> Why is it that we try to read more into an event that we need to. I keep
> bees at the 45th too. I see colonies that dwindle in such a way. It's in the
> bees nature to leave the cluster when ill or comprised of old queenless
> bees.  It happens every year...and a hive empty of bees is found in the
> spring.
>
> Combining weak colonies often results in dead colonies in the
> spring...without bees. Keeping bees in Nigeria or Dorset is not the same as
> Bangor, Maine or Burlington, Vermont.
>

Agree. (Also found it interesting that the poster who complained about
patronizing patronized. Love this list! But I hope they keep posting as we
all can bring something to the table.)

I will say with about a 90% probability of being correct (for winter kill
and empty hives in Maine) that it was mites. Note the plural. I always
include Tracheal in that as it is alive and well in Maine, and, I am sure,
elsewhere in the North. (We have been down this path before, so I will keep
it short.) Varroa and CCD are nice catchword to cover any ill, but there is
often something else involved. Happened here in Maine where CCD was blamed
but it was Tracheal.

Mites do drive infected bees from the box, no matter what the weather.  They
will cluster on the outside of a box in sub-zero weather and die. Or just
leave independently. Add snow and they disappear from sight.

If there are living but sickly bees still bees in the hive, then winter feed
or mites is the probably culprit. All dead bees with honey is usually
starvation.

Most of the time, there is, as Mike notes, nothing more to read into it than
the "usual suspects". And usually we know which ones are going to die before
winter ever sets in. The rules of winter beekeeping have not changed. Strong
queen, lots of healthy bees, lots of feed, and good location.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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