I got my first stand of bees this past spring.  A large swarm from a local
beekeeper here in Western North Carolina.  During early September when I
opened the hive I noticed a substantial loss of bees in the hive.  I also
noticed some empty queen cells.  There was also some capped brood there so I
was hoping all would be ok.  After having about a week of cold (25 degrees
is cold to me) weather today it warmed up to 50.  Perfect day to check the
bees.  I could tell they were dead before I opened the hive up.  I found
where maybe 10 queen cells had been raised.  I think that this swarm I got
had an old queen.  That 1 or possibly more of the new queen cells swarmed
late in the year leaving me with the old queen and few bees.  Then during
the cold weather the bees could not produce enough heat to keep the large
hive warm.  Does this sound reasonable?  Or could there be another problem?
Also, I now have a brood box that is half full of honey and pollen and about
14-16 frames of honey.  What do I do with this?  I cleaned the dead bees
out, can I just put a new queen and package in here next spring?  Or should
I clean it all out and let them start with new foundation?

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