Did your hive die over the winter? Tell us about it.

[buzzbee]

If you have had the experience of a hive dying over winter,give us a evaluation of why it might have died.Maybe we can establish patterns.Lets not argue over methods in this post,just save the autopsies for analysis.Start another post and refer to this one for reference.It could prove a valuable sharing experience.Answer as many or as few as appropriate.
Do you have frigid temps for extended periods?
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.)
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells?
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom?
Are there any uncapped frames?
Is there signs of rodent entry?
Were boxes still heavy with stores?
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive?
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold?
Solid or open bottoms?
Vent box on top or conventional cover?
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture?

Edit:  1/26/10
Added requested survey format here:
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,26408.0.html

[Hemlock]

Might it also be helpful to note the USDA hardiness zone for each entry?  That way we know what kid of minimum temperatures the colony in question had to survive in.  One can Google their states Hardiness map easily enough or start with this link here (USDA MAP).  Those outside the US can check their local government web sites for similar data.  My bees are in Hardiness zone '7a'.  0 to 5 F (-15.0 to -17.7 C)  is the coldest it gets around here.  Not too bad really and I'm hoping my one colony doesn't make it on this post. 
   

[cam]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods? Yes. Zone 5 been down to 0° once
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.) cold and moist this winter
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells? No
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom? About 50-50
Are there any uncapped frames? yes
Is there signs of rodent entry? no
Were boxes still heavy with stores? yes, super was pretty full
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive? no
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold? No
Solid or open bottoms? Solid
Vent box on top or conventional cover? migratory covers
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture? No

[GaryMinckler]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods?  Yes  2 periods of 10-15 below 0 for days.
Is your climate arid,moist,cold?  Cold
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells?  50-50
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom?  50-50
Are there any uncapped frames?  2 mediums full of capped honey
Is there signs of rodent entry?   No
Were boxes still heavy with stores?   Yes
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive?   I don't think so
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold?   No
Solid or open bottoms?   Solid
Vent box on top or conventional cover? migratory covers    Inner cover/telescoping cover
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture?   No

Lost two colonies so far.  The first was completely empty...only a few bees.  One deep and two mediums.  Only a little capped honey in the upper corners of a few frames.   Second colony was as described above...lots of dead bees on the bottom and the same amount still clustered in the bottom deep with two full mediums above them.

[Scadsobees]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods?  yes
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.) cold
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells? no
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom?I don't think so, but didnt' go that far down
Are there any uncapped frames?yup
Is there signs of rodent entry?no
Were boxes still heavy with stores?not heavy, not light
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive?not as far as i could tell
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold?occasionally, but not before they died
Solid or open bottoms?sbb but closed
Vent box on top or conventional cover?conventional
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture?no

It was only 1 hive of 9, small cluster, I didn't check them too close in the fall, just checked honey stores.  They didn't go into the fall with enough bees and then froze.  They were on top of honey.

[charmd2]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods?  Yes, four week stretch without a flight
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.) Normally mild, but a long cold stretch mid December through Mid January
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells?  about fifty fifty headfirst, on bottom
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom? about fifty fifty headfirst or on bottom
Are there any uncapped frames? entirely
Is there signs of rodent entry?  one hive out of four
Were boxes still heavy with stores? only if you consider the dry sugar left on top.. all honey consumed
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive?  did not check... 
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold?  no
Solid or open bottoms?  solid
Vent box on top or conventional cover? shallow super filled with dry sugar, with migratory cover. 
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture? no

[troutstalker2]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods? In the 20,s for about 3 weeks
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.) yes
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells? 50/50
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom? no
Are there any uncapped frames? yes
Is there signs of rodent entry? no
Were boxes still heavy with stores? enough to get through winter
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive? not that I could tell
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold? no
Solid or open bottoms? solid
Vent box on top or conventional cover? conventional
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture? no

  They did not move up to the top box to get to the honey and starved

[Greg watkevich]

I'd like to know what type of bees everyone has that had their hives die this winter.
Greg Watkevich

[nella]

This is an interesting subject. Could this topic be posted as a survey or poll format, then the results would be tallied as entered and easier to comprehend. An addition(Greg's idea), breed of bee to the survey would be helpful. I would think most of the bees are crossbred and would be checked as other.

[Cossack]

Do you have frigid temps for extended periods? yes about 6 weeks
Is your climate arid,moist,cold(I measure a cold climate as one with extended below freezing temps where bees have extended periods without a cleansing flight.) moist and cold, near the atlantic ocean
Are all your bees headfirst in the cells? 50/50
Are most of your bees dead on the bottom? 50/50
Are there any uncapped frames? yes
Is there signs of rodent entry? No
Were boxes still heavy with stores? Yes
Did the bees cleanse or evacuate themselves inside the hive? No
Do you open your hives a lot when it's cold?No
Solid or open bottoms?Solid
Vent box on top or conventional cover? some had conventional and some had vent box
Were the dead bees soaked with moisture? only one hive was soaked with water

I started with 14 hives going into winter. It was a pour honey production year. I had feed heavily before frost. I have lost 4 hivesso far. The remaining ten are doing well and are flying on warmer days.

[cam]

Mine was a carnolian.

[bassman1977]

Mine were mutts.  The hive was at least 3 years old and I just allowed the queen to be replaced naturally.  I would have thought last winter would have been harder on them.

[ONTARIO BEEKEEPER]

If my hives are going to die it will happen late February or March. We had a warm January day where the bees could get out last week. My home apiary which has 32 hives had activity at every one. So keeping my fingers crossed.

[Ben Framed]

It is nearing the end of Winter here in my area. I have not been inside the hives yet. I plan to wait a couple more weeks before digging in.. Fingers crossed.

[cao]

So far only one out of the 60+ hives has been confirmed dead.  I noticed wax flakes at the entrance and bees flying in and out(signs of robbing).  I opened up the hive.  There was a small cluster of bees dead with heads in cells.  There were several frames of comb robbed of honey.  The cluster was too small to make it through the weeklong+ cold spell we had.

We will see how many make it through the next month.  The bees are bringing in pollen and raising bees so long cold and/or rainy spells are not good.