Here in Southeastern CT USA we had a period in January where the
temperature went from near 60 degrees F to 5 Degrees F in less than 24 hours.
In two hives which died out I found the cluster split into two places in the
hive and dead in the starved mode with heads buried in uncapped cells and
honey still available within 3 frames from the clusters. Of 33 hives I have 6
confirmed deadouts to date percentage wise the heaviest losses I have had
since beginning 6 years ago (18%). The remaining hives are strong a few still
have some drones they carried over. One hive had signs of mouse damage but
the culprit had since moved away and other than a bit of chewed comb and
debris the bees seemed fine.
   I have begun stimulative feeding in a few hives as I like to catch the
maple and dandylion flow instead of building on it.

Tom