Scott, in East Tennessee, said "Just went back today to remove apistan and
have very few
bees in the hive,1000-2000 maybe, very slow moving,(other hives we were in
today had  lots of activity) no brood, and a fair number of yellow jackets,"
 
The hive was strong when the strips were inserted, and Scott wonders "what
happened".
 
Scott, you didn't say when you put the strips in, but I am surmising it was
August or September.  From your description it is not possible to really
tell what happened, but it seems you had a young queen, so that should not
have been a problem.  My guess is either:
- Your hive was all ready severely weakened by Varroa when you put the
strips in and could not recover.  The fact that there were many bees and
they were working well, does not mean the hive was not weakened by Varroa.
As you have seen from reading recent messages, in July/August Varroa will
reach peak populations and may start feeding extensively on worker brood.
Once that happens, there is not a lot you can do as the mites are in sealed
cells and will not be damaged by strips.  If both worker bees and larvae are
heavily infested, the hive can collapse in 2-3 weeks, even with strips
present.
- Your hive swarmed without your knowledge and failed to rear and mate a new
queen, or "something" killed you new young queen, and the new queen did not
mate.
 
Keep the combs, they are very valuable.  Protect from wax moth and mice, and
start a new hive or hives with them next spring.
 
Good luck.
 
Lloyd
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Owner, Ross Rounds(tm)  the finest in comb honey production.