Well, my first year keeping bees was educational but not entirely satisfying as (1) I received no honey and (2) they died this terribly cold winter 
We didn't get our package bees until mid- late May and they seemed to be doing well all year, growing in numbers. The completely filled 2 deeps and started drawing comb in 1 honey super but didn't have it entirely drawn out so no honey. When I got cold I closed off the bottom of the hive and only left a small opening for them to get in/out. There is also a small round hole open on the top of the top deep and I left this open for circulation so as to hopefully not condensate too much. I opened the hive about 2 weeks ago and found no live bees. The honey seems to be mostly gone in the 2 deeps which makes me wonder if 2 deeps full of honey in central Wisconsin is not enough?
So, we have a new package of bees coming next month. But I'm unsure of the following:
1. Do we need to remove all comb and foundations and replace with new for the new hive or will the bees clean out any old larvae and anything else in the comb?
2. Do we need to treat with any medicines as soon as the new bees are installed or just let them go on their merry way growing in numbers?
3. Any special cleaning we need to do on the current hive where the last bees died out?
Thanks.
We didn't get our package bees until mid- late May and they seemed to be doing well all year, growing in numbers. The completely filled 2 deeps and started drawing comb in 1 honey super but didn't have it entirely drawn out so no honey. When I got cold I closed off the bottom of the hive and only left a small opening for them to get in/out. There is also a small round hole open on the top of the top deep and I left this open for circulation so as to hopefully not condensate too much. I opened the hive about 2 weeks ago and found no live bees. The honey seems to be mostly gone in the 2 deeps which makes me wonder if 2 deeps full of honey in central Wisconsin is not enough?
So, we have a new package of bees coming next month. But I'm unsure of the following:
1. Do we need to remove all comb and foundations and replace with new for the new hive or will the bees clean out any old larvae and anything else in the comb?
2. Do we need to treat with any medicines as soon as the new bees are installed or just let them go on their merry way growing in numbers?
3. Any special cleaning we need to do on the current hive where the last bees died out?
Thanks.