Hi Everyone, Mike asks about crystallized honey and wintering bees. Mike it sounds to me that your colony died due to something other than the crystalized honey. First during cold weather the bees produce enough metabolic water to be able to use granulated sugar so granulated honey should not be a problem. It sounds like the cluster was pretty small which is due to some other underlying cause like mite problems or disease or poor quality stores ( honey with too high ash content or honeydew honey ). My guess and it is only a guess from this distance is probably mites or not enough room in the broodnest to rear enough young bees in the fall. A small cluster is usually dead in the spring if you have a long cold winter. What were your mite levels last fall? Survey work done by the WI state apiarist clearly shows increasing winter mortality when varroa mite levels in the fall are 1% or greater using the alchol wash method. Tracheal mites will also lead to small clusters that tend to die in the winter with enough stores still in the hive but again the cluster dwindles down until it is just too small to maintain temperatures. The underlying problem in many winter losses is too small a cluster of healthy bees which leads to starvation in the midst of plenty of stores since they don't cover enough stores to make it through a cold winter. Many of these will make it through a mild winter but not a cold long one. As long as the hive didn't die out due to American Foulbrood ( AFB) you can simply reuse the combs. In the warmer weather the bees can bring in water to dissolve the crystalized honey. FWIW blane ****************************************** Blane White MN Dept of Agriculture [log in to unmask] :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::