I cut up old blue jeans in strips, about 1.5" x 8," and add that to pine needles, pine cones, dried leaves, after starting the smoker with a torn piece of newspaper (always have newspaper in my bee bucket in case I do a combine). I finally have figured out how to keep my smoker going for several hours after years of it going out in the middle of an inspection.
In the summer, the bees carry their dead further away from the hive to drop them. I think they just push them over the edge when it starts to get cold. They are pulling out drone larvae now and ganging up on the drones, poor guys.