Good morning everyone. First time poster and rookie beekeeper here.

This morning I walked out to one of my hives here in Michigan. It has been
snowing for the last week and temperatures have been between 10-20 F even
longer. I noticed that there were dead bees in the snow in front of the
hive. Quite a few in fact. When I cleaned off the snow that had built up on
the landing board, there was a considerable amount of dead bees buried just
under the snow there too. Also there was noticeable amounts of brown drippy
"stuff" (I assume excrement) on the front of the hive near the upper exit
hole. The hive is insulated with 1 inch of styrofoam which is held in place
by clear stretch film. I have a 1" exit hole in the top hive body and I have
the outer cover propped up about 1/4" on one side to help with ventilation.
The entrance is reduced.

(Note that I am reasonably sure that the bees took flight at the same time
because they were all covered with about a half inch of snow.)

Placing my ear to the hole tells me there is still a colony inside. I can
hear them humming. It has also alerted me to a mouse.

My questions are as follows:

1) Are the dead bees on the snow a normal phenomenon? They left the hive at
an ambient temperature not above 20 F. None of them made it farther than 8
feet, the bulk of them within 4 feet of the front of the hive.

2) Should I try to evict the mouse or let the bees take care of him in the
spring?

Thanks for your advice. This list is a great resource.
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Jason Apol ><>
Practical Controls, Inc.

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