[soonerfan66]

It finally warmed up enough to check my hives today . I found 1 hive were sadly the hive had honey but were dead bees in bottom . So I guess even thou I thought had left good enough ventilation condensation built up and got them . Another hive again had honey stores but had no signs of dead bees . But in the bottom could tell a mouse had chewed threw and made a nest . Is that what caused them to leave . We did have a real bad cold spell lowest with wind chill was -30 zero . I am not a newbie beekeeper , been doing it about 6 years but of course I am far from being a veteran beekeeper .

 

[Jim Braun]

There are lots of causes for dead outs. Yes cold and wet does kill colonies. But the majority of the time the problem is your varroa mite load. As if the problem of the varroa chewing up the bees fat bodies isn't bad enough (think of getting your liver chew out), There is also the problem of the 24+ viruses and 8 bacteria being injected into the bees. Then there are environmental problems like pesticides, fungicides and lack of good forage. It's a wonder that any of our colonies make it through the year.
This is year 9 for me and there's still lots for me to learn and challenges every season. This year one of my goals this year is to do monthly mite checks. From some of the things I've read lately is how rapidly the mites can build up.
Good Luck.

 

[soonerfan66]

So it's possible the mites just eat all the bees from that hive and then after the bees were all gone the little critter moved in ? I had given them that Bee Healthy stuff and had good luck so far . Should I try something else or do I need to add something with it for now ? Also the honey stores do I need to freeze the frames before putting them into other hives like if had wax worms ?

 

[Jack Grimshaw]

Google:
Honey bee deadout key

 

[beemandan]

Based on the questions you are asking I would respectfully suggest that you find an experienced, local beekeeper to help.