Bees today

[scokat]

Checked the hives today, seem to be doing good.
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Happily eating the 15 lbs of sugar and patties..
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That being said I have one hive- 2 deeps full of honey- not one bee in the hive...just an empty hive full of honey, not even any dead bees. However that being said I have two dead hives:
Lots of lady bugs inside
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I checked all the bees and couldn't find any mites so I am at a loss, at first i thought the little orange thing to the left of the bees was a mite but it was not. I am still checking the dead bees to try and figure what I did wrong.

[ken rice]

The bees inside, were they head first down in the comb?Your pictures are pending approval.

[WWW]

scokat, did you treat the hives for mites before winter? I could not see any mites on my bees but it did not mean that I had no mites, my bees ended up with Deformed Wing Virus during September and October which indicated a heavy infestation, at this time I acted fast to treat them and they are now doing great, they were out flying yesterday and today in good numbers. Check your bottom board for the mites, you will usually find them there in a dead hive. I wish you well.

[SwedeBee1970]

I would be weary of those abandoned hives and the honey too. CCD, possibly ? The answer may be in the contents of the honey. Don't get me wrong, we likely would not have an issue harvesting and eating it, however, I'd have a small sample analyzed by your state's inspector. There's a possibility that some local crops they harvest from got sprayed during the Summer. I've signed up for "Driftwatch" with your state in mind to let the local farmers, if any, know first hand where they can't spray crops.