Admission of guilt- I had not checked my bees for 4 weeks.  Excessive heat, summer travel...  Mea culpa... "They were all doing great the last time I looked..."

Today I go out and fine 4 of my 8 hives with copious amounts of dead bees outside as well as in.  All bees are dead with a few odd wigglers.  Tongues out, wings spread open, most with rear legs out.  The clever neighboring hives have apparently robbed them out- not a trace of pollen or honey (or brood) in the frames...  Question is, was it starvation in a drought/dearth OR herbicide contact/exposure??  A crew has been hired by the power company to clear trees from the lines and my husband said he saw them spraying as well.  I will call the power company when they open next week to find the exact herbicide agent they are using...  Just to check...  No "row crops" grown here in these hills and in a 2 mile radius I know of only one who used to grow alfalfa, but not lately.

What's the deal?  I saved some dead bees and put them in the fridge- should I send them off to be examined by the state entomologist?

Puzzled in the Missouri Ozarks...

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