In a message dated 5/2/00 4:35:43 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Dave Green asks about winter losses in New England. >>

   Lost one hive (of 7) that i discovered dwindling under the rule of laying
workers. The queen was an artificially inseminated Carniolan. I am located in
eastern Massachusetts.
   Judging from the hive contents, part of the cluster starved to death (lots
of bees hunkered down in cells wth their butts sticking out). Found the
queen's corpse in a small mass of dead bees. Plenty of honey—both leftover
from last fall and newly gathered this spring.
Beecrofter wrote:
<<Due to the heat and drought the hives went into winter in smaller clusters.
Much of my losses occurred right around 20 Jan when the temps went from 60
deg to 5 deg overnight.  I found deadouts with 2 small clusters inside
instead of one big one.>>
   This diagnosis is most likely for me too.  I never suspected a
drone-laying hive could result from winter starvation. I thought they all
lived or died in the winter, and that's it. It's a great lesson in how all
the books—beginner, advanced, and reference—I studied have oversimplified the
possibilities of bee biology a bit. You can't count your winter losses by how
many hives are collecting pollen.
   On the other hand, this is the first instance that I have heard of bees
overwintering in multiple clusters. I don't mean to doubt you beecrofter, but
has anybody else observed this behavior, and has anybody ever suggested a
management technique to avert it?
   Isn't it equally pluasible that the bees somehow contracted their cluster
into two separate pieces when the cold hit, perhaps orienting toward honey
stores in different locales in the hive? Once separated, if one cluster used
up the stores in its part of the hive, it would starve beyond the reach of
the other cluster.