Hive didn't make it.

[texjim]

It got up to 53 degrees today and i went to see if the bees were active today. When i got up to the hive i seen  a bunch laying on the deck. So i popped open the top and to take a look down in and they were all dead. Two weeks ago they were pretty active. It will be another year of starting from scratch again. Sooner or later i am going to have a decent year but it is getting kind of expensive to be starting over ever year. Good luck to all

[BlueBee]

Sorry for your loss TexJim.  It is always disappointing when bees die.  Take some good notes and see what can be learned.  I always learn more from my failures than my successes.

[AllenF]

Were they completely out of honey or were their numbers just too low to get to the honey?

[texjim]

the hive was strong or lots of bees. a lot of them were buried inside the comb as if they were eating. most of the bees were up top.

[buzzbee]

Usually this is a sign of starvation.A lot here in the northeast have been putting dry sugar above the cluster because hives were getting lite in December with
the enhanced activity with warmer temps.Sorry about the hive losses.
Any chance of mice inside?

[FRAMEshift]

I've lost one hive this winter.  Some of the bees in the hive were alive in the middle of January and then last week I checked and there was just a small pile of dead bees and lots of honey.  It hasn't been cold enough to hold the bees in cluster away from the honey. Some detective work told the story. 

There were three queen cells, one open at the bottom and two torn open on the sides.  That means that a new queen emerged and killed her two rivals.  But I didn't see a queen.  So I sorted through the pile of dead bees until I found her.  She was small with an undeveloped abdomen.  So the hive decided too late in the fall to supercede.  The new queen didn't mate and the hive dwindled.  Sometimes you are going to lose a hive and there is nothing you can do.

[texjim]

no mice... thanks everyone