(East Lansing, MI) - Honey production was up 15 percent in Michigan last year but down 16 percent in Indiana. The difference in yields from both states is typical for an industry largely dependent on weather conditions for production.
Phillip Janik, Jr. said that the bees in the 200 colonies he placed throughout LaPorte County produced a lot of honey in 2023, despite last year being a down year for production in Indiana.
He said early spring rains were enough in his area outside Michigan City to produce flowers and trees full of nectar, aided by a lack of precipitation when it was warm enough for the bees to want to go out and harvest the nectar used for making honey in their hives.
Janik, who also refers to himself as “The Hoosier Bee Man,” explained that honey bees are not willing to venture out and collect nectar in below-50-degree temperatures or when it’s raining.
“It’s a timing thing. It really, truly is. It’s all in the timing,” he said.
According to the National Agricultural Statistical Service, 3.85 million pounds of honey were produced in Michigan last year from producers with five or more bee colonies. The increase in production happened despite the number of bee colonies in the state falling from about 82,000 to 70,000 over the previous year.
Janik explained that [it] happens when colonies make additional honey if returning bees were able to draw from flowers and trees containing extra nectar during pollination.
In comparison, Indiana produced about 477,000 pounds of honey last year from its 9,000 colonies, NASS stated. The number of colonies was about equal to the previous year, but the amount of honey from each colony on average dropped from 63 to 53 pounds.
In this case, Janik said, the weather in some parts of the state could have been unfavorable for maximum nectar production and bees wanting to go out to gather it.
“If Mother Nature is putting it out there but it’s too cold and raining, the bees will miss it. If you miss it, you miss it. You really do,” he said.
Production can also be impacted by Varroa mites finding their way inside hives and killing bees, with Michigan State University noting that the parasite is “one of the greatest threats to honey bee health, honey production, and pollination services."
Varroa mites attach themselves to honey bees, whose health then gradually declines from any transmission of viruses or disease.
Without proper management of the predator, which can only reproduce in a honey bee colony, the spread of disease causes colonies to typically collapse from the infestation in two to three years.
Meghan Milbrath, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the East Lansing campus, said the health of honey bee colonies is also susceptible to other pathogens and contact with pesticides.
“If the colony is affected by other things, even if the weather is favorable, they won’t be able to bring in a good crop,” she said.
