Going with this, here in New Zealand we have disease associated with the overcrowding from to the number of colonies. We have too many honey bees.<p>As the number of colonies has started to fall in recent years, yield per hive has started to go up.<p>Overcrowding leads to more mites, more AFB and less honey. It’s also a right PITA trying to get stuff done late season, as bees descend and cause chaos at the whiff of sugar/honey.<p>I’m part of the problem with my small apiary in the back yard.<p><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/479084/number-of-beehives-fall-as-beekeepers-produce-22-000-tonnes-of-honey-in-2022" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/479084/number-of-beehive...</a>
A recent article and discussion:<p><i>There are too many honeybees</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37203571">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37203571</a>