This seems similar to what happened to some of my hives in the early years  
of Varroa.  It seemed to affect the colonies that had earlier produced the  
most honey and had seemed prosperous at the previous inspection only a few weeks  
earlier. An extreme example was just 12 (I counted them) workers and the 
queen  being left.  The problem hasn't re-occured since I have been practicing  
anti varroa methods (except in one instance last year when I neglected to do  
so).  
 
I would suggest that with the diligent application of IPM the problem may  go 
away.
 
Chris
 
 In a message dated 23/12/2006 04:42:44 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

First  impressions -- affected colonies have NO old bees, nor are there any   
dead bees in the hive or in front of the hive -- often not even the normal  
die  
off.  In most cases, the queen is still present, and a cup  or two of young  
bees 


 

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