Subject: WHy did my bees die this winter?

From: [email-masked] ()
Date: 15 Apr 94 15:26:36 GMT

This is my first hive.  Things seemed to be ok.  I had the varora mite
strips in there and put on menthol in the fall for tracheal mites.  The
-23 F lows concerned me, but two days after that i put my ear to the hive and
heard a lot of buzzing.  We had another cold snap but i could still hear
the buzzing, but this time could see a lot of dead beed that were thrown
out by their live brethern.  I checked a week later and all were dead.
I opened the hive to find several full combs of capped honey in places yet
all were dead.  The thing that seemed wierd was many of them were dead
right on the comb with their heads inside the cells. Many more were on 
the baseboard.
 They were not any funny looking color, they looked like bees do whern alive,
 so i guess that rules out chalkbrood and foulbrood.  Some were so intact
looking sitting on the combs that if i photographed them it would appear that
i had photographed live bees.  Know what I mean? 

I tried to find the queen but could not, though its very possible i
overlooked her. Does the fact that bees were found (dead) in several places in 
the hive might mean she died and they were scattered? Any clues as to what
 happened? I had not given them any antibiotics, is that a mistake?

I fed them all summer and took no honey since i wanted them to be strong
for the next year.  It is a big disappointment. Hope someone can help
me figure what i did wrong.

Many thanks
Allen

--