> second Med that was stuck to bottom drops, turns upside down
> in the dirt, and generally panics entire hive. Now, I suspect
> that the queen was in this Medium. I have lots of dead, injured
> and dirty bees in the dust. I am unhappy, the bees even more so.
> I continue to pick up the mess, No frames fell completely out of the
> medium, but it got really dirty...
> What next? Will they requeen and survive the winter?...
> It is a lot harder than it looks....

Yup, it sometimes is.  Often with no warning.

If it's any consolation, we drop lots of hives every year. Now and then we have
even had one fall off a moving truck.  It's hard on equipment, but usually turns
out okay for the bees.

If you set everything back together as best you can and leave them to repair the
mess, you will usually find that when you return in a day or two, things are
looking much better.  Once they have repaired the broken comb and removed the
dirt, and settled down, you are in a position to do a little work to correct
spacing and remove any badly damaged frames that are not in an important place
like the centre of the brood are.

You'll know in a few days if you hurt the queen, but usually she is okay.  If
not, given good weather, you will likely have a new queen laying within three
weeks, assuming you do not destroy or dent any queen cells in your inspection,
and that should not be too late for most regions.

allen