Jane,
     Were some brood in your's dead hive? If so,
there could be one another scenario of dying of
your bees. Bees really can survive at very low
temperature, but problem is when they have a brood
in a hive.
     I have some experience in my beekeeping with
dead families in the early spring. What can
happen? Sometimes in january or in february is a
short period (a week or so) of nice warm bees.
First pollen forage and warm weather triggers
lying eggs and formation of new brood in a hive.
As you know, bees take care of brood. They are
quiet precise about temperature regulation. As I
know they will never over hit the brood! When cold
whether is coming back, bees are making more tide
cluster to override hit lose. But, what about
brood. They don't leave it unattended and they
don't overheat it. That means they can go over the
brood temperature in the center of the cluster.
During cold whether in a families without the
brood, center of the cluster can reach temperature
close to 40deg.C. But never with the brood. If the
family is small it have to be cluster more then it
could be because of limitations by brood presence.
I suppose that is showed up in enabling of bees on
the outside of the cluster to make more tide
cluster. The result is to low body temperature of
the core bees, which REALLY die because of cold.
I'm expecting the family is broken down very fast.
Could be in one night.
     Perhaps there could be also a problem how to
reach the food stores, when the cluster is formed
around the brood with some empty cells around
brood and away from honey comb. Our beekeepers in
Slovenia say, bees are starving at full desk
     Again, do you have brood in your hive with
dead bees ?
 
With regards,
                 Janko
 
 
 
 
 
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Janko Bozic
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