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Losses

Last updated on October 26, 2026

Losses reports the end of a colony — death, unrecovered swarming, disease... — with its cause, to keep the operation's headcount up to date and analyze losses in the statistics.

Reporting a loss​

On the website​

  1. From an apiary's page, display the list of its colonies.
  2. Select the hive(s) in question.
  3. Click the bulk action Report a loss.
  4. Choose the cause (disease, starvation, swarming, varroa, other...), note whether the loss happened during overwintering, and enter the date.
  5. Confirm: the colony is closed as of that date.

On the mobile app​

  1. In the Enter tab, select Losses.
  2. Scan the hive in question.
  3. Choose the cause of the loss.
  4. Confirm.

Available causes​

ApiTracer offers a list of standardized causes: disease, starvation, swarming, varroa, other, as well as two closing reasons that are not losses in the strict sense — sale of the colony and end of history (administrative closure) — to cover every case where a colony must be removed from the active headcount without skewing mortality statistics.

Losses and overwintering​

Noting that a loss happened during overwintering makes it possible to distinguish, in the statistics, the winter loss rate (colonies lost during overwintering, see Overwintering) from the in-season loss rate — a reference indicator in beekeeping for assessing herd resilience.

Losses are aggregated in the Statistics (Losses section), to analyze trends by season, by apiary, or by stock.

How do I calculate my herd's winter loss rate?​

The method generally used in beekeeping is to compare the number of colonies put into overwintering in autumn to the number of colonies still alive the following spring: the ratio between the two gives the winter loss rate, an indicator tracked from one year to the next to assess a herd's resilience.

ApiTracer automates this calculation as soon as losses are reported with their cause and, where relevant, the "during overwintering" flag: the statistics then directly distinguish the winter loss rate from the in-season loss rate, with no manual recounting — see also the FAQ.