In message <[log in to unmask]>, Gerald
Herrin <[log in to unmask]> writes
>The newly hived swarm in question was
>put on old combs, with some pollen and capped honey(minimal: that is,
>maybe a half of a deep frame of honey) on them.

OK, after three days in a tree how did the bees look when you hived
them. They could already have been pretty hungry by them. If they were a
bit slow, making a dull rather than happy buzz, and those that flew a
bit aggressive, then the tank could have been pretty well empty. A near
starving top swarm will not get too far on 'maybe half a bar' of honey.

> I had not planned on
>feeding them, thinking that the available blossoms would suffice.

Under the circumstances you go on to describe this is an understandable
decision, valid under the vast majority of situations.

> The
>weather was in mid-70's, some clouds, on a Tuesday afternoon. The hive
>was found dead on a Sunday afternoon. Weather conditions had remained
>stable. There was exactly one bee left alive (barely). Black locust,
>wild mustard, et alia were blooming.

Mid 70's, blooming crops within range (assuming you are not in a drought
situation), does not foretell a starvation crisis looming.

> Approximately a mile north of the
>site is a commercial cattle operation with extensive alfalfa fields.

Is it in flower, and if so is it yielding. Bees have starved to death on
flowering crops before.

>The site is owned by a family member very favorable to having bees.
>There were no bees stuck in the combs as if struggling to find food.
>Some were on the bottom board; most were piled immediately outside the
>hive entrance.

Summer starvation tends not to show this 'heads in cells' pattern that
is present when clustering bees starve. They are much more openly and
scattered, and the last to die religiously drag the corpses of the
earlier dead to the door, dump them immediately outside, until there are
not enough left alive and they drop to the floor. How much honey was
left in the box at the end? Was there any brood started? Pollen stored?
These all indicate whether the colony started off OK and then got
poisoned, or whether it was just given insufficient to get going with
and died due to lack of resources.

There is one other possibility that sprung to mind, but I had
discounted. A large prime swarm. What did you hive it in? Was there
enough space? How far did you move it in the box? If you closed it in to
do the move, how long was it closed in for? If this large swarm was in a
single the possibility of suffocation thus raises its head. ( This is
not a pretty sight, I have done it, and it is both distressing and
embarrassing.)
>
>I had not considered starvation as a possibility. Perhaps I should
>have.

It is a constant factor one has to consider, especially in dearths.
Spring is also a risk time when build up of brood rearing can outstrip
supplies, and package bees need special attention and feeding on
installation. Your swarm possibly, after three days of hunger, needed a
feed urgently, and to be treated as package bees would have been..

>"If" the alfalfa had been sprayed for weevils, would one expect
>that some of the bees would have survived?

Never seen a mass kill on alfalfa ( I men by that I have no direct
experience of alfalfa, other would be better placed to answer this one).
Only death close to your description I have seen was paraquat poisoning.
( Farmer burning out some old pasture prior to ploughing and reseeding,
but sprayed the stuff in a drought, and the water carriers found it,
took it back to the hive, and caused a slow death of the colony over
several days.

>Again, many thanks to those who commented. I read almost all the posts
>and generally learn something each day.

I am terribly busy these days and do not post anywhere as often as I
once did, but just felt there were unsafe (note, not necessarily wrong)
assumptions being made here.

--
Murray McGregor

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