I left for a month on aug 15th, returning Sept 15 or so. I left a small but
healthy nuc out back. I live in the city and know of no other hives nearby.
I was dissapointed to find the hive full of dead adult bees. I assumed
pesticide. Then, since they had no honey, I assumed robbing. Would robbing
account for 3 inches of dead bees inside the hive?  I had left 5 gals of
water that had turned brackish. I had also fed them, mixing the syrup with
city water. (This has flouride but I use it all the time with no problems.)
It couldn't have been robbing because there was some sugar syrup left. (And
I've been trying to bait some robbers without success.)If this had happened
in a bee yard I'd be really worried.

Dickm

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