Denise,

I am very sorry to hear about your loss.  Almost all of us have, at one
time or another, experienced similar losses to our misfortunes.  If you
start feeding the bees with light syrup and pollen supplement—RIGHT NOW—
you can easily make up your loss although I would not *press* my bees for
gaining numbers.

From your description, though, I deduce the following that they were
indeed starved to death, especially if you found the cluster in a half-
moon formation, near the top of the frame, with their heads stuck deep
into the comb.  In many starvation cases, there would be some honey *still
left* nearby, combs usually opened.  Two factors favor such conclusion in
that the dead queen was at the center of the dead cluster and that the
robbing had been and is still going on.

1. Certainly a sudden drop in temperature can immobilize the bees so that
they could not take advantage of honey available under their nose;
however, this scenario is not highly likely given that you live in KY
although I do understand the late deep freeze.  Other seven surviving
colonies, nevertheless, attest against such assumption.

2. If you have not treated your bees in the fall, it could be mites, too,
especially tracheal mites in this instance.  Even if you did treat,
perhaps the medication had little efficacy or you medicated incorrectly.

3. Sometimes possums, skunks, and other nocturnal creatures—or a nasty
gale-force wind or an accidental cow-tourist—can *tip* the top, just
barely, thus exposing the inner cover hole to elements that the bees could
not maintain the ambient temperature, especially under a freeze spell, due
to the constant flux of air, marching right through the now exposed vent,
since the varmint had already popped off the entrance reducer.  In such
case, put a heavy cement block atop and use window screen, stapled, to
mouse-proof.

4. To figure out if the robbers are coming from the woods or your own
colonies, seal off the colonies completely, starting with the one that
shows most activity at the entrance.  You can visually recognize their
movement, standing away in a distance.  Once you figured out about their
origin, remove the seal immediately.  [I do suspect they are your own bees]

5. Duck tape the entrance of the dead colonies in the evening, remove the
dead bees away from the apiary, and store the supers indoors, if
possible.  Freeze the frames a day and reuse them later.

6. Depending where your bees are situated, stacking up box bales [north
and west sides only] is a good idea to windbreak.

Loosing a few colonies over the winter is not uncommon; take your loss
lightly.  You have gained much experience through this loss.  Should you
need more information as to how to *prime* your bees for a strong spring
split, contact me privately and please do so immediately since the time is
running out fast.


Best Wishes,

Yoon from Oklahoma