Dead bees in snow

[applebwoi]

We had our first snow of the year, about 8", and I've noticed some dead bees near the front of the hive. Not many, only about 12 over a two day period. Is this just older bees naturally dying and being dropped outside of the hive? I'm not worried since the number is low, just wonder what is going on?? Does this continue all winter?

[tony350i]

The white snow shows up more dead bees than what you would normally see when the bees are doing a bit of house cleaning which can give the impression that there is something wrong.

As long as the dead bees are not showing signs off mite damage and they have stores and are dry, they should be ok.

Tony

[Brent Bean]

Dead bees in the snow is good, no signs of bees it’s time to take a closer look, you could have a dead out.

[xC0000005]

Yeah, I was worried by the much more visible black dots in the snow too, but things are ok. The dead bees are two varieties - ones that got dragged out by housekeeping and some that went out for a cleansing flight (it was remarkably warm right before the storm, even got some thunder when the cold front moved in) and didn't make it back.