Beekeeping · BK-19

Overwinter Colony Loss Record

A free printable winter colony loss record: colonies counted in autumn and spring, a line per colony lost, and the queen, varroa and feeding details surveys ask for.

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One page. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.

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A4 45 kB US Letter 45 kB

Fill it in type and save

A4 116 kB US Letter 116 kB

The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.

What this sheet is for

Count the winter's losses honestly and keep what you saw beside each one. Next autumn's plan then rests on the hives that died, not on a vague memory of a bad winter.

Who it is for

Beekeepers with any number of colonies who want a true count of winter losses, and anyone who answers a national or association loss survey.

How to use it

Count the colonies in each apiary as they go into winter, and write the date.
Whenever a dead or failed colony is found, fill in its line straight away, before the hive is cleaned out.
Count again in spring, note any colonies united, sold or split, and work out the loss rate yourself.
Copy the queen's age, the varroa treatment and the feeding from your other records into each line.
If you answer a loss survey, note where and when the counts were sent.

What is on the sheet

One page, top to bottom:

Printed under the title: Colonies counted going into winter and again in spring, then one line for each colony lost: what you found, the queen's age, the season's varroa treatment and the autumn feeding.

Counted, not diagnosed. No loss rate is judged and no cause is named for you. If you answer a loss survey, count a colony as lost the way that survey defines it. If you suspect disease or poisoning, check the rules where you are.

Write-on lines: Beekeeper · Winter of · Loss survey answered

Also printed: Going into winter · Alive in spring

Table, 3 rows: Apiary · Colonies · Counted on · Colonies · Counted on · Lost · Loss rate · Changes

Each colony lost — dead cluster, no stores, empty, queenless, drone-laying, robbed, damaged

Table, 7 rows: Hive · Found · Apiary · What you found · Queen age · Varroa treated · Autumn feed · Samples · Notes

Write-on lines: Survey or report sent to · Date sent · Reference · Next autumn I will change

Questions

Why is there no figure for a normal loss rate?

Because loss rates vary with the year, the country and the way losses are counted, and a printed figure would be judging your bees for you. Work out your own rate and compare it year on year, or with a survey's published results if you answer one.

Does a queenless colony count as a loss?

That depends on the definition you use. Loss surveys set their own, and some count colonies with queen problems that could not be put right as lost. Use the definition of the survey you answer, and describe the colony in your own words either way.

Why record the queen's age, varroa treatment and feeding?

Because these are among the management details that loss surveys, such as the international COLOSS questionnaire, look at alongside the losses. Having them beside each lost colony also shows up patterns in your own apiary.