>
> >Do you think my necropsy is off?


Sounds right to me!  The first thing that I look for is any remaining
sealed brood in the center of the cluster.  If the cells around that brood
are full of mite fecal deposits, that's a pretty good indication of what
killed the colony.

And yes, as we discussed a few months ago when one member suspected a bee
kill from feeding sugar syrup during an autumn cold snap, is that bees
attempting to commit altruistic self removal can't do so when it's too cold
to fly, so you'll find them dead between the frames or on the bottom board.

Colonies heavily parasitized by  varroa, tracheal mite, viruses, or nosema
do not behave normally, and may not cluster well in the winter.  The end
result may be starvation, but as Bill suggests, such starvation may be due
to an underlying cause.


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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