I have had a few instances this spring of hives in a single area that at first appeared to overwinter well: Plenty of capped brood, lot of bees in late March. Later however, the queens stopped laying, or at least significantly declined in their laying activity, such that some within a month the hive had a negligle cluster, small brood chamber with, in some cases, multiple eggs per cell and some apparently dead (holes in caps) brood. No sign of AFB or EFB - either sticky or stringy residue, or odor. Queen was present, but no doing much of anything. Hives were no aggressive, no signs of queen cells. /C.Crowell New Jersey :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::