>
>When I looked into the hives the other day I found that there was almost =
>no sign of brood in any of the dead hives. I did not even find remnants of
queen cells.

It would be rare to find brood or queen cells in winter in a weak colony
here in Indiana.


>puzzled me as a fairly new beekeeper. I found clusters of what appeared =
>to be white eggs about the size of the end of a number 2 lead pencil =
>scatted over the frames and in the cells.

This is only a guess, but it may be granulated honey.  This may  have
contributed to the loss.  It has been my experience that a weak colony has a
hard time converting granulated honey to food during cold weather.

Many in our association have reported large losses this winter ( 50 - 70 %)
I have been fortunate with less than 15% loss.  I have not seen any pollen
coming in yet. The average 1st pollen for this area is March 7.
Marc Studebaker
Geneva, IN.