after three winters with zero losses, i lost a third of my 18 colonies this year.

one colony still had the queen, a few bees, and a nearly 100% mite infestation.  i shook them out in november.

for the remaining five lost colonies, i recently discovered two to have laying workers, two were dwindled with no queen or brood, and the last one was empty and robbed.

there was very little mite feces in the combs and few or no dead mites on the bottom boards of these hives.

all five colonies were queenright with adequate stores for winter when inspected in november.  none received treatments and all were on a honey only diet.

cam bishop posts this on another forum:

"Just back from a talk by Jeff Pettis from the Beltsville bee lab. He said this may be the worst winter in history for bee losses. Says many producers are in the 50% loss range.
 
He also was reporting that poor queens and drone layers appear to have around 50% of their sperm sterile. He is continuing this research about why this is happening. Doesn't have an answer but believes this is one of the causes of bee loss."

anyone else experiencing higher than normal queen failure this winter?

any thoughts?

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