Mary,
 
<Are they dead? - It's hard to tell.
 
<Do they sleep all winter? - No.  They should be heating the hive.
Pull a frame at the edge of the box and work across to the cluster.
boundary bees may be lethargic due to cold but cluster bees should
be quite active.  If they are active, check stores and close up.
There may be some dead bees scattered throughout the hive at this
time of year.
 
<Any ideas of why they died?  - My diagnostic process follows:
     1) position of dead workers?
          Head into cells - starvation... They can starve to death
if there is a cold snap causing cluster contraction away from honey
stores.  One inch of honey from bounds of dead bees is not unusual.
Absolute empty combs in hive would indicate complete starvation at
this time of the year.  Later spring this evidence would be
destroyed by robbing.
     2) yellow bee droppings on frames - nosema weakened stressed
bees.
     3) send a sample of about 100 bees to Beltsville Md bee lab
for diagnostic.  They will be able to tell you if it was mites or
some other disease.  Disease can be picked up at any time from a
weak diseased colony in the area by robbing.
 
Good luck, you can contact me direct if you want to get to more
detail.
 
Ray
 
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+    Raymond J. Lackey                                     +
+    Beekeeper 10 years with 25 colonies on Long Island    +
+    INTERNET: [log in to unmask]                 +
+    Mail: 1260 Walnut Avenue, Bohemia NY 11617            +
+    Home Phone: 516-567-1936  FAX: 516-262-8053           +
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