At 06:17 PM 10/13/2003, you wrote:
>I left a small but healthy nuc out back. I live in the city and know of no
>other hives nearby.
>I was dissapointed to find the hive full of dead adult bees.

We have had an unusually long dearth for nearly the past month.  Lack of
rain then a cold snap when it did rain delayed the fall flowers.  I
couldn't even open up a hive for 3 weeks or intense robbing occurred almost
immediately.   When It finally broke I found several nucs robbed out (with
almost no bees left).  Typical signs of robbing, chewed wax, etc.  But I
also found a couple with lots of dead bees on the bottom, heads stuck in
the cells, no other signs of disease, classical starvation.    It feel bad
knowing I could have prevented it, but the same nucs were strong with a
good amount of honey just a month and a half ago.

The full hives seemed to have faired well, though they have more reserves
than the nucs do.  Many seemed to have nearly shut down brood production
which I've never seen done to this extent with Italians this time of
year.  Interestingly in my observation hive, the queen kept on laying and
there were eggs, but there was no brood for about 2-3 weeks.  I though she
was failing, but they started up again once the cold spell broke.

-Tim

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