cause for concern?

[theBeeLord]

my friend, on whose property i keep the hives, just told me they saw a bunch of dead bees in front of the hives.  one hive had about 40 dead bees and the other about a dozen.
today was a bit warmer around here - warm enough for them to venture out a bit???
the one with only a dozen dead -had bees crawling between inner and outer cover, the one with 40 dead had no bees inbetween covers, just underneath.  at least that's what they saw when the peaked under the covers.

i won't make it to the hives until Sunday - but my questions were:  are these drones that finally got kicked out?  sick bees?  did they over-estimate how warm it was and froze once they got out?
what should i be looking for specifically when i visit the hives Sunday?
thanks.

[S.M.N.Bee]

Alan
I'm not sure what kind of weather you are experiencing but this may just be a few dead bees that the house bees have cleaned out. When the weather gets cold the bees do not carry the dead as far as they would in warmer weather. In cold enough weather they just drop them off the edge of the landing board into a pile. Forty dead doesn't sound like a lot to me.

John

[rwlaw]

Ya, not too much to worry about, take a look at the bottom board under the boxes. If it's fairly clean (some dead bees are ok), then the undertaker bees are doing their job, if you've got a solid mat of bees, then be concerned. Scrape em out as best you can & keep a eye on it.
I've got one hive that had a lot of dead on the board, not looking good for them.

[theBeeLord]

here's the picture they took.
(picture available as soon as the admins approve it.