Thanks to everyone who answered my cry for help last weekend!  My Buckfast
colony seems back to normal.  I still have not figured out what did kill
the two handfuls of bees.
 
From the advice I received, I narrowed the cause down to two
possibilities:  poisoning or natural dying.  The first case is almost
impossible to prove in my area.  The second cause never occurred to me (as
a newbie).  After working hard foraging for the last few weeks, the bees
just died naturally and, by coincidence, at the same time.  I always
figured the bees died a few at a time when they 'wore out'.  Guess I'll
never really know true cause.  Sure scared me though!
 
Ever since the scare, both colonies have been foraging like crazy.  I have
no idea where they are going, but their going somewhere. :)
 
I put one super with foundation on each to see if they were producing any
more surplus.  Was this a mistake?  I don't plan on taking any Fall honey.
I was going to let the bees keep it all for themselves.  I also want to
treat the colonies for mites at the right time, which I gather is late
summer.
 
So should keep the supers on until the bees stop foraging as heavily as
they are?  Or should I remove the supers now and deal with any mite
problems?
 
Thanks for the advice.
 
           Bob
--
Bob Billson, KC2WZ                                email: [log in to unmask]
  (\       MS-DOS, you can't live with it.  You can live without it.    /)
 {|||8-                 Linux:  World domination.  Fast.             -8|||}
  (/                                                                    \}