Found a lot of dead bees outside my hive this morning. Many were workers, a few drones - some even pulled from their cells - and 1 that could be a queen. Here is a pic of 2 drones, a worker and the queen? - If it is a queen why would they kick her out this time of year?
(http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/t596/Tracy_Spear/Photo0508_zps3135a3fa.jpg) (http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/Tracy_Spear/media/Photo0508_zps3135a3fa.jpg.html)
can't tell. take a picture under better lighting or use a flash.
The queen generally won't have markings on the back of the abdomen, take a good look. IMO it looks like a larger worker. The far left and right are drone pupae, common in the fall.
You can do a inspection in three days and look for eggs or wait for seven and look for eggs/queen cells.
Maybe take a pic of the bees from the topside and post.
Can't tell for sure from the pic. Too small, and too dark. Do you have other hives? Are you sure it wasn't a pesticide kill? What is left in the hive for bee population?
I have 12 hives - 2 on my garden & 10 on my moms garden. The dead bees are from one of my garden hives. I don't think it is a pesticide kill because the population in the hive with the most dead in front of it is very strong - it has always been stronger than the other hive. I'm not concerned about the drone pupae since it is the time of year the poor drones get the boot. I was just very surprised to see what looks like a dead queen on the landing board. My 1st thought was that they made a new queen then kicked her out with the drones but that makes no sense so I'm hoping that it is just a long worker and nothing to worry about. I has been raining all day today so there was no way I could get into the hive for a look & the weather is getting cold so I don't think I'll get a chance to look until the weather warms up again...
I'll preserve the bodies & take them to the bee club meeting next friday & see what they have to say about it.