTS queen rearing group during March 2025.
Poll Results (as of 124 Respondents)
33% reported worse than normal losses
30% reported normal losses
21% reported better than normal losses
16% reported zero losses
These results suggest that while a significant portion of OTS beekeepers faced greater challenges this winter, the majority (67%) actually maintained normal or better survival rates. This contrasts with my personal experience and highlights the variability among beekeepers even within a community using similar techniques. As well, and most importantly, I see strength in the OTS beekeeping method seeing that a majority are experiencing normal or better losses ― this is quite encouraging and a nice silver lining!
Here's a link to the open poll on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/otsbeekeeping/posts/3576692685968627/
OTS Queen Rearing Colony Loss Facebook poll, March 2025
What This Means for OTS Beekeepers
The poll indicates that despite challenging winter conditions reported across the country, OTS methods continue to provide resilience for many beekeepers. However, the 33% who experienced worse losses suggest we should remain vigilant and perhaps investigate regional or practice-specific factors that might influence outcomes.
For those unfamiliar with OTS (On-The-Spot) queen rearing, this is a method developed to allow beekeepers to produce their own queens without grafting, using specific notching techniques on frames containing young larvae.
As you can see looking at the data on average it appears that OTS'ers are doing just fine, although a spike in losses for roughly a third occurred over the winter and early spring. It's a decent sample size, although relatively small. I would lean towards taking the conclusions here at face value.
Looking at my own hives as I cleaned them up this spring, here are my observations of the dead colonies:
large numbers of dead bees at the bottom of the hive
very small, dead clusters
plenty of stores, both honey and pollen, remaining
obvious varroa mite droppings in many of the cells near the cluster
only one colony with minimal dysentery signs
Many OTSers don't treat at all, and some (like myself) utilize a mixture of formic and oxalic acid treatments. This past year I used only oxalic vapor, and I might switch back to formic this year and see how it goes timed with brood breaks from the OTS system.
Some comments from the poll are as follows:
“I believe my losses are contributed to a poor fall build up of winter bees... I waited too long before winter feeding since I was trying to get the goldenrod honey, then the winter came on quickly and was pretty cold. The losses are seen in tapered down clusters, not total colony collapse. At least the ones that did make it, have a 2024 OTS summer queen starting up!“
…………………………………………………………
“I've been called out to a few apiaries to do post-mortems on hives and the ones I investigated in December through February were almost all mite disease related with obvious signs of mite poop and a dwindling population that already froze.
The March autopsies are looking different with more signs of nosema with a few dwindling mite disease causes still.
It SEEMS like I'm seeing more nosema issues this year, but I have no solid data on that, just an impression.“
…………………………………………………………
“Randy Oliver recently had a discussion on this and he believes it's due to viruses that are cyclical in nature and that potentially our queens or bees had not yet been exposed to.“
…………………………………………………………
“Lost 8 of 10 and one of the two survivors is questionable. Queen is laying but just barely any brood. Central west Georgia. I suspect as mentioned above colony decline due to viruses and some very cold snaps that were too much for the small surviving balls late in winter.“
…………………………………………………………
“In southern Indiana we had 9 out of 14 hives survive (so far, not out of the woods yet, though). No chemical mite treatment, we do the OTS (On The Spot Queening) method instead. One of our hives, which did not survive, we were unable to find the queen in order to do the OTS method, so we suspect that is why it did not make it.“
…………………………………………………………
“From what I have seen coming out of the labs, this seems like a handful of issues all hitting at once but mostly dearth related weak colonies. Some areas the whiplash winter weather was the main driver, others were summer/fall dearths that left weaker colonies going into winter. Common mistakes like not treating prophylactically, taking too much honey, not feeding, not swapping out old brood comb, not combining, all of these and more are beekeeper errors and actually poor animal husbandry. The huge operations seem to have been hit the hardest, they are the ones constantly cutting corners. That being said, I dont use Langs (top bar only), havent treated in over 6 years (I have colonies that show recapping behavior) and live on Oahu.“
…………………………………………………………
“5 out of 15 survived. 2 absconded and all the rest had dysentery. I've sent samples to lab in MD to be tested but I'm sure they are backlogged. I've heard many folks mentioning dysentery this year.
According to MSU, Nosema that causes dysentery isn't common and the Nosema that is common doesn't cause dysentery.“
…………………………………………………………
“I was surprised to see all 8 had survived (so far). 3 are really weak. I thought I lost them and had robber bees flying in. But upon closer inspection, the bees were bringing in pollen! I hope they build up quickly. We're still not out of the chance for colder weather in Western NY. But I think they're going to make it. Sorry for everyone going through big losses. I have had years where I lost 50% and one year I lost ALL 18 colonies. But we keep pushing ahead, striving to be better bee keepers and stewards of these amazing creatures. Keep your heads up!!“
What about you? How did you fare? What questions might you have or comments about colony loss around the nation in 2025? Where have you seen success? Leave a comment below!